False Memory - Durbin

Due to a rather stressful job as a nurse's assistant, Beth Rutherford was

having trouble sleeping. Her father, an Assembly of God minister, suggested
that she go to Donna Strand for counseling to help her deal better with stress.
Donna Strand was a counselor who worked at her husband's Park Crest
Village Assembly of God Church. After three sessions, Beth, then 19 years-old,
was doing much better handling her stress and was sleeping better.

During one of those sessions, Beth told of a dream in which she and some
friends were being raped in the presence of her father. She was told that the
dream was an indication of early childhood sexual abuse. Beth could not
remember any sexually abuse. Over the next 64 sessions with Mrs. Strand's
encouragement, Beth began to record a string of horrifying memories which
she identified as occurring between the ages of 7 and 14. During her trance
states, she experienced her father using a curling iron to masturbate her,
being raped by her father while her mother washed, and having a clothes-
hanger abortion by her father.

After nearly two years passed, the Strands informed the General Counsel of
the Assembly of God Church of accusations of sexual abuse of Beth by her
father. He was confronted with Beth's allegations and though he denied that
he had ever sexually abused his daughter, he was forced out of the church.
Mrs. Rutherford said, "We were just blown apart, in shock... You think they
have the wrong name, the wrong family." Rev Ruterford had a vasectomy
when Beth was four years old. Later when asked why he did not tell church
officials, he said, "I never told them because I was so personally outraged."

At the insistence of the family's attorney, Beth underwent a gynecological

exam. It showed that she was a virgin. According to information received
during Beth's Recovered Memory Therapy, she had been raped repeatedly by
her father while her mother watched and had received a painful clothes-
hanger abortions. Beth, now a registered nurse, fully recanted her story. Due
to the fact that her father had received a vasectomy when Beth was 4 and
medical test showed that she was a virgin, it would seem that Beth had
experienced false memories as the result of Mrs. Strand's Recovered Memory
Therapy. It is to be noted that the Rutherford's settled a defamation and
malpractice lawsuit for one million dollars against the church and the Mrs.
Strand. Beware of false memories.

Betty (named changed to protect the identity of the client) came to me with
the presenting problem of "being caught up in a failure cycle." Betty explained
that she was continuously setting herself up for failure. She went to college,
but did not make it through the first semester. Her first two marriages had
ended in divorce and she was experiencing problems in her third marriage.
Betty wanted to improve her self-confidence and be set free from her failure
cycle. She wanted to return to college but realized that she had to overcome
her problems in order to succeed.

Betty was in therapy for ten sessions over a three month period. In the first
session, she presented her basic problem as stated above. After listening to
her talk, I told her about hypnosis; what it was and was not. I discussed
several misconceptions and answered the few questions she asked. She was
anxious to be hypnotized and believed it would help her gain self-confidence
and get her off the failure cycle. During the first hypnotic session, I
concentrated on suggestions for self-confidence and increasing self-esteem.

During a finger response in therapy, Betty indicated that there was an

emotional problem or problems that contributed to her failure. She answered
"yes" to the following questions, "Is there any conflict over sex that
contributes..?. Are you using failure to punish yourself? Do you fail because
you feel guilty about something? Is it ok with your subconscious for you to
overcome this problem and succeed?

We discussed some of the above mentioned questions and she locked in on

the question concerning sex. She mentioned that during high school she had
a number of sexual experiences with different boys. Being raised in a North
Alabama strict Bible belt religious atmosphere, she was told by her parents
that good girls did not engage in sexual activities and the girls who did were
bad girls. "They were no good and would never amount to anything." As she
was told this time and time again, she experienced guilt because of her many
sexual experiences. During her teens and throughout her three marriages, she
seldom experienced a climax during intercourse; another example of failure.

She came to the next session very agitated. She explained that she had
become very upset at seeing an uncle at her father's funeral. As the service
proceeded, she remembered that her uncle had abused her when she was
seven. During an age regression, she had experiences of her uncle touching
her a few time since she was a baby until she was seven-year-old. All of the
experiences with the exception of the one at age seven had been pleasant, but
confusing. She experienced pain when her uncle tried to penetrate her at
seven. After that he never touched her sexually again.

In another session, Betty experienced anger toward her mother for allowing
her to be alone with her uncle on many occasions when she was young. She
felt guilt for having enjoyed the experience up to the painful experience at age
seven. In hypnosis, I asked her to look at those years through the eyes of an
adult. At the time of the incidents, her mother trusted her uncle to take care
of little Betty. I had the adult Betty take the little girl Betty into her arms and
console her. Betty could forgive the little girl for feeling guilt about the
experiences and at the same time forgive her mother for not suspecting her
uncle of wrong. As she was able to forgive the little girl of the past, she felt
better as an adult. As she forgave her mother, she was free to develop a more
loving relationship with her mother.

I then had her experience God taking adult Betty, little girl Betty, and Betty's
mother into His loving arms and forgiving each of them. This was a very
meaningful experience for Betty. As she was able to forgive herself and her
mother, she was able to experience God's forgiveness. As she was forgiven,
she no longer felt guilty, not feeling guilty, she had no further need to be
punished, therefore she was free to succeed. You may say that Betty had done
nothing in her relationship with her uncle of which she needed forgiveness. I
would totally agree with you, except in her mind, Betty needed forgiveness
and experiencing forgiveness, she could began to succeed. Betty returned to
college, earned her degree and has a good close relationship with her husband
and mother. There are real memories and there are false memories.

We have one mind but two parts: the conscious and subconscious. The
conscious and subconscious parts of the mind can be compared to an iceberg.
The portion of the iceberg above the surface of the water is the conscious
portion and the ice beneath the water is the subconscious portion. The
conscious portion consist of about 10% of our thinking ability and the
subconscious consist of about 90%.

Our conscious mind consist of what is available to our conscious thinking

process. It is the analytical, rational, logical, two plus two is four part of the
mind. The subconscious is not logical and it contains our emotions, habits,
automatic responses, feelings, instincts, impressions and much of our
memory.

One of the peculiarities of the subconscious mind is that the subconscious

mind cannot tell the difference between imagination and reality. One day
while running, I saw a long crooked object which I perceived to be a snake.
My heart beat increased, my breathing changed, and I felt fear. I was ready to
run in the other direction when my eyes focused enough to see it was a stick.
As long as I saw that stick as a snake, that is the way I reacted. In regards to
memory; a thought, image, idea whether real or not repeated often enough or
when emotionally charged becomes like a real memory to the subconscious
mind.

There are many ways to define memory and how it is retained and how
accurate it is once it brought to awareness. One of the belief is that memory is
permanent and the only problem is to get to it and bring it to awareness. This
is or probably has been the prevalent accepted idea about memory among
psychiatrists, psychologists, hypnotherapists and other in the mental health
care field. Forgetting something does not mean that the memory is gone, it
just means that memory is not available to your conscious awareness. The
idea is that memory is retained something like a video tape recorder which
records what happens and stores it in your mind. It may also be compared to
a computer. The memory is there for good or bad we are just consciously
unaware of it. All one had to do is to tap into the subconscious at the right
place and time and the memory will be available as it original occurred.

One way to get to those memories is through hypnosis. Hypnotherapist,

psychiatrist, psychologist and other therapist often use "age regression" in
their therapy. In discussing "false memories," I am not speaking out against
"age regression." I am concerned about how we get to those memories and
how they are used when recovered. If they are used to help a person adjust to
the present that is what is desired. If the recovered memories are used to
provide a client the information to sue someone, I have a problem with that
kind of therapy. Many believe that a memory retrieved in hypnosis is true and
accurate. I used to accept this assumption, but as I come to my understanding
of the subconscious mind as previously stated, I realized that one can produce
a false memory that can seem just a real as a true memory. As therapist, we
too can produce false memories and there is evidence that the Recovered
Memory Therapist have done just that as seen in the story of Beth.

Among the Recovered Memory Therapist, one may forget what they had for
dinner ten years ago tonight and may or may not be able to get that
information even with hypnosis or drugs, but repressed memories of sexual
abuse works differently. The repressed memory of sexual abuse is said to be
there in its original form and when brought to the individual's awareness are
true. It does not matter to these people that logic and evidence points to the
fact that the memory is not true.

