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False Memory Syndrome
Media Analysis, Journalism, Press
False Memory Syndrome Facts Website
Expose: Messing With Our Minds - "Messing with Our Minds
With links to CIA mind control experts and accused child abusers,
the false memory movement turns "blaming the victim" into a
science..." Husayn Al-Kurdi's article in Toward Freedom: A progressive perspective on world events.
Read about the Special Edition of Ethics & Behavior -- A must-read
for anyone concerned with the issue of recovered memories.
For an account of the journalistic coverage of "false memory syndrome," see
Mike Stanton's U-Turn on Memory Lane,
published in the Columbia Journalism Review.
"Many reporters don't realize that the FMSF's impressive array of
scientific advisers represents just one part of the broad spectrum of
psychological thought. The board is dominated by research
psychologists and biologically oriented therapists -- inclined to seek
physical reasons for problems and treat them with drugs -- along
with older, psychoanalytically oriented psychiatrists. There are few
younger female therapists." -- Stanton
Three articles about the recovered memory backlash by Toronto Star columnist Michelle Landsberg are online at Arana's Place;
more. Landsberg experienced a backlash of her own after
their publication. Read about it here.
Clinician, consultant, author and lecturer David Calof, Ph.D.,
published a two-part interview with Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., co-founder of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in the journal he founded, Treating Abuse Today (Vol. III, No. 3). Now editor emeritus of that publication,
Dr. Calof has graciously permitted his articles to be reprinted on this site. Part I (84K and approximately 24 printed pages) is now online.
5/8/98: Part 2 of this interview is now online.
From Part I,
Dr. Pamela Freyd comments on Dr. Calof's mention of the sarcasm, character
assassination and ad hominem remarks directed towards therapists by some "false memory syndrome" proponents:
"Even if we assume
for the moment that ALL the parents
have dissociated and forgotten what happened and have an unreal image of
life, imagine how they could feel that somebody has come into their lives
and stolen or harmed their children. And maybe they are foolish and they
don't really love them, but if somebody comes into your house and
harms your child or someone in your family -- I mean, people shoot people
for that."
-- Pamela Freyd, Ph.D.
How ethical is FMSF board member Elizabeth Loftus? Her misrepresentation of the facts in articles
in Skeptical Inquirer and Psychology Today caused APA ethics complaints to be filed by Lynn
Crook and Jennifer Hoult (plaintiffs who prevailed in civil cases in which Loftus testified). However,
in a slick maneuver, Loftus resigned her APA membership before the complaints could be investigated.
Here's a reprint of the Treating Abuse Today
article which details this course of events.
Moving Forward was instrumental early on in this discussion by publishing
a series of groundbreaking articles. Many of these are being placed online:
Backlash:
A Look at the Abuse-Related Amnesia and Delayed Memory Controversy,
by Lana R. Lawrence (Moving Forward, Vol. II, No. 4, pp. 1+). Published in 1993, this article was one of the very first critical analyses of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation
to be published.
FMS Foundation Asks Underwager and Wakefield To Resign From Advisory Board, then Changes Position
by Lana R. Lawrence (Moving Forward, Vol. II, No. 4, pp. 12-13, 1993).
What They Said: "Interview: Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager," Paidika, Winter, 1993
by Lana R. Lawrence (Moving Forward, Vol. II, No. 4, p. 13, 1993).
Underwager Resigns From False Memory Syndrome Foundation Advisory Board, Wakefield and Others Remain,
by Lana R. Lawrence (Moving Forward, Vol. II, No. 5, p. 3, 1993).
An Open Letter to the Advisory Board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation,
by Pamela Birrell (Moving Forward, Vol. II, No. 5, pp. 4-5, 1993).
Divided Memories: Letters to PBS and Frontline by Ross Cheit, (Moving Forward Vol. III, No. 3, 1995).
Why did producer/writer Ofra Bikel appear to ignore corroborated cases of recovered memories in PBS Frontline's "Divided Memories"?
The Highly Misleading "Truth & Responsibility in Mental
Health Practices Act:": The "False Memory" Movement's Remedy for a Nonexistent Problem, by Judith M. Simon, (Moving Forward, Volume III, No. 3, pp 1, pp. 12-21, 1995).
False Memory Syndrome: A False Construct, by Juliette Cutler Page (Feminista! Vol. I, No. 9), examines
the development of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation and its claims, and notes
"False Memory Syndrome is not listed in the DSM-IV
(sometimes known as the 'psychologists' bible'), not because there
hasn't been time to research it, but because there is not even a
scientific definition of 'False Memory Syndrome', and therefore no
way to study it, to determine who might develop it or even who has
it."
5/27/98: Wenatchee Sex Ring: Documents related to the Wenatchee, WA sex ring case.
6/30/98: Verdict: Jury vindicates Wash. state sex crime probe (Wenatchee case)
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'False Memory Syndrome' and the Media