Dodging the bullet: The evolution of the false memory controversy

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Dodging the bullet The evolution of the false
memory controversy

• Jean-Roch Laurence, Ph.D.
• Concordia University
• December 4th 2001

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A brief history of the debate
First wave the hypno-investigator . criminal
investigations the Svengali squads .
research on hypnotic hypermnesia memory
hardening . research on memory creation
seminal paper in Science 1983 .
professional societies adopt strict position in
this debate
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Second wave the clinical detective . multiple
personalities the Sybil legacy the
satanic conspiracy (SRA) . first links between
abuse and MPD . from human to animal to
inanimate objects Then expanded to . abuse of
children in daycare centres The same techniques
led to . previous life regression therapy . ET
kidnappings
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The third wave the clinical archeologist .
repression strikes back . widely
publicized cases the
Franklin case Roseanne
Barr Arnold Marilyn Van
Derbur (Miss America) . 1988 The Courage to
Heal . flurry of legal cases throughout
the USA . sexual abuse checklists .
1992 more than 19 states had changed
their statutes of limitations
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Main process at play in autobiographical
recall . reconstructive vs reproductive
process (historical vs narrative
truth) . stages perception-attention
encoding-storage retrieval
narrative . reconstruction goes
on during all stages Developmental
aspects cognitive and neuro-physiological
immaturity scanty evidence for pre-verbal to
post-verbal transfer at best for episodic but
not autobiographical memory based on contextual
reinstatement
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. Initial concepts challenged .repression
Quite often we do not succeed in bringing the
patient to recollect what has been repressed.
Instead of that , if the analysis is conducted
correctly, we produce in him an assured
conviction of the truth of the construction,
which achieves the same therapeutic results as a
recaptured memory. the analysts
inference can reliably fill up the serious gaps
in the patients memory. (Freud, S.E. 1937,
23265-266) . no scientific validity, see
Holmes (1990) . confusion between narrative
truth and historical truth the
unavoidable suggestion effect
How many mental health professionals accept the
concept of repression? The survey says over 90
across therapeutic approaches!!! (Legault and
Laurence, 1996)
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• . childhood amnesia (which for Freud was up to
  7or 8 years old) repression-based?
• . cognitive immaturity
• . neuro-physiological immaturity
• . remember that this concept was proposed
  by Freud as the end result of the repression of
  two major traumatic events
• the witnessing of the primal scene between 0 and
  1 year old
• the Oedipus period
• None of these have ever been substantiated...

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• Are there special types of memories?
• Flashbacks (also known as flashbulb memory)
• Body memories

• Flashbacks or How Hollywood sees memories!
• . Imported from pharmacology research (LSD)
• . Based on Vietnam veterans experiences of
  combat
• . Frankel (1994)
• flashbacks have doubtful historical veracity
• more like an as-if
  experience

• Flashbulb memories experimental analog
• . show the same vicissitudes as normal
  memories
• . deteriorate with time subject to
  modifications

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• Body memories
• memories are NOT all stored in the brain...
• stimulating the body can activate repressed
  memories...
• memories exhumed are immune to degradation...

• Is there any evidence for such a process?
• anecdotal evidence (body work leads to memory
  retrieval ??)
• an ongoing chain of suggestions
• no scientific evidence

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Autobiographical memories delayed recall
(over 10-15 years) in adults . from
mothers womb... . from 0 to 2 years
old Any actual evidence . none other
than clinical anecdotes and legal cases fail
the suggestion test . ample experimental
evidence that these memories can be created by
mere suggestions
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What are the general beliefs of practitioners on
these different issues
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Everything one experiences is permanently
recorded in ones brain Agree 64 Disagree
24 Hypnosis can be used to recover memories of
actual events from as far back as birth Agree
48 Disagree 24 Forgetfulness for
experiences occurring before the age of about
three (childhood amnesia) is most likely to be
caused by defense mechanisms Agree
76 Disagree 18 An adult who was frequently
abused as a child is more likely to remember
having been abused than one who was rarely
abused Agree 39 Disagree 50
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A history of child sexual abuse can be detected
in someone who has no memories of abuse Agree
64 Disagree 18 When an adult who was
frequently abused as a child has difficulty
remembering some of the particular incidents of
this abuse, it is likely to be due to defense
mechanisms Agree 96 Disagree 2 Denial
of the existence of satanic ritual abuse is
similar to denial of horrifying realities like
the holocaust Agree 46 Disagree 31 The
real experts on traumatic memory are not the
researchers who study memory but the victims
themselves Agree 43 Disagree
38 (Legault and Laurence, 1996)
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Dissociation and dissociative amnesia . From
repression to dissociation . why question your
assumptions if you can use another catch
word? . Is there evidence for dissociative
amnesia? assumption trauma causes dissociative
amnesia
. partial forgetting most studies on trauma show
partial forgetting (may or may not implicate the
end- result of a dissociative process)
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. global forgetting the events themselves were
forgotten analyses of prospective studies
(75) .67 studies were assessing general
symptoms over 10,000 victims no
evidence .12 studies were assessing amnesia
.6 studies - various traumas no evidence .6
studies sexual abuse maybe? however only
in these studies do researchers forget to ask
about the abusive events directly amnesia is
inferred from non-disclosure
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The failure to ask the hard questions
direct questions Leopold and Dillon,
1963 Marine explosion (34) yes Terr, 1979,
1983 School bus kidnapping (25) yes Malt,
1988 Accidental injuries (107) yes Wagenaar
Groenenberg, 1990 Concentration camps
(78) yes Terr et al., 1996 Challenger
explosion (153) yes Peterson
Bell,1996 Accidental injuries (90) yes Femina
et al., 1990 Physical and sexual abuse (69)
no Williams, 1994 Sexual abuse (129)
no Bagley, 1995 Sexual abuse (20) no Burgess
et al., 1995 Sexual abuse (22) yes Widom et
al., 1996, 1997 Physical and sexual abuse (206)
no If you do not want to hear the answer, the
best way is to not ask the question!
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If studies do not show global dissociative
amnesia What about case studies?
Brenneis (2000) after reviewing case studies of
recovered memories during psychoanalytic therapy
. only an handful of non-contaminated
examples . however, context and content are
quite different from the type of recovered
memories usually discussed He concluded This
casts doubt on the historical authenticity of
therapeutically recovered memories and makes
relevant for practice the possibility that they
represent commentaries about the analytic present
and not revelations about the historic past.
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Dissociative amnesia is still a concept in search
of scientific validation. non-disclosure is not
dissociative amnesia forgetting is not
dissociative amnesia childhood amnesia is not
dissociative amnesia forgetting due to brain
trauma is not dissociative amnesia Whats
new in the clinical literature since 1998? more
of the same case studies more of the same
theoretical arguments more attacks on lack of
ecological validity But no research to
substantiate claims!
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Is there any indications that practitioners are
more cautious? In recent legal cases .
multiple personalities have for the most part
disappeared . recovered memories before age
three have disappeared . repressed memories
have disappeared However . body memories
still abound . flashbacks are still presented
as historically veridical . dissociative
amnesia is still caused by trauma .
dissociated memories still recovered after age 5
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If we look at two of the more recent fads in
both the legal and clinical contexts it seems
like a never ending process. SVA Statement
Validity Analysis a technique that can allegedly
differentiate true from false accusations of
abuse in children more and more presented in
court no validity or reliability from published
research EMDR Eye Movement Desensitization and
Reprocessing a new cure-all therapeutic
technique (has already been used to discover
memories of abuse) scanty if any scientific
validity