Some therapist believe that childhood sexual abuse is the specific cause of
numerous physical and mental problems which emerge in adulthood.
Regardless of the problem, these therapist will began to look for and search
for sexual abuse. These therapists are not discouraged to find that the client
may not remember any sexual abuse in her history. If given time, they will
help the client find the memories. I use the female pronoun because of the
thousands of patients of Recovered Memory Therapy most are women. These
therapists believe that children immediately repress all memory of sexual
abuse shortly after it occurs so that it is not available to conscious awareness
until it comes forth in therapy. I believe that some sexual abuse is repressed,
but I am convinced that generally it is a single event or perhaps a number of
events that happen very early in life such as Betty. I do not believe that a
person can be repeated abused over many years including teen years and not
remember it.

When giving classes or lectures on hypnosis, I used to say that there was no
danger in the therapeutic use of hypnosis. Since studying Recovery Memory
Therapy, I have changed my presentation. I now tell people that there is a
danger when the therapist begins to insert the idea of sexual abuse when the
client denies it. I tell people that if they go to a therapist without any recall of
childhood sexual abuse and is told to read the book by Bass and Davis The
Courage to Heal" leave that office and find another therapist.

I was first introduced to Recovered Memory Therapy about five or six years
ago. A man called me from California. He said that he had got my name and
phone number through the United Methodist Church. He had an adult
daughter in New Orleans who had sent him a letter accusing him of childhood
sexual abuse. She had recovered the memory while in therapy at a local
psych-center in New Orleans. She wrote her father requesting that he pay for
her therapy and should send her a specific amount of money each month as
she was to emotional disturbed to hold a job. She was in her forties when she
began therapy and was working and making a living. After a few months, she
had recovered these memories of sexual abuse and had steadily gotten worse.

The father denied that he had ever touched his daughter sexual and was
overcome with sadness and despair as a results of the accusations. He ask me
for help. As his daughter was receiving counseling at another health care
facility, I contacted the chaplain at that hospital to look into the situation. I
talked to the father one more time and he said that he was trying to get an
appointment with the therapist but had been unsuccessful. The therapist
keep telling him that he was in denial and that the only way the daughter and
therapist would meet with him was if he confessed that he had indeed
molested his daughter when she was a child. He asked me if I had ever heard
of the False Memory Syndrome and an organization called, "False Memory
Syndrome Foundation" which had been formed for parents of adult children
who had accused their parents of sexual abuse. I admitted that I had not.

Dr. John F. Kihlstrom, Ph.D. describes the False Memory Syndrome as a

condition that results when the memory is distorted or confabulated so that a
person's identity and interpersonal relationships are centered around a
memory of a traumatic experience or experiences which are false but in which
the person strongly believes. Note that the syndrome is not characterized by
false memories as such. We all have memories that are inaccurate. The
syndrome is diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained that it
orients the individual's entire personality and lifestyle and disrupting
adaptive behaviors. The False Memory Syndrome is especially destructive
because the person stubbornly refuses to accept any evidence that might
challenge the memory. Thus it takes on a life of its own which is resistant to
any effort to discover the truth. The person may become so focused on the
memory that he or she may be effectively distracted from coping with the real
problems in his or her life.

A few years after my contact with the father from California, a woman come
to me stating that she had been to a psychiatrist who regressed her back to a
supposed sexual molestation by her father. She was considering confronting
her father and accusing him of sexual abuse when she was a little girl. Before
confronting her father, she wanted a second opinion. Before Recovered
Memory Therapy, she had no memory of abuse and had always felt very close
to her father and was never consciously afraid of him. She had experience a
proper and appropriate amount of affection from her father and in spite of
her supposed 'recovered memory' loved him very much.

During a regression, I asked her to go back to any experience in her past that
could clarify her situation in relation to her father. She went back to a
situation that occurred when she was three years old and continued on and
off for about two years. She used to like to have her dad rock her on his foot
which she called, "riding the horsey." An activity that many small children
enjoy without any sexual content. During this time of play, she experienced
sexual pleasure and orgasms. Of the first time she experienced sexual
pleasure, she said in a childlike voice, "Daddy is holding my hands while I
ride the horsey and it feels good between my legs. Something is happening, if
feels so good, but I don't understand. The good feeling is coming form where
I pee pee."

I asked her, "Is there anyone else in the room with you and your father? She
replied, "Yes, my mama and my brother and when I get through riding the
horsey, my brother can ride." From this regression, it appears that her father
was totally innocent of any abuse and was just playing a normal child's game
with his daughter the same way that he played with her older brother who
wanted to "ride the horsey."

I then asked her if it would be alright for me to regress her to the session with
the psychiatrist and she said, "Yes." I then said, "Go back in your mind to
your session with the psychiatrist." She came to talk to the psychiatrist about
an eating problem. After taking some history, the psychiatrist asked her if she
had ever been sexually abused. She said "No." He said "Well it is my
experience that the great majority of women with your problem was sexually
abused as a child. The fact that you say 'No' indicates that you were indeed
abuse and that you are in denial. You were probably abused by your father."
He lead her into a hypnotic state and programmed her molestation. He
suggested that her dad was holding her in his lap. The psychiatrist asked, "He
is placing his hand on your leg? He is moving his hand up your leg? He
putting his hand on your 'pee pee' hole. He rubbing you 'pee pee' hole? Now
tell me what it feel like and what he is doing?" At the close of the session, he
told her to buy and read The Courage to Heal by Bass and Davis.

Following that session, I began to read everything I could on the False

Memory Syndrome. I decided that I would prepare a seminar and write an
article on "Beware of False Memories" I did this because of the pain and harm
that Recovered Memory Therapy was inflecting on clients and their families.
Aging parents accused of sexual abuse were often being sued by their adult
children because of "recovered memory" without any verification of the
reality of their abuse.

Beware of false memories because of the trauma caused to the client who
experiences these false memories. Beware of false memories because of the
hurt and pain experienced by parents who are accused. Beware of false
memories because of the damage to families that results from false memories.
Beware of false memories for your own well-being. Many families and
retractors (individuals who experienced false memories and are now refuting
those memories) are suing the therapist who developed the false memories.
A Texas District Court on February 28, 1995 found the treating therapist, a
M.S. L.P.C., guilty of negligence and that his actions were the cause of
damage to his former client, Diana Halbrooks. The complaint stated that Ms.
Halbrooks was not treated for her presenting problem but that instead he
began to convince her that she suffered from MPD and had been the victim of
childhood sexual abuse. It was alleged that the therapist was negligent in his
examination, evaluation, and treatment. The treatment provided included
improper exposure to "support" groups and to certain therapeutic techniques
which caused her to become overly dependent on her therapist. She came to
believe that the memories he created were literal reality. By this course of
treatment, the courts ruled that the therapist created new problems and
thereby caused harm to Ms. Halbrooks and her family.

Recently Gary Ramona of California won a law suit against his daughter's
therapist. After seeing a therapist about an eating disorder, Mr. Ramona's
adult daughter decided that her father raped her when she was a child. Mr.
Ramona, a vineyard executive, lost his job and his wife who came to believe
ever word of the charges produced in therapy. With deep fervor, the woman
proclaimed that mothers have a gut feeling about their children and
everything happening to them and that these gut feeling about her daughter's
experience were all the proof she needed.

Ms Ofra Bikel who produced a documentary, "Divided Memories" for the TV

program Frontline pointed out to Ms. Ramona what she had said and then
asked "You said you were happily married for 25 years, so where your gut
feelings." It is interesting to note that she mumbles a reply that the "gut
feelings" like the rape memories, only began with the visits to the therapist.
Mr. Ramona became the first accused parent to sue a therapist for implanting
false abuse memories; a malpractice suit which he won. Thanks to his
daughter's accusations he lost job, his family and has not seen his children in
seven years so he ask the question, "So tell me, what did I win?" (Gary's
daughter was founded to be a virgin during a medical examine. Can one have
had intercourse and not break the hymen? However, his daughter accused
him of violating her sexually on several occasions so the fact that her hymen
was intact tends to prove that her memories were false.

