HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Bob & Carole

2001 has been a crazy and sad year. 

We hope 2002 will be better for everyone.

Man recants repressed 'memories'

By KIRK MAKIN

The 35-year-old man's recantation at a Toronto conference will put a symbolic nail in the coffin of a controversial psychological phenomenon: repressed memory syndrome.

"It takes a lot of courage to come to the realization that someone abused you when you were young," Mr. Mak said. "It also takes a lot of courage to admit it wasn't true; that for all the years I was separated from my dad, I was wrong. It is very liberating." It was back in 1991 that Mr. Mak first confronted his father -- Adriaan Mak--with his allegation of being raped at the age of 2 or 3. "He told me in a monotonous, almost trance-like voice," the 70-year-old man said in an interview. "He said his therapist had led him to expect that I would be 'in denial,' and that my denial confirmed my guilt. With that, he left me standing in the street. I was in total shock."

His family was devastated. Rowland -- a bright youth who had enjoyed the usual privileges of a middle-class home -- had been spiraling into an aimless world of LSD, drug-peddling, dead-end jobs and welfare payments.

Depressed and confused, he had been undergoing regular therapy for a year. Yesterday, he described himself as a sensitive youth whose psychological moorings were damaged in his teens by two separate incidents in which older men took advantage of him sexually.

He recalled being struck during one session when his therapist said she had been a victim of ritual abuse herself and knew a great deal about repressed memories. "I remember her saying: 'I wouldn't close the door on sexual abuse – there has got to be some reason you're afraid of your father,' " he recalled. “ Suddenly, it rang true for me -- I believed my father had raped me."

Several months after leveling his accusations, Rowland's therapist floated the idea that his abuse could have been part of an elaborate cult ritual. He immediately seized upon the idea, and commenced patching together "memories" of his father and other men abusing him and other children. "I came to believe they were connected to a secret society that controls all of society," he recalled.

How can a person actually create memories without realizing the falsity of what they are doing? Rowland Mak said it is not particularly difficult if one is both psychologically vulnerable and being aided by a sympathetic therapist who believes in what she is doing. "When you are exploring your subconscious and deep emotions that you are unaware of, you give a therapist a tremendous amount of power," he said. He said his convictions were continually reinforced by other "survivors," who clustered together at meetings and described the abuse they felt they had suffered.

While all this was going on, Adriaan Mak was attempting to fight his growing depression by immersing himself in the task of exposing repressed memory therapy as a fad that had destroyed thousands of families. As successful as the campaign was, what the retired high school teacher wanted most was to get his disaffected son back.

In the late 1990s, Rowland Mak quit drugs, left therapy, settled down with a woman and took up the study of positive thinking. Then, a year ago, he was struck by a startling revelation as he changed his daughter's diapers. The child was the same age Rowland had been when he was anally raped – at least, according to his reconstructed memories. He suddenly realized that the offence he had accused his father of perpetrating was improbable in the extreme -- and that a child of such tender years simply couldn't carry that sort of coherent memories.

"It just hit me that this didn't happen," he said yesterday. "I called my father, and said: 'Dad, you were right. It didn't happen.’ "

Rowland Mak intends to tell his story today to the group his father has worked with so tirelessly: the False Memory Foundation. "I have problems when I think about my therapist, because she crossed lines she shouldn't have," he said yesterday. "But I don't have anger to the recovered memory therapy community itself. It was all just a colossal, well-intentioned mistake."

High court lets therapy suit proceed;

Ruling lets parents of patient sue over abuse allegations

By Tom Kertscher—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The parents of a woman who made abuse allegations against them after getting psychotherapy treatment can sue the therapists and a Waukesha County hospital, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, reversing a lower court decision.

Charles and Karen Johnson of St. Louis had sued Rogers Memorial Hospital in Oconomowoc and therapists after the treatment of their adult daughter, Charlotte. The Johnsons claimed that the psychotherapy led their daughter to make false allegations of sexual and physical abuse against them.

After their lawsuit was thrown out by Dane County Circuit Judge Daniel Moeser, the Johnsons appealed. They appealed again after the state's 4th District Court of Appeals in Madison ruled that the suit could not proceed because it would violate Charlotte Johnson's right to confidentiality in a therapist-patient relationship.

The high court ruled Tuesday that the Johnsons have a right to proceed with their lawsuit and sent the case back to Circuit Court for trial. In an opinion written by Justice William Bablitch, the court said that "further development of the factual record is necessary" before a decision can be made regarding the suit and Charlotte Johnson's confidentiality rights.

The Johnsons filed a medical malpractice suit in May 1996 in Dane County Circuit Court against Rogers Memorial Hospital and therapists in Madison and Oconomowoc. They alleged that after their daughter began psychotherapy treatment in 1991, she falsely accused them of physically and sexually abusing her as a young child.

Charlotte Johnson ceased any relationship with her parents and still believes that they abused her, according to court records. The Supreme Court said that the Johnsons' lawsuit had not progressed far enough for a court to determine whether it would unfairly impinge on Charlotte Johnson's right to confidentiality.

Pamela Freyd, executive director of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in Philadelphia, called the decision "highly significant" because families have been blocked from bringing such suits.

William Smoler, the couple's attorney, said the ruling was key in allowing parents to challenge the use of repressed-memory therapies on their children.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE

We have noticed that some of the families harmed by recovered memory therapy are no longer members of the FMS Foundation. We think it is possible to move on and yet continue support of the Foundation.

For reuniting families, the Foundation Newsletter's "From Our Readers" seems to be a most helpful forum for the exchange of ideas, opinions and support. For those whose children remain angry and distant, the Foundations' leadership continues to be a lifeline.

Please consider renewing your membership by the first of the year and urge others to do the same. What value for only 28 cents a day!

—from Joan Schmitz, MN and Karen Johnson, MO Volunteer state FMSF contacts

PLEASE continue to support your local FMSF chapters. With your attendance at meetings and your donations...Their survival depends on YOU and the families in your area...AND Spread The Word To Others You Can Contact.

More on Karen Johnson in January 2002