I was walking through a grocery store parking lot after taking care of errands one evening after work. A woman who appeared to be around my age approached me; she was extremely frazzled, upset, and afraid. After asking me for a cigarette, she asked if she could use my cell phone, explaining that she was not sure how many calls she would have to make because she needed to locate someone in her family who could take her to the hospital. Stating the reason for her desperation was she'd run out of prescription medication, she continued on to tell me why her situation was so urgent.
The woman said her therapist told her people literally have boxes inside their heads where everything they cannot deal with is automatically filed away; she said the therapist told her that when the boxes are full, the person's head will literally explode- and all that was preventing her head from blowing sky-high was medication she'd been prescribed.
One of the many experts, seeming to speak not only for himself but others as well, stated this issue 'will come to be recognized as the quackery of the 20th century.' What they evidently do not realize is that it is still occurring.
I heard virtually nothing of the so-called repressed/recovered memory movement at the time. While multiple thousands of individuals, minds, families, relationships, and futures were destroyed during the 1980s and 1990s, all I heard were vague references to the McMartin Preschool and a woman who claimed she had 'memories' of her father murdering her best friend. While these cases alone destroyed innocent lives, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I learned how extreme and widespread the 'quackery' was- and how many lives were destroyed because of it. But one case I read about really caught my eye. To protect the privacy of the person and her family, I'll simply refer to her as 'P.'
In the 1980s, P was 26 years old, married, with two children, and was living in Des Moines, Iowa. After the birth of her second child, she was experiencing problems with Post-Partum Depression, and instead of treating it as the medical condition it was, her physician advised her to seek counseling. While most of the individuals who jumped on the bandwagon during this time-period were legitimate albeit misinformed mental health professionals, it was stated P's counselor did not even have training. Similar to most who took this approach in the past, the counselor completely ignored the condition P was seeking help for, and gave her the diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder. With this 'counseling,' the woman who had previously been healthy and normal was on disability within three years.
P was then sent to a mental ward in Chicago where her condition and situation worsened- not only had she been convinced that she had 300 'alter' personalities, the infamous 'Dr.' B convinced her that she'd been involved in Satanic rituals, ate human flesh (cannibalism), and sexually abused her children. Her perfectly healthy four-year-old and five-year old children were placed in the hospital, too, and given an overload of psychiatric medications. Her condition continued to worsen as 'Dr.' B insisted more abuse memories from her past would come out if she would try harder to remember.
P was frightened from the thought of going home, as B and his staff told her there was a Satanic cult operating in the area, and that they believed this Satanic cult had infiltrated the Des Moines Police Department.
After years of this nightmare, P went home, but her children remained in the hospital- B's colleague insisted they'd been 'abused.'
P sued 'Dr.' B for medical malpractice- and her family received more than ten million dollars. More than a half-dozen other patients also sued him. But after the state yanked his medical license, he was able to move to another state and continue practicing.
Many other counselors, therapists, and psychiatrists have been sued for medical malpractice because of this repressed/recovered memory scam. But the issue itself is nowhere near over- and the woman in the parking lot with the 'little boxes' in her head is only one example. There are still too many people who still believe this 'quackery' is based on facts or science- more than two decades after the experts asserted that it's all over and gone.
Some of the experts agree 'The Courage to Heal' was one of the most dangerous books to have been published. Research shows the authors- a creative writing teacher and her student- pulled 'statistics' out of thin air. It followed the same path as a more-recent topic: child & adolescent mental health. Similar to a snowball gathering more and more non-facts as it makes its way down a hill, both the numbers of individuals affected and the severity increased and increased. Similar to 'some' youngsters have 'mental health problems' escalating to 'most' youngsters have 'severe mental illnesses,' it went from one in three women were sexually abused to fifty percent to nearly everyone; and unfortunately the misinformation is still out there, waiting for individuals to dig into their memories for bad experiences that never happened.
Seems the entire mess started with a book and movie that most of our generation was familiar with; but what many do not know is the woman known as “Sybil” tried to come out with the truth but was prevented from doing so. It wasn't until after she died that researchers brought out this information, as well as information on her medical condition. A troubled young woman was taken advantage of by a money-hungry, fame-seeking therapist and the book's author. But while our generation may or may not have taken the book and movie seriously, it set the stage for the 'movement' that destroyed thousands upon thousands of lives.
Along with the destruction, there's been another category of individuals: people who, long after coming to believe induced 'memories' were based on facts, came out from under the influences that caused the false memories and realized they were not real or true at all. But the problem with retracting is that it is not always possible. When the 'movement' was in full swing, individuals who pushed the myth told everyone to go ahead and level accusations even if there was no evidence that any wrongdoing ever occurred- the approach was a person can always 'apologize and set the record straight' if they later realized they were wrong. These individuals- including another who was also sued for medical malpractice- evidently did not take into consideration that there are no guarantees in life, and failed to consider how many people would die before it could be 'set straight.'
Regarding the woman from the beginning of this post- I never saw her again. I hope she's not still living with the nightmare of 'little boxes' filled with traumatic memories that possibly never occurred. But wherever there are vulnerable people, there will be those who easily take advantage of them; and, as this issue was virtually unheard of til 'Sybil' was placed in front of the American public, I believe it's important to add it to this blog.