A Seattle Post article by Ellise Conklin (5/21/96) stated that Patrice Rice, 51,
sued a Washington state hypnotherapist for planting false memories of
satanic childhood abuse. She alleged that she went to the hypnotherapist to
lose weight and stop smoking. Instead, memories of sexual abuse by satanist
were implanted by her therapist through the use of hypnosis. Rice said that
she came to believe that the cult was going to kill her because she
"remembered" what they had done. As a results of these beliefs, she drove
around Oregon for two days because she thought that the cult was following
her. She caused a head-on collision when she drove across the center line into
oncoming traffic, all the while believing that a "good witch" was
"telepathically directing her to safety." A person was killed in the accident and
Ms. Rice was tried for first-degree murder. She was found "guilty but insane."
She is now free and in therapy, but will remain under the supervision and
control of the court for 20 years. Her therapist was ordered to pay a 700,000
settlement to Ms Rice.

BURGUS V BRAUN: Arlington Heights, IL Daily Herald.: (4 Nov 1997) A

Lombard woman on Monday reached a $10.6 million record settlement with
her former psychiatrist and a Chicago hospital over allegations she had been
brainwashed into believing she was a satanic high priestess who had abused
her children and been tortured herself. After a six-year legal battle in Cook
county Circuit Court, the woman, Patricia A. Burgus, 41, agreed to the
settlement with Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center and psychiatrist
Bennett G. Braun. The settlement is the largest in the world for a case
involving recovered-memory therapy, said R. Christopher Barden, a
psychologist and attorney who has been involved in about 20 similar cases
across the nation and who represented Burgus. Attorneys for Burgus said
they were prepared, if the case had gone to trial, to call on experts from
Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of
California at Berkeley in support of their case. "Psychologists have known for
100 years that false memories can be implanted using hypnosis," Barden said.
Ms. Burgus said that she saw a video tape of a workshop by Dr. Braum in
which he told the story of her sons describing cutting open the stomachs of
people during a satanic ritual. They talked about how bad it smelled and
described what it looked like. He asked how could children so young know
this if they had not seen it? Ms. Burgus said they saw what they described in a
Star Wars movie. Ms Burgus and her children had been patients of Dr.
Braum's in Rush Presbyterian Hospital. Rush Presbyterian Dissociative
Disorders Unit closed in early 1998. It was reported that the closure comes
amid mounting legal difficulties faced nationwide by proponents of MPD
therapy.

A few years ago, a new therapy system referred to as "Recovered Memory

Therapy" caught on with many professional therapist to include psychiatrist,
psychologist, social workers, ministers, counselors, and hypnotherapist. In
this group, I do not include those who use hypnosis and other counseling
techniques to discover past history that might contribute to a present day
problem and use it to help the person live better today without destruction of
others. I do not include those therapist who work with individuals who have
always remembered that they were sexually abused and are working in the
here and now to overcome any problems initiated by that abuse.

I am including those therapist who plant false memories and encourage their
clients to confront, hate, break with and sue parents and others for something
that may or may not have happened years ago. These therapist believe that
most adult problems are caused by sexual abuse and this is especially true of
women. More men are included now because of the accusation of children
sexual abuse by Catholic Priest. I conclude that most of those accusations are
true, especially those made by men who have always remembered their abuse
but would not speak of it before. I do think that most of those who recovered
memories during therapy are experiencing false memories. An example takes
us back to 1993 when 34-year-old Stephen Cook claimed that Cardinal Joseph
Bernadin had molested him as a teenage, pre-seminary student and that he
only remembered this in therapy. Many people and especially those in the
Media immediately accepted the story as true. Cook eventually retracted his
charges and came to see his memories were a product of therapy. As the issue
of priest molestation has only recently surfaced, this chapter deals more with
women who recover memories because this has been the focus of my
research.

In an article from the Cincinnati Enquire, "Hypnosis Provides Valuable Police

Tool", Janice Moore writes: "Dr. William C. Wester acknowledges the
potential for misuse of hypnosis and doesn't hesitate to expose it. In fact, Dr.
Wester discredited the sex-abuse allegations against Cardinal Joseph
Bernardin in 1994. A framed newspaper article about the Cincinnati case
hangs on Dr. Wester's office wall at the Athenaeum of Ohio, where he directs
the master of arts degree program in pastoral counseling. Former Cincinnati
seminary student Steven Cook alleged then-Bishop Bernardin had molested
him 17 years earlier. But Dr. Wester had hypnotized Mr. Cook previously, and
no sex-abuse accusations had surfaced. Dr. Wester questioned the methods
and qualifications of a Pennsylvania therapist who had hypnotized Mr. Cook,
causing the allegations to surface. Mr. Cook backed off. Qualified
practitioners employ safeguards against inaccuracies, Dr. Wester said,
including videotaping sessions, carefully wording questions and following a
script to avoid influencing the witness.

From books and other materials which I have read, a pattern tends to occur
with striking frequency. These sessions began with a client coming to the
therapist with a presenting problem other than sexual abuse. Regardless of
the presenting problem, the therapist tends to assume that if a person has
certain symptoms that is proof of childhood sexual abuse. The abuser is
usually assumed to be the father and/or perhaps the grandfather, and may
also include the mother and grandmother well as others. The symptoms that
indicate that the person has experienced sexual abuse includes but is not
limited to eating disorders, headaches, vaginal infections, sleep disorders,
stomachaches, dizziness, problems maintaining stable relationships, warring
baggy clothes, obesity, depression, or low self-esteem. Anyone may face one
or more of these symptoms during their life time, but the Recovered Memory
Therapist acknowledge only one cause: repressed memories of childhood
abuse.

With this motivation, the therapist next step is to convince the client that she
was abused whether she can remember abuse or not. If the client says she was
not abused, the therapist will often respond that the denial is another proof of
her childhood sexual abuse. It is similar to the witch trails at Salem. Those
suspected of being witches were thrown into a pond. If they floated they were
guilty and burned. If they sank, they were innocent but dead.

The client is told that only by believing in the sexual abuse and recovering
memories of abuse can she be healed. Whether the clients accepts the
diagnosis or continues to deny, they are are often encouraged to read one of
the so-called survivor's books like The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women
Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis, The Courage
to Heal Workbook by Laura Davis, Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and
Its Aftereffect in Women by Sue Blume, The Emotional Incest Syndrome by
Patrica Love, Repressed Memories: A Journey to Recovery From Sexual
Abuse by Rene Fredrickson, and The Sexual Healing Journal: A guide for
Survivors of Sexual Abuse by Wendy Maltz and a host of other survivor
books.

Once the client is convinced that her problems can be cured by remembering
childhood memories of abuse, the therapist uses a variety of techniques to
help the client uncovered repressed memories. Among these techniques used
are hypnosis, sodium amytal, guided imagery, age regression, progressive
relaxation with suggestions, trance writing, body memory, group survivors
work and many other such therapies to get to the so-called repressed
memories.

Recovered Memory Therapy is bad therapy because it makes assumptions

that are not valid, it rewrites a persons history with very painful results, it
makes the client very dependent on the therapist, separates clients from their
natural families, it causes the client to induce some very emotionally painful
experiences which comes only from the imagination and quite often makes
the client worse instead of better.

To the question, does recovered memory therapy make clients better or

worse, I share with you some data from the Washington State Crime Victims
Compensation Program. This information was presented by Elizabeth Loftus
at the Southwestern Psychological Association meeting in Houston on April 5,
1996 A review of 183 of the approved claims were made from which 30 were
randomly selected for closer examination. Of the 30 closely examined
claimants, there were 29 women and 29 were Caucasians. The median age
was 39 (15 to 67 years-old). Master-levels therapist treated 26 of the 30
people. Two patients saw a Ph.D. therapist and two saw an M.D. For 26 of the
claimants, the first memory surfaced when they were in therapy. All of the 30
claimants were still in therapy three years after their first memory. Eighteen
of the claimants were still in therapy five years after the first memory. Only 3
claimants thought of suicide or attempted suicide before recovering their first
memory but 20 did so after memories. Two people had been hospitalized
prior to their first memory while 11 were hospitalized after memories started.
One person engaged in self-mutilation before memories but 8 did so after
memories.

29 claimants reported memories of satanic ritual abuse (the average age at

which these memories were said to have begun was 7 months.) The number
of murders reported by this group of patients was 150. 22 patients claimed
memories of birth and infant cannibalism. 20 patients recalled memories of
being tortured with spiders and 29 remembered physical torture and
mutilation. The records of these patients showed no corroboration medical
evidence of torture or mutilation. Not one of the allegations were confirmed
by police investigations.

