According to the textbook and film, there still seems to be a controversy between repressed memories and false memories that deal with childhood sexual abuse. Most of the time childhood sexual abuse is done by the father or other close relatives in the family, which gives a reason to repress the memory and try to forget that traumatic occurrence. Sigmund Freud is the one who made known the notion of repressed memories. Repressed memories are the reminiscences of a traumatic occurrence that get kept in the mind for several years, which eventually affects the aspiration, action, and conscious thoughts of these individuals. As said by Freud, repressed memories are a coping mechanism because these memories are made unconscious for many years. The …show more content…
On the other hand, false memories are the recollection of events that did not actually take place. False memories tend to deal with childhood sexual abuse that arises from suggestions of the therapists or other techniques such as hypnosis. Some methodological problems that were noted throughout the two films in order to tap into the repressed memories are hypnosis and clinical therapy. The issue that arises from these two methods is that they are divisive owing to the risks of therapists generating and embedding false memories. Hypnosis requires the incentive of relaxation, attentiveness and focus of their clients dealing with repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse. It tends to be used to recover recollections that were made unconscious in the mind for a long period of time. The human brain has the ability to repress memories of traumatic experiences. Clinical therapy has been a well known technique that is used with the purpose of recovering repressed memories from their client’s. These therapists assist their client’s in explaining how memories work, discussing a variety of options that could be the cause of distress, and help the client’s reach out to their families so as to put everything together and reach a solution.
6. With respect to the controversy regarding reports of repressed memories of sexual abuse, statements by major psychological and psychiatric associations suggest that:
The influence of the investigators parallels the influence of therapists in cases of sexually abused children's recovered memories. Works Cited 1)Silverglate, Harvey A; Takei, Carl:Mistrial- The Capturing of Friedman's DVD sheds new light on the case.
Many counselors attribute their clients' woes to long-buried "repressed" memories of childhood sexual abuse. They help clients to unlock these, and rewrite their pasts. Clients sever all former ties with "families of origin" and surround themselves only with other "survivors", to prevent confirmation or denial.
Repressed vs. false memories has been a critical debate in criminal cases and daily life problems. Throughout the years many people has claimed to recover repressed memories with the simplest triggers varying from a gaze to hypnosis. However, a large number of repressed memories claimed are considered as false memories because the images were induced through hypnosis and recalled during a therapy sesion. In the film “divided memories” the main intention was to inform the audience the importance of repressed memories and how those memories can change the lives of the people involved, whether the memory was considered repressed or false. It shows different cases of women being victims of sexual abuse in childhood and how they had those memories repressed. Additionally, the film
In addition, some argue that the recovery of repressed memories during psychotherapy might be a result of suggestive practices employed by the therapist (Madill & Holch, 2004). This has raised questions among scholars who have suggested that the creation of false memories is plausible, especially if repressed memories have been recovered in therapy where suggestive techniques, such as hypnosis, have been used by the therapist in treatment. Ms. Jaynor stated that after experiencing symptoms of depression and low self-esteem, she decided to seek help and started therapy to treat her symptoms. Ms. Jaynor mentioned to therapist Janet Balderston that she did not recall any traumatic experiences as a child. Memories of her childhood were not clear but she remembered it as being average, neither terrible nor extremely happy. Ms. Jaynor’s therapist suggested hypnosis and dream interpretation as part of treatment since Cindy’s description of her childhood was typical of a person who suffered from
False memories being created is obvious through many different ways, such as eye-witness testimonies and past experiments that were conducted, however repression is an issue that has many baffled. There seems to be little evidence on the factual basis of repressed memories, and many argue that it does not exist. The evidence for repression in laboratories is slowly emerging, but not as rapidly as the evidence for false memories. It has been hard to clinically experiment with repressed memories because most memories are unable to be examined during the actual event to corroborate stories. Experimenters are discovering new ways to eliminate this barrier by creating memories within the experiment’s initial phase. This is important for examining the creation of false memories during the study phase. This research study will explore the differences between recovered memories and false memories through research and experiments. Other terms and closely related terms will be discussed, while examining any differences, in relation to repressed memories. The possibility of decoding an actual difference between recovered memories and false memories, through biological techniques. Because false memories can be created, examining these creations in a laboratory setting can shed light on facts overlooked. Exploring these issues will also help with the development of better therapeutic techniques for therapists in dealing with memories. This can lead to an easier process for patients and therapists if they must go through the legal system in relation to an uncovered memory.
