OHIO ASSOCIATION OF RESPONSIBLE MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICES

April 2003

I have been wanting to do this article by Kenneth Pope for a long time, but it was so long. It is worth reading.   ~ Carole

HOW FALSE MEMORIES ARE CREATED: An overview

By Donna Anderson

[A post by Donna Anderson regarding an inquiry about how false memories are created, posted on the Newsgroup: sci.psychology.psychotherapy]

(1) First and foremost is the presentation of a belief in repression by the therapist. I don't believe anyone has ever gone to a therapist who did not believe in repression and ended up with repressed/recovered memories. The weight such an opinion carries is significant.

(2) Recommending books like The Courage to Heal that present repression theories as facts and describe horrific scenes of sexual abuse and/or having the client watch movies about repressed/recovered memories of sexual abuse.

(3) Providing lists of supposed "symptoms" of someone who has been sexually abused.

(4) Treating clients "as if" they were an abuse victim even though they have no always-remembered abuse memories.

(5) Attending support groups or group therapy sessions where abuse is discussed when the person has no always-remembered abuse memories.

(6) Interpreting dreams as recovered memories.

(7) Discouraging clients from contact with people who don't believe they were abused.

(8) Use of any trance-inducing techniques (relaxation exercises, hypnosis, guided imagery, etc.) to "retrieve" memories.

There is a process involved in the creation of false memories.

(1) Usually, there is first a rewriting of the client's past as they knew it, with concepts presented that result in the client looking at the past much more negatively than previously. This stage should not be underestimated. It can leave a person feeling disoriented and like everything they previously thought they knew about their life is untrue. It creates a certain vulnerability.

(2) Then there is the indoctrination into the repression belief system. This may include the therapist's own opinions on repression, books, movies, support groups, etc.

(3) The indoctrination process results in the person being obsessed with thoughts of sexual abuse. The thoughts are intrusive and they may have difficulty thinking about anything else.

(4) Usually at this point, memories begin being "recovered." Sometimes trance techniques are used, but they are not necessary for false memories to occur.

(5) The final stage is often establishing the "survivor" identity so that the person can replace their old "lost" family and accompanying sense of belonging with a new group.

The problem therapists face is that any client coming to you can be at any stage in this process. They may have already been "contaminated" by the repression movement via books, other people, movies, TV shows, etc. so that the indoctrination process is already underway. This is why it is so important to assess what outside influences the client has already experienced. Just because someone says, "I retrieved all my memories prior to therapy" does not make the memories any more likely.

This process, incidentally, has eerie similarities to what happens when people are recruited into cults. An interesting book: Combating Cult Mind Control by Steven Hassan. Hassan was recruited into the moonies and was one of their top recruiters until his parents were able to get him out after a car accident. He talks about how he was "recruited” and how he recruited others.