Two thirds (21) of the patients had graduated from high school and seven had
post high school education. Before therapy 25 had been employed. After three
years of therapy, 3 still had jobs. Before the first memory, 23 of the patients
were married. Three years after getting memories, 11 of those 23 were
divorced. 100% of the patients were estranged from their extended family.
The average cost of non-repressed memory claims was $2,672 while the
average cost for repressed memory claims was $12,296 (median was $9,296).
The total cost to the Crime Victims Compensation Program for this group of
30 repressed memories was $2,533,000.

(The Courage to Heal is considered the bible of the Recovery Memory

Movement and few books written in the 20 Century have caused more
unnecessary pain.)

Perhaps nothing fueled the flames of the fires of recovered memory therapy
as much as the books by survivors mentioned above. Do these books provide
good advice to help women recover memories or do they tend to implant
memories? During the twentieth century, few books have done more harm
than the Bass and Davis book The Courage to Heal which is considered the
bible of the Recovered Memory Therapy movement. Early in the book the
claim is made "If you are unable to remember any specific instances like the
ones mentioned above and still have a feeling that something abusive
happened to you, it probably did." The book continues "Often the knowledge
that you were abused starts with a tiny feeling, an intuition... Assume your
feelings are valid." Another statement to prepare the soil of the mind for
implanted memories is "If you have unfamiliar or uncomfortable feelings as
you read this book, don't be alarmed. Strong feelings are part of the healing
process. On the other hand, if you breeze through these chapters, you
probably aren't feeling safe enough to confront these issues. Or you may be
coping with the book the same way you coped with abuse - by separating your
intellect from your feeling." They have got you whether you are feeling
uncomfortable or if you are feeling nothing. Either way the authors assumes
that you were sexually abused and they will go to any lengths to recover the
memories without regards to the truth.

The authors assume that anyone reading their book was abuse for they write,
"To heal from child sexual abuse, you must face the fact that you were abused.
This is often difficult for survivors. When you've spent your life denying the
reality of your abuse, when you don't want it to be true, or when your family
repeatedly calls you crazy or a liar, it can be hard to stay clear in the
knowledge that you were abused."

The authors encourages women to separate themselves from their "family of

origin", to sue their parents, to disassociate with anyone who does not
support their claims and hate those who they discovered abused them. The
book tells of one woman who claims that she was abused by her grandfather
went to his deathbed and , in front of all the other relatives, angrily
confronted him right there in the hospital. Forgiveness may be considered,
but is not encouraged and in fact is discouraged.

I believe that forgiveness can contribute much to healing. Habitual grudges,

resentment, smoldering rage, the war within plays havoc with our health and
well-being and weakens our resistance to disease and/or emotional illness. A
recent newspaper article by a medical doctor stated more heart trouble is
caused by inner tension, guilt, and resentment than are caused by smoking,
drinking or fatty substances in the blood. We need to forgive those who have
harmed us. That does not mean that we condone what they did nor do we
need to have a close relationship to that person. By forgiving them, we release
ourselves from the power that they hold over us. We need to forgive even
when the person who has harmed us do not ask for nor deserves our
forgiveness. Whether the person is living or dead, we need to forgive in order
to free ourselves from the power that person has over us. This is true
regardless of what has happened to us including sexual, physical or emotional
abuse.

I am reminded of Sandy who came to me for counseling. Sandy was a 21 year

old lady who had been sexual abused by an older brother who was seven years
older than she. She could not be freed until she could forgive him. He had not
asked her for forgiveness nor was he visibly sorry for his abuse. The forgiving
act of Sandy did not change her brother, but it did change her. After several
sessions covering many issues, she said that she was ready to forgive her
brother. I said, "In your imagination, you are setting in a chair on the stage in
front of your brother. Now prepare to forgive him even if he does not request
forgiveness nor deserves forgiveness. She said, "I forgive you brother for the
sexual things you did to me as we were growing up. I forgive you Robert. In so
doing I release myself from the power that you have had over me. The power
that made me feel guilty, has prevented me from fully enjoying sex with my
husband and has weakened my self-esteem. I am now free to live my life
joyfully." Sandy lives a much happier life and responds joyfully during sexual
relations with her husband.

In his review of The Courage to Heal for the International Journal of Clinical
and Experimental Hypnosis, Campbell Perry writes, "Another questionable
assumption is the belief in hatred as an effective method of healing, one that
holds that fantasies of castration and/or murder of one's abuser are beneficial
therapeutically... As an offshoot of the book's advocacy of hatred as a leading
method is the advice that abused individual's "get strong by suing."...Earlier,
Bass and Davis also advise that readers "are not responsible for proving that
you were abused." (Oct. 1994)

Laura Davis's book The Courage to Heal Workbook continues with the
assumption that the female child has been sexual abused and the book is to
be used to confirm that the abuse actually happened. The Workbook goes on
to encourage homosexual activities. The author is aware that a person who
has been hetero-sexual might have problems with their first homosexual
encounter, she writes, "You don't have to be physically aroused to begin
sexual activity, simply willing to begin." So what begins with the desire to
help people overcome their adult problems, becomes an attempt to seduce
the person into a different sexual life style.

Sue Blume list 34 items as "Incest Survivor's Aftereffect Checklist." She

includes such problems as ambivalence or intensely conflicting relationships,
phobias, anger, feeling crazy, feeling different, eating disorders, fear of dark,
low self-esteem, gagging sensitivity, or even wearing baggy clothes. It is not
surprising that Blume writes, "At any given time, more than three quarters of
my clients are women who were molested in childhood by someone they
knew." Most of them did not know they were survivors until they came to
Blume for counseling. She continues, "Many, if not most, incest survivors do
not even know that the abuse ever occurred...Most survivors need many years
and often many therapists, before they can face the truths of their past"

Some, such as Patricia Love in The Emotional Incest Syndrome, are not
satisfied with the common accepted understanding of incest. She includes
those who loved their children too much and overprotected them. "To the
casual observers, the parents may appear loving and devoted. They may
spend a great deal of time with their children and lavish them with praise and
material gifts. But in the final analysis, their love is not a nurturing, giving
love - it's an unconscious ploy to satisfy their own unmet needs."

Love has the client to ask ten question and if she answers "yes" to three or
more, that means she probably experienced incest. (1) I was the source of
emotional support for one of my parents. (2) I felt closer to one parent than
the other. (3) I got the impression a parent did not want me to marry or move
away from home. (4) Any potential boyfriend or girlfriend was never "good
enough" for one of my parents. (5) I felt I had to hold back my own needs to
protect a parent. (6) I felt responsible for my parents' happiness.(7) I
sometimes felt invaded by a parent. (8) One of my parents had unrealistic
expectations of me. (9) One of my parents was preoccupied with
drugs/alcohol, work, outside interest, or another sibling. (10) One of my
parents was my best friend. Regardless of how many "yes" answers are given,
these experience do not qualify as incest.

Renee Fredrickson in her book Repressed memories: a Journey to Recover

from Sexual Abuse writes, "Denial is overcome only by patient growth in the
opposite direction... In reading this book, whenever you find yourself
worrying 'What if I'm wrong?' try to always to ask yourself the opposite
question, 'What if I'm right?'" She ask suggestive and leading questions such
as, "How old do you think you were when you were first abused? Write down
the very first number that pops into your head, no matter how improbable it
seems to you. Does it seem too young to be true? I assure you it is not."

Fredrickson advises, "Seat yourself comfortably and take a few relaxing

breaths before you begin the actual work. Most people prefer doing imagery
work with their eyes closed. Outside stimulation is kept to a minimum, and
you can focus all your attention on your internal reality... Whoever is guiding
the memory will ask questions to help you picture or sense what is happening
in relation to that focal point. If nothing surfaces, wait a bit and then give
your best guess in answer to the questions. If you feel resistance or
skepticism, try to go past it. Whether what is remembered around that focal
point is made up or real is of no concern at the beginning of the process.
(Durbin's impute nor at any other time, for these people the only thing they
want is an abuse memory regardless of whether it is true or not. It make no
difference to Fredrickson, but it sure does to the ones who are going to be
confronted, accused, and perhaps sued.)
In her book The Sexual Healing Journey: A guide for Survivors of Sexual
Abuse, Wendy Maltz advises readers, "Don't try to force recall. Memories will
emerge when you are you are ready to handle them." Maltz suggest that
patients "spend time imagining that you were sexually abused, without worry
about accuracy, proving anything or having your ideas make sense. As you
give rein to your imagination, let your intuition guide your thoughts... Ask
yourself or have a support person or therapist ask you these questions, 'What
time of day is it? Were are you? indoors or outdoors? What kind of things are
happening? Is there one or more person with you? Male or female? What
types of touch are you experiencing? What parts of your body is involved?
What do you see, feel or hear? What parts of your body are involved? How do
you feel emotionally? Angry, scared, excited, confused... Who would have
been likely perpetrators? When were you most vulnerable to sexual abuse in
your life? Why would it have been important for you to forget what
happened."