An alternative view to this debate, are from practicing therapist who argue that most recovered memories are true, and that there is still some evidence to support the concept of repressed memories (Briere & Conte, 1993). They claim that traumatic memories such as sexual abuse tend to be different from ordinary memories because they are encoded in a way that prevents them from being accessible in everyday life. In addition, they argue that certain procedures during therapy are necessary in order to bring the repressed memories back into conscious awareness, and this is deemed necessary in order to help the patient recover. Despite these claims, there is little evidence to support the validity of reported cases of recovered memories, and most of the theories are mainly based on speculation rather than scientific evidence. However, there have been some cases in which a recovered memory did corresponded to an actual event that occurred. For example, an article by Freyd (1999), reported a case in which a man called Frank Fitzpatrick recovered memories of sexual abuse from childhood. Although this
Recently there has been an extreme debate between "false" vs. "repressed" memories of abuse. A false memory is created when an event that really happened becomes confused with images produced by trying to remember an imagined event. The term false memory syndrome refers to the notion that illusionary and untrue memories of earlier child abuse can be 'recalled' by adult clients during therapy. In an increasingly polarized and emotive debate, extreme positions have been adopted, on one side by those believing that recovered memories nearly always represent actual traumatic experiences, for example, Fredrickson (1992) who argues for a 'repressed memory syndrome' and, on the other side, by those describing a growing epidemic of false memories of abuse which did not occur. (Gardner, 1992; Loftus, 1993; Ofshe & Watters, 1993; Yapko, 1994).
Many research studies have been conducted to show the validity of repressed memories (Serendip, 2005). A study was conducted by Linda Williams, where 129 women had been sexually abused in the 1970’s (Serendip, 2005). The study showed that 20 years after the traumatic event occurred, “38% of the women did not remember being admitted into the hospital, 12% do not remember the actual abuse, and 16% claimed that for a period of time they did not remember the abuse, however they recalled the memory at a later date” (2005, paragraph 3). The results proved the validity of memory repression in which traumatic events, such as sexual abuse, cause memory loss for the specific period or for the entire event (Serendip,
Many of these researchers have considered recovered memories to be pseudomemories, in fact. These researchers believe that recovered memories are most likely a result of suggestive therapeutic practices. Therefore, these researchers believe that clinicians are more responsible for the creation of these memories than the individuals reporting that they have experienced recovered memories themselves. Overall, there is not any evidence to support the notion that human memory functions in a fashion that would permit forgotten traumatic experiences to be randomly remembered years after the event (Patihis, Lilienfeld, Ho, & Loftus, 2014). Conversely, Bartol & Bartol (2015) argued that it is very possible that a portion of sexual abuse victims actually do forget the traumatic events that they have experienced and that they could eventually recover these memories years after the abuse has occurred.
This essay will critically discuss the assertion that the memory wars can never be resolved. First, the essay will consider the background of the memory wars, which refers to the debate over whether recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse exist or if they are in fact false memories. The essay will then consider the approaches that both sides of the debate take in relation to memory, before discussing the relevant methods they employ and limitations these may present, which could impact a resolution to the memory wars. Based on the arguments and evidence, suggestions for a resolution of the memory wars will be considered. The essay will also consider middle ground between opponents of the debate and finally, it will explore whether false and recovered memories can be distinguished from each other.
Memories of Sexual Abuse Are Always Real Do you know what it feels like to ever have memories of sexual abuse? That would be very terrifying. Unfortunately sexual abuse is all too common in society today. In fact, “16% of men have said to have been sexually abused, while 64% of women have reported to have been sexually abused according to a study in 2005” (1in6.org,)
There will always be time when that memory comes up. (Scholarship) Childhood sexual abuse victims suffer from a lot of symptoms and psychological problems because of the traumatic childhood experience. To try to move past the trauma and cope with sexual abuse, children need the help of professionals and treatment methods. There are many successful treatment methods can work with different childhood sexual