There are many techniques that Recovered Memory Therapist use to produce
the false memories. I would like to point out that any of these therapy with
the possible exception of sodium amytal can be used very effectively in
therapy. It is not the technique that I have a problem with, but the use of the
technique. One of those techniques is hypnosis. I think that all of us would
agree that hypnosis can be extremely helpful in therapy, but it can also be
abused. Some therapist gives the impression that one cannot lie while in the
hypnotic state. Of course that is an untrue assumption for hypnosis does not
prevent a persons from intentional or unintentional lying, deception or
experiencing false memories.

In his book Suggestions of Abuse Michael Yapko gathered data from 860
therapist (Most of those surveyed were psychiatrist or psychologist)
concerning their opinion on hypnosis. He writes, "I was dismayed, to say the
least, by what I found. It is not an exaggeration to say that many therapist
appear to practice their profession on the basis of sheer myth." Nearly one in
five believed that one could not lie under hypnosis." Interestingly, 19%
accepted the myth that "someone could be hypnotically age regressed and get
'stuck' at a prior age." The surveyed showed 64% "believed that hypnosis can
be used in such a way as to create false memories." But 27% did not think that
hypnosis was capable of generating false memories.

There is a case history by Dolores Spiegel and Charles Romig which was
published in the American Journal of Family Therapy that is a good
illustration of implanting of false memories. Sue entered therapy because she
was afraid that her finance would break off their engagement. She also
reported fears of the dark and had difficulty sleeping alone. She told the
therapist of dreams of being in her crib as a child and someone tickling her.
In the course of the session, she mentioned that she sometimes felt anger
toward her father but also insisted that she had a "fine and loving relationship
with him." The information received at that first session lead the therapist to
believe that Sue had been sexual abused as a child and that her father was the
likely abuser.

Because Sue continued to deny that she had been sexually abused by her
father, the therapist decided to use an indirect approach. While Sue was in a
hypnotic trance, the therapist told this story. "There was a small kingdom
with a powerful but friendly king who was well liked by his subjects. He was
very pleasant and was willing to meet with almost anyone to talk about
anything. He had a family of two sons and a daughter... It was a happy
kingdom, but something uneasy was going on in the castle. Like most kings,
this king had a wizard, who was very wise and powerful. The wizard was very
loyal to the king, which was important because the wizard had a powerful
secret word that would remove all the king's ability to rule if the wizard ever
spoke it. If the word were ever said, the king would not only lose his crown,
but his family would probably stop respecting and loving him, as would most
of the king's subjects. Only the king and the wizard knew about the magic
word. Since the king loved the wizard and needed the wisdom and power of
the wizard, and since the wizard was very loyal to the king, the king never
feared that the wizard would say the magic word. They lived happily until one
day the wizard wanted to visit other kingdoms to learn more and become a
better wizard. This frightened the king because the king was afraid the wizard
might meet someone and want to marry. The king was afraid the wizard
would change loyalties to someone else and someday might say the magic
word. The king and wizard had many arguments about this, and finally the
king told the wizard to leave and return only when the king gave permission.
The king even convinced himself that he had enough power to overcome the
power of the wizard's secret word. Bitter words were exchanged, and the
entire family felt much sadness as the wizard left, for you see, the wizard was
the king's own daughter."

At the end of the session, Sue was greatly upset. At the next session, she
expressed a belief that her father might have sexually abused her while she
was a child. What was Spiegel and Romig's analysis of these sessions. "The
story gave her the option of choosing how to respond to her own experiences,
which paralleled those of the fictional characters of the story. She choose to
stop denying her victimization and approach her abuse directly, thereby
setting the stage for therapy to began." Because the father became upset at
the daughters plan to leave home and his fear of the "magic word" which was
of course "incest," the assumptions could be that false memories were
implanted by the therapist by use of the story?

I believe that a therapist can plant seeds of abuse in the subconscious and
thereby lead a client to believe and become convinced that sexual abuse
actually happened. Unfortunately, it is a fact that under hypnosis (formal or
informal) people can confabulate or create memories. These people are often
unable to distinguish between memories created in the hypnotic state and
memories held prior to the hypnotic session. While attending a meeting of
incest survivors in a San Francisco Church, Stephanie Slater tells of one
young woman who said that she remembered her mother using scissors to
mutilate her genitalia. As she wept, she concluded her talk with, "I know I
should have scars from it but I don't" Sounds like Beth who was suppose to
have had abortions by her father, but when examined by a physician was still
a virgin .

Hypnosis can be misused because of the power of suggestion. The mind,

conscious and subconscious, is greatly influenced by suggestion. Suggestion is
a natural characteristic of our humanity. It can be used in education, worship,
politics, advertisements, human relationships and propaganda.

Used in the hypnotic context, suggestions are the acceptance of an idea or

belief to the point of causing changes in an individual's actions, body
responses, attitudes, emotions or characteristics. Just as anything else in
human experience, it can be used for good or bad. To show how a suggestion
can be used to produce a desired outcome, please close your eyes. With your
eyes closed and using your imagination, I am going to ask you two questions
and notice your responses. "Do you see the bird?" Now let that though go and
respond to this question, "Do you see a bird?" Let that thought go and open
your eyes. What was your experience as a response with the first question?
What was your response to the second question. What was the difference
between the two questions. The first presupposes a bird, "Do you see the
bird?" That question suggest that a bird is to be seen. The second question
leaves for you determine if a bird is seen. But truthfully, both bring to mind a
bird. A Recovered Memory Therapist may ask, "Do you see his penis?" or "Do
you see a penis?" both questions are very suggestive of a penis being present.

Another technique for the Recovered Memory Therapist is the use of guided
imagery. Mark Pendergrast in his book Victims of Memory wrote of a
recovered memory patient who told this story. My Therapist "made me
visualize a safe place. It was like a ring and I would lie down in the middle of
it. She'd talked to me through a guided imagery, with this really soothing
voice. 'Now just imagine that you're this little girl in the white sweater.
Imagine you're a helpless, vulnerable, defenseless little girl.' I told her how I
used to go to a day care center and lie under the piano, staring up at it. So she
took me back to the scene. I was totally seeing all of this as she said it. 'Are
you scared?' She asked, and I found that I was. 'Do you see somebody?' I saw
this piano repair man. 'Does he come and sit by you?'"

"And then suddenly I visualized him lying on top of me. Tricia was really
silent at this point, letting me live this scene. I imagined this man taking off
my pants and sweater and totally licking me and kissing me from my crotch
to my neckline." Though the patient had said nothing, The therapist asked, "is
he hurting you?" "Yes, yes,' I whispered. Then I opened my eyes and
screamed, Stop, stop! I want out of this. Tricia was calm, really calm, and she
was smiling. I grabbed my stuff. I was hyper ventilating. She said, 'If you need
to stay here a minute and settle down, that's fine. But I have another client
coming.' As I walked out the door, she said, 'You're probably going to feel self-
destructive, because flashbacks are really hard. So call me at any time.
(Durbin, The therapist gave the client a suggestion for a flashback which is
totally irresponsible and unethical.)

"Eventually, I came to believe that six men had abused me, including my
grandfather, Dad and my brother Jerry. Tricia would take a real incident and
help me turn it into something awful. 'Olivia, remember when you and your
brother were fighting downstairs, She said during one guided imagery
session. 'He throws you up against the wall. What is he doing?'. 'Now I'm on
the ground.' 'Is he on the ground too? I said, 'Oh my God, we're rolling
around on the ground together.' And then I saw him raping me. That night I
went home and cut all my long, curly hair off, my pride and joy. I think I
wanted to punish myself for thinking this about my brother."

Some Recovered Memory therapist use sodium amytal commonly called

"truth serum" which can produce hallucinations that can seem as real as a
true experience. People given sodium amytal have given details of their
history such as events, places, names and dates that were not true. As with
hypnosis, the individual is more susceptible to suggestions while under the
influence of sodium amytal Patients under the influence of sodium amytal fail
to reliably discriminate between reality and fantasy.

The use of dreams to uncover false memories is not uncommon among

Recovered Memory Therapist. To me it is not surprising that ideas, thoughts,
readings, that a person deal with all day long can show up in some form
during a dream. Remember that the key which set off Beth's therapist toward
recovered memories was a dream in which Beth and friends were being raped
as her father looked on and did nothing to stop the attacks?

Recovered Memory Therapists use automatic writing or journal writing to

help their clients recover memories. The client is encouraged to just began to
write down anything that comes to mind without concern for sentence
structure. While the client thinks of insect, she is to write down anything that
comes to mind while they think of incest. Another use of automatic writing is
to just write down a story of insect concerning the client without concern for
it being real or imagined. The client is to write the story as quickly as possible.
Fredrickson states "The unconscious can be relied on to select traumatic
incidents from your past for most or all of the 'story' since it is easier to rely
on experience rather than imagination when you do something quickly." The
use of these techniques suggest that memories are there and they are just
waiting for the right time to come up, but are they real or false?

Fredrickson also recommends the use of art therapy. Art therapy assesses two
types of unconscious memory which are acting-out memory (forgotten
memories spontaneously and physically enacted) and imagery memory
(memory that appears in the conscious mind as images). With art work the
client can trigger the recovery of repressed memories.

Body memories are described as memories which are retained in body cells as
well as in the brain. During the years before language is fully developed,
memories are stored in the body's cells. They believe that physical and
emotional problems of adulthood can be the results of the body's memories of
childhood sexual abuse. As with symptoms, dreams, art work, the notion of
the bodies memories becomes a means of indoctrination into recovered
memories.

A client is often told to join a survivors therapy group so that she can realize
that she is not the only one who has been abused and that she can receive
help from the group. A therapy group for people who have always remember
their abuse can be beneficial if the group is there to help each other deal with
present life situations. For individuals without memories of sexual abuse,
these groups are deceptive, dangerous, and another means of implanting
memories. In many recovered memory groups, the members try to out do the
other in their descriptions of abuse and they encourage those who have no
memories to get out of denial and remember.

There is a concerted effort to make the patient experience the emotional pain
of rape, sexual abuse and other horrible experiences through abreaction. They
have the client relive the supposed abuse and thereby releasing its power.
(Most hypnotherapist use abreaction as a releasing technique, but most of the
time the therapist will have the patient distant themselves from the pain and
view the experience from a safe place or as if it were on a TV screen.) The
Recovered Memory Therapist persuades their clients to literally feel the pain
of the rape and torture and the humiliation of their supposed experiences.

In their book Making Monsters, Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watters state,
"Therapist sometimes induce these abreaction weekly over years of therapy.
In describing the intense torment they subject their patients to, therapists
often portray themselves as if they were heroic doctors who could save their
patients' lives only by performing amputations without anesthesia." The
authors continue, "Although we don't suggest that these recovered memory
therapist take sexual pleasure from these abuse 'recreations,' some recovered
memory therapist perhaps deserve recognition as a new class of sexual
predator."

Anger and rage are encouraged by Recovered Memory Therapist. The

Courage to Heal has a chapter "Anger-The backbone of Healing" and the
client is advised, "Whether you express your anger directly to the abuser or
you work with it yourself, it's essential that you give it some outlet. You can
speak out, write letters (ether to send or purely for the chance to get your
feelings out), pound on the bed with a tennis racket, break old dishes, scream
(get a friend to scream with you), create an anger ritual (burn an effigy on the
beach), take a course in martial arts, visualize punching and kicking the
abuser where you do aerobics, volunteer at a recycling center and smash
glass, dance an anger dance. The list is endless. You can be creative with your
anger, And ultimately, you can heal with anger."

Some quotes from the the book are "I have such venomous hate. I pray to God
that [my father] comes down with some terrible disease. I'd like him to get
AIDS. That or Alzheimer's. I can't wait for his funeral ...this hatred affects me
in a positive way" "I'd watch Perry Mason to get ideas about how to kill my
father. It was really the best of times. Every day I would get a new method."

"I'd like to cut off his little huevos (penis). I've had offers from people who
said they'd go with me." "As a child ... you could not think about killing your
father when you relied on him to feed you." "I go through real revenge
periods. I imagine walking into my parents' house with a shotgun aimed right
at my father's balls. "Okay, Dad. Don't move an inch. Not one step, you
sucker. I'm gonia take 'em off one at a time. And I'm gonna take my sweet
time about it, too.'" "If your abuser has died, you may be glad he is dead. This
is a perfectly reasonable feeling to have. One woman said she couldn't wait for
her father to die so she could spit on his grave." These are statement of
women who have gone through recovered memory therapy and their
memories may well be false.

The client is encourage to have a confrontation with their abuser and/or

abusers This is usually done in the therapist office with strict guidelines.
Supported by the therapist and perhaps others, the client generals reads from
a prepared statement. They lists a variety of accusations such as "you
molested me when I was six months old, you raped me when I was four until I
was seventeen. Mother you let it happen. You did nothing to stop him and in
fact you assisted him and molested me also."

The parents are not allowed to challenge the accuser and if they say that the
abuse never occurred, they are accused of being in denial. Sometimes the
accusations are made over the telephone or in a letter with similar letters
written to other family members and friends. During these confrontations
there is usually a demand for the parents to pay for therapy and additional
sums of money for the pain they caused the survivor. If they don't get what
they want from the confrontation, they quite often sue and most of the so-
called survivors books encourage them to do so.

Flashbacks are a common occurrence for clients of Recovered Memory

Therapist. In an article for The International Journal of Clinical and
Experimental Hypnosis (Oct 1994) Dr. Fred H. Frankel states that flashbacks
are unbidden, often vivid, images that occur while the patient is awake. The
images are usually reported as having a haunting quality, distressing to the
patient. They may recur again and again. The patient often relates the origin
of the flashback to an earlier frightening experience.

The term "Flashback" was popularized by the Haight Asbury drug scene
where individuals who had been on drugs would flashback unexpected and
similar to the drug experience. Later the term was to describe the experience
of some Vietnam veterans who had flashbacks of some situation they
experienced during the war. Many trauma patients such as victims of crime,
combat, accidents, or other emotionally charged events can experience
flashbacks. Do these flashback always reflect an actual experience?

Dr. Michael Yapko begins his book Suggestions of Abuse by telling

the story a man who told his wife that he simply couldn't deal with
the scars remaining from Vietnam. In more than twenty years of
marriage, there had been plenty of episodes that led her to believe him. One
night, he went berserk, apparently in reaction to the sneakers she happened
to be wearing. After he calmed down, he told her that he had been a prisoner
for fifteen days after a carried-based F-4 jet fighter on which he was navigator
was shot down. His Vietcong captors wore similar sneakers when they came
to the bamboo cage in which he was keep prisoner. They regularly beat and
degraded him by urinating on him. He said he escaped after strangling a
guard, who, incidentally, was wearing the same kind of sneakers.

He finally went to see a therapist for his problems, describing in detail his
terrible experiences in Vietnam and his pervasive symptoms. He was
diagnosed as suffering from "posttraumatic stress disorder" and was treated
for severe depression, extreme guilt, and explosive anger. Treatment did not
help quickly enough, however. Less than three years later, he ended his
troubled life by inhaling carbon monoxide.

After his death, his wife attempted to get his name placed on the state's
Vietnam memorial, declaring him a casualty of the war as surely as if he'd
died overseas. His therapist wrote a letter in support of her petition. Only
then was his background researched. How could anyone have known that he
had never been to Vietnam? (p. 15)

Among many stories told by Eileen Franklin of how she recovered memories
of her father, George, raping and killing her friend years before was from a
flashback. She told her brother that she recalled the incident while under
hypnosis. She told her sister that the she became aware of the killings from a
dream. At her father's trail, she told the jury that she had remembered the
murder during a flashback triggered by when looking at her own daughter's
face. Based upon Eileen testimony of the recovered memory, George was
convicted of murder and sent to jail.

Recovered Memory Therapist encourages clients to give up their natural

families to included any relatives who does not agree with the client
concerning the alleged abuse. The authors of The Courage to Heal suggest
that one should separate themselves from the cause of their problems which
in their terms is "the family of origin." Their tendency is to picture the family
as poison for the client and destructive to the client. Fathers, grandfathers,
brothers, uncles and added to that list; mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and
aunts who either participated in the abuse, allowed it to happen without
interfering, or did not believe the accusation of the survivor.

I share with you a "before therapy" letter and an "after therapy" letter to
parents as printed in the False Memory Syndrome Foundation Newsletters,
(before therapy) Mom and Dad, Hi, just thought I would drop you a line to
say 'hi.' I have been so busy lately that I have forgotten to tell you guys how
much I love you. You two have done so much for me...You have continually
supported me, loved me, and helped me work through my various problems
and adventures... I just wanted you guys to know that you are appreciated. I
seldom tell you how I feel or how much you guys mean to me. I love you
more than words can say. Love, your daughter."

(After therapy) "Dear First Names, Why am I writing this letter: To state the
truth - Dad I remember just about everything you did to me. Whether you
remember it or not is immaterial - what's important is I remember. I had this
experience the other day of regressing until I was a little child just barely
verbal. I was screaming and crying and absolutely hysterical. I was afraid that
you were going to come get me and torture me. This is what sexual abuse is to
a child - the worst torture... I experienced what professionals call a 'body
memory.' My body convulsed for hours - the pain started in my vagina and
shot up and out of my mouth... I felt I was a small child being brutally raped. I
knew I was remembering what I had experienced as child... I asked who could
have done such a thing - initially I thought Mom, since I had a vague dream
about her - but that did not fit - then I blurted out, 'Oh my God, my father
repeatedly raped me'... I needed your protection guidance and understanding.
Instead I got hatred, violation, humiliation and abuse... I don't have to forgive
you... I no longer give you the honor of being my father.. I'm not the victim
anymore..." As the letter ended, I wonder if she was not the victim of an
overzealous Recovered Memory Therapist!

Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., whose husband was accused of the abuse by their adult
daughter, Jennifer, is the Executive Director of the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation. The Foundation's Scientific and Professional Advisory Board is
composed of prominent researchers and clinicians from the field of
psychiatry, psychology, social work, and education. The Foundation provides
information on memory and therapy practices. It advises and is a sounding
board for accused parents. It acts as a clearing house for information, puts
families in touch with resources which enables them to better cope with their
situation, built a library used by scholars, attorneys, families, and the media,
and produces a very good and informative Newsletter that keep thousands
informed on issues of interest to therapist, families and others.

About 20% of adults who remembered childhood sexual abuse while

undergoing Recovered Memory Therapy eventually recalled being victims of
satanic ritual abuse (SRA). A recent survey funded by the US government
stated that among 6,900 psychiatrists, psychologist, and social workers; 70%
had never seen an SRA client, most of the rest had handled one or two, but
l.4% had over a 100 cases. Much of the current beliefs about satanic ritual
abuse goes back to four books: Michelle Remembers, Satan Seller, Satan's
Underground, and He Came to Set the Captive Free. All of these books were
written by authors who claimed to be either victim or perpetrator. The most
influential of the four is Michelle Remembers by Dr. Lawrence Pazder and
Michelle Smith. SRA survivors have similar memories of abuse. They
remember evil, robe-covered adults, candles, knives, an altar and countless
horror stories of being breeders, having to kill their babies and eat the babies,
of being put in graves with snakes and spiders, and other such experiences.

The adult victim generally begins therapy for a seemingly unrelated problem
such as a sleep or eating disorder, depression, or marital difficulties. During
the course of treatment, the therapist will raise the possibility of repressed
memories of SRA. At first the client usually deny a past history of SRA but
after many session of intensive therapy, the client will gradually develop a
complex personal SRA history. Usually the therapist decides that the
repression was facilitated by a dissociative state and thus diagnosis multiple
personality disorder (MPD). After more long term, intensive therapy and
support group involvement, including "abreacting," or "reliving" each of the
traumatic "memories," the Recovered Memories Therapist may help the
patient to integrate her personalities and be healed.

For many years policeman, Randy Emon believed in SRA and conducted
presentations on the validity of satanic crimes. As time went by and due to
the continued lack of hard evidence of SRA, he changed his mind and
position. Over the years, he interviewed a large number of abuse survivors.
One common link was that each had emotional problems and sought
counseling from a therapist. After lengthy counseling, each person was
eventually diagnosed as a breeder, a survivor, or a ritual abuse victim. Most
were also diagnosed as having MPD. During his interviews, he asked each
alleged survivor for any physical evidence supporting the allegations, but not
one could provide any evidence.

After analyzing the interviews, he observed a common pattern of symptoms

and behavior. (1) Satanic cult survivors could not remember any specific
details of abuse until they sought professional counseling for existing
emotional problems. Subsequently, the therapist discovered the patient had
been an unwilling victim of satanic cult rituals. (2) Satanic cult survivors had
initially developed bad dreams, unusual paranoia and other emotional
ailments causing them to seek professional counseling. (3) Almost all satanic
cult survivors experienced therapist-assisted regression hypnotherapy or
visualization techniques to aid in memory recall. (4) Many satanic cult
survivors claimed that they were sexually used for breeding purposes. (5)
Many claimed to have been impregnated but their child was killed as part of a
ritual ceremony. (6) Once the satanic cult survivors believed their recalled
accounts, they struggled emotionally for credibility of their belief from their
counselor/therapist or others because no one could provide concrete evidence
of the occurrence of the abuse.

The Recovery Memory Therapy Movement has many cult-like qualities.

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary definition of cult is a group with a "devoted
or extreme attachment to or extravagant admiration for a thing or ideal,
especially as manifested by a body of admirers; any system for treating
human sickness that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or
unscientific." Generally a cult will claim to be the only way to God, Nirvana,
Paradise, healing, and such. Some characteristics of a cult are: (1) Their
leader's may claim a special revelation. The therapist is the leader and
develops a situation where the client depends upon on them for salvation. (2)
They believe that they have the whole truth. Everyone is a victim and needs to
recovery the memories of abuse in order to be whole. (3) They use
intimidation or psychological manipulation to keep members loyal to their
truth. If one says she experienced no childhood sexual abuse, she is said to be
in denial. (4) Members will be expected to give substantial support. The cost
of therapy is high and can go on for years. (5) There is great emphasis on
loyalty to the group and its teachings. The client must accept the diagnosis of
the leader and allow herself to discover the repressed memories of abuse. (6)
Members are encouraged go give up their natural families for the family of
the cult. The survivors group is to take the place of the family of origin and
the family of origin must be denounced.(7) Members will look to their leaders
for guidance in everything they do. During treatment the client becomes
overly dependent on their therapist. (8) Any questioning of the group's
teaching is discouraged. If she suggest that she has no sexual abuse history,
the group ridicules her and say that she is in denial. (9) Attempts to leave may
be met with threats. The client is told that she can never heal until she has
dealt with her abuse and can make it on her own.

You may ask, "Why would anyone believe so painful and horrible experiences
as insect if it did not really happen?" Some reasons for believing are: (1) The
Therapist is the authority and the client is told her that childhood sexual
abuse is the cause of her problems. (2) Recovered memories of sexual abuse
give the client a reason for her problems. (3) Because doubting is considered
proof of "denial" and resistance to getting well. (4) Because focusing on the
abuse gives her a reason for her experience of parental neglect and emotional
abandonment. (5) The recovered memory provides a compelling and guilt-
free reason for separating from one's family. (6) It is less painful to blame
others than to examine one's own personal feelings and work through the
problems to a more meaningful life. (7) While using hypnosis, guided imagery
and other techniques; the therapist implants false memories of sexual abuse
into the mind of the client which seem real.

The case of Lynn Gondolf has been reported in a number of books and
writings on False Memory Syndrome is an prototype of many who have gone
to Recovered Memory Therapist. Lynn came to her therapist with an eating
disorder and was asked if she had been sexually abused as a child. From the
beginning of therapy, Lynn told her therapist at the age of six, she had been
sexually abused by an uncle. That was not enough for the therapist who keep
insisting that her parents must have been involved in the abuse. The therapist
said, "All I want you to do is think about it. Try to imagine the scene in your
mind. Your were a little girl, just six years old, going off with your uncle for
several for several hours and coming back dirty, sweaty, probably scared to
death. You must have cried, acted out, misbehaved, clung to your mother. Do
you really think they didn't know something was wrong? Just think about it,
Lynn. Keep trying to remember exactly what happened."

The therapist continued to use relaxation, deep breathing, imagery, and

hypnosis to help her recover the memory of sexual abuse by her parents.
Finally Lynn said, "Maybe your right. Maybe they did know." The therapist
then states "Now that we know that they knew and we know they did nothing
to stop it, don't we have to wonder: Could they have been a part of this? Is it
possible that you were also abused by your father or mother, or perhaps
both."

Time and time again, Lynn tried to get her therapist to work with her to
overcome her eating disorder, but the therapist insisted that the recovery of
abuse was the only way to healing. In regards to Lynn's binging and purging,
the therapist said, "You're trying to vomit up a flashback.... Once you
remember the truth about your past, the need to purge yourself will stop and
your eating disorder will gradually fade away." Lynn responded "My mother
and father never touched me." The therapist responded, "Lynn, Lynn, your
symptoms are too severe and long-lasting to be explained away by your
uncle's abuse, as awful as that was...I believe there must be something else
back there in your past, something much, much worse that you have not been
able to face...Something in your past is trying to make itself known. Keep
listening waiting, watching, imaging. The memories will come." and the did.

Following a guided imagery of her father raping her, she began having
flashback of her father raping her. The therapist began to included her
mother in the guided imagery and memories of her mother joining in the
abuse come to her.

The therapist had her bring her parents to therapy so that she could confront
them. When they denied that the accusations, they were told that they were in
denial. Whenever Lynn began to doubt her memories, she was told that she
was in denial. She was part of group therapy with other survivors. They spent
hours discussing how they were abused when they were children. The
members of the group tended to have similar flashbacks and incorporated
parts of each others stories into their own story. She went from an
independent woman to one who was extremely dependant on her therapist
and group. The massive doses of drugs, the preoccupation with sexual abuse,
the paranoia inspired by her therapist, the mass hysteria of the group worked
together till she had to be admitted to the hospital.

After a length stay in the hospital one of the psychiatrist checked her out
saying to her, "You don't belong in this institution." and advised her to go
home and get on with her life. After a short time back with her old therapist,
she had run out of money, could not afford her medication, and so entered a
drug rehabilitation program. They were not interested in Lynn's childhood
abuse so much as they wanted her to meet the problems of today. She said,
"I'd not had therapy like that before. In my incest victimization therapy, I'd
been taught that...if I felt bad, I'd stay home. I'd stay in bed all day. I'd take an
extra Xanex. I didn't have to be responsible...because I'm an incest victim.
Because all of these awful things that happened to me I didn't have to live by
the same rules the rest of you all do." While in drug rehab, Lynn began to
realize that her memories were false. She stopped seeing her Recovered
Memory Therapist, she left her therapy group, quit take medication, and she
got on with her life. She realized that her therapy had created her trauma
rather than abuse by her father and mother because that abuse never
happened.

Some guidelines for therapist: (1) If the therapist is going to bring up the
possibility of sexual abuse, it should be part of the patient history intake
information and should be one question among many. The question may be
"Were you sexually abused as a child?" If the answer to that question is "No."
accept the answer. (2) Do not diagnosis sexual abuse based on the client's
symptoms. (3) A therapist should not assume that sexual abuse has occurred
because a person has periods from her past that she can not remember. (3) Be
aware of how you word questions or suggestions so that you do not lead a
person to have false memories. (4) Be aware that because of books, TV/radio
programs, magazines articles and newspaper articles that false memories may
have already been planted before the client come to you. (5) Understand that
memory can be distorted even when the person is in a hypnotic state. (6)
Work toward coping with life in the here and now rather than focusing on the
past especially with repeated emotionally reliving painful experiences
whether real or false. (7) Do not put a client without clear and detailed
memories of abuse into a survivors therapy group and then only if the group
deals with adjusting to the world in the here and now. (8) Do not advise a
client to read The Courage to Heal or any other book written by a so-called
survivor. (9) Be careful when using progressive relaxation, suggestions,
guided imagery, hypnosis, or other hypnotic like states that you do not give
leading suggestions of abuse. (10) Be certain that you are not meeting some
sexual need of your own by helping your client come to share with you sexual
abuse whether real or false.(11) If you were sexually abused as a child, do not
assume that everyone else was abused also. (12) Question your motives
before you suggest that a client confront and separates from her natural
family. (13) Do no harm. Continue to use hypnosis to help others come to
terms with life and thus live a better life, but beware of false memories.

Wissel-Gramm M. Yapko P. Freyd & E. Goldstein

BOOKS ON FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME AND RECOVERED

MEMORIES:

Baker, R. A. (1992) Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions From Within.

Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.

Bass, E. and Davis, L. (1994) The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women
 Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. 3rd ed. NY: Harper
Perennial.

Blume, E. S. (1990) Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and

Its Aftereffects in Women. NY: Ballantine.

Bradshaw, J. (1995) Family Secrets: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You.
NY: Bantam.

Davis, Laura. (1990) Courage to Heal Workbook. NY: Harper Row.

Dawes, R. M. (1994) House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built

on Myth. NY: Free Press.

False Memory Syndrome Foundation: FMS Foundation 1955 Locust Street,

Philadelphia, PA 19103-5766

Fredrickson, R. (1992) Repressed Memories: A Journey to Recovery from

Sexual Abuse. NY: Simon & Schuster.

Goldstein, E. and Farmer, K. (1993) True Stories of False Memories. Boca

Raton, FL: SIRS.

Goldstein, E., with Farmer, K. (1992) Confabulations: Creating False

Memories, Destroying Families. Boca Raton, FL: SIRS.

Gondolf, L. P. (1992) "Traumatic Therapy". Issues in Child Abuse

Accusations. 4, 239-245.

Hansen, J. "The False Memory Syndrome: How It's Affecting The Use of
Hypnosis" NGH Convention Manual, 1994, "What Is The False Memory
Controversy?" NGH Convection Manual, 1995, "Hypnosis - Controversial
Again" NGH Convention Manual, 1995. Merrimack, NH.

Herman, J. L. (1992) Trauma and Recovery. NY: Basic Books.

Herman, J. L. (1981) Father-daughter Incest. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U.
Press.

"Hypnosis and Delayed Recall: Part 1" (Oct 1994 Vol xlii # 4) The
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Periodicals Press.

"Hypnosis and Delayed Recall: Part 2" (April 1995 Vol xliii # 4) The
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Periodicals Press.

Loftus, E. and Ketcham, K. (1994) The Myth of Repressed Memory: False

Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse. NY: St. Martin's.

Loftus, E. and Ketcham, K. (1991) Witness for the Defense: The Accused, the
Eyewitness, and the Expert Who Puts Memory on Trial. NY: St. Martin's

Maltz, Wendy. (1991) The Sexual Healing Journal: A Guide for Survivors of
Sexual Abuse NY: Haper Collins.

Nathan, D. and Snedeker, M. (1995) Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the
Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. NY: Basic Books.

Ofshe, R. and Watters, E. (1994) Making Monsters: False Memories,

Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria. NY: Scribner.

Pendergrast, M. (1995, 1996) Victims of Memory: Sex Abuse Accusations and

Shattered Lives. Second ed. Hinesburg, VT: Upper Access.

Piper, August. (1997) Hoax and Reality: The Bizarre World of Multiple
Personality Disorder. Jason Aronson.

Prozan, C. K. (1992) Feminist Psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Northvale, NJ:

Jason Aronson

Prozan, C. K. (1992) The Technique of Feminist Psychoanalytic

psychotherapy. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson

Stephens, R.L. (1996) Hypnosis and False Memories. Freeport, PA: Ziotech.

Underwager, R. and Wakefield, H. (1994) The Return of the Furies: Analysis

of Recovered Memory Therapy. Chicago: Open Court.

Wassil-Grimm, C. (1995) Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth

about False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers and Families.
Woodstock, NY: Overlook.

Yapko, M.D. (1994) Suggestions of Abuse: True and False Memories of

Childhood Sexual Traumas. NY: Simon & Schuster.