Some of the most informative books: The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse- Elizabeth Loftus, 1994; Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria- Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watters, 1994; Confabulations: Creating False Memories, Destroying Families- Eleanor C. Goldstein and Kevin Farmer, 1996; Victims of Memory- Mark Pendergrast, 1995; Second Thoughts: Understanding the False Memory Crisis and How It Could Affect You- Dr. Paul Simpson, 1996.
The woman said her therapist told her people literally have boxes inside their heads where everything they cannot deal with is automatically filed away; she said the therapist told her that when the boxes are full, the person's head will literally explode- and all that was preventing her head from blowing sky-high was medication she'd been prescribed.
One of the many experts, seeming to speak not only for himself but others as well, stated this issue 'will come to be recognized as the quackery of the 20th century.' What they evidently do not realize is that it is still occurring.
I heard virtually nothing of the so-called repressed/recovered memory movement at the time. While multiple thousands of individuals, minds, families, relationships, and futures were destroyed during the 1980s and 1990s, all I heard were vague references to the McMartin Preschool and a woman who claimed she had 'memories' of her father murdering her best friend. While these cases alone destroyed innocent lives, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I learned how extreme and widespread the 'quackery' was- and how many lives were destroyed because of it. But one case I read about really caught my eye. To protect the privacy of the person and her family, I'll simply refer to her as 'P.'
In the 1980s, P was 26 years old, married, with two children, and was living in Des Moines, Iowa. After the birth of her second child, she was experiencing problems with Post-Partum Depression, and instead of treating it as the medical condition it was, her physician advised her to seek counseling. While most of the individuals who jumped on the bandwagon during this time-period were legitimate albeit misinformed mental health professionals, it was stated P's counselor did not even have training. Similar to most who took this approach in the past, the counselor completely ignored the condition P was seeking help for, and gave her the diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder. With this 'counseling,' the woman who had previously been healthy and normal was on disability within three years.
P was then sent to a mental ward in Chicago where her condition and situation worsened- not only had she been convinced that she had 300 'alter' personalities, the infamous 'Dr.' B convinced her that she'd been involved in Satanic rituals, ate human flesh (cannibalism), and sexually abused her children. Her perfectly healthy four-year-old and five-year old children were placed in the hospital, too, and given an overload of psychiatric medications. Her condition continued to worsen as 'Dr.' B insisted more abuse memories from her past would come out if she would try harder to remember.
P was frightened from the thought of going home, as B and his staff told her there was a Satanic cult operating in the area, and that they believed this Satanic cult had infiltrated the Des Moines Police Department.
After years of this nightmare, P went home, but her children remained in the hospital- B's colleague insisted they'd been 'abused.'
P sued 'Dr.' B for medical malpractice- and her family received more than ten million dollars. More than a half-dozen other patients also sued him. But after the state yanked his medical license, he was able to move to another state and continue practicing.
Many other counselors, therapists, and psychiatrists have been sued for medical malpractice because of this repressed/recovered memory scam. But the issue itself is nowhere near over- and the woman in the parking lot with the 'little boxes' in her head is only one example. There are still too many people who still believe this 'quackery' is based on facts or science- more than two decades after the experts asserted that it's all over and gone.
Some of the experts agree 'The Courage to Heal' was one of the most dangerous books to have been published. Research shows the authors- a creative writing teacher and her student- pulled 'statistics' out of thin air. It followed the same path as a more-recent topic: child & adolescent mental health. Similar to a snowball gathering more and more non-facts as it makes its way down a hill, both the numbers of individuals affected and the severity increased and increased. Similar to 'some' youngsters have 'mental health problems' escalating to 'most' youngsters have 'severe mental illnesses,' it went from one in three women were sexually abused to fifty percent to nearly everyone; and unfortunately the misinformation is still out there, waiting for individuals to dig into their memories for bad experiences that never happened.
Seems the entire mess started with a book and movie that most of our generation was familiar with; but what many do not know is the woman known as “Sybil” tried to come out with the truth but was prevented from doing so. It wasn't until after she died that researchers brought out this information, as well as information on her medical condition. A troubled young woman was taken advantage of by a money-hungry, fame-seeking therapist and the book's author. But while our generation may or may not have taken the book and movie seriously, it set the stage for the 'movement' that destroyed thousands upon thousands of lives.
Along with the destruction, there's been another category of individuals: people who, long after coming to believe induced 'memories' were based on facts, came out from under the influences that caused the false memories and realized they were not real or true at all. But the problem with retracting is that it is not always possible. When the 'movement' was in full swing, individuals who pushed the myth told everyone to go ahead and level accusations even if there was no evidence that any wrongdoing ever occurred- the approach was a person can always 'apologize and set the record straight' if they later realized they were wrong. These individuals- including another who was also sued for medical malpractice- evidently did not take into consideration that there are no guarantees in life, and failed to consider how many people would die before it could be 'set straight.'
Regarding the woman from the beginning of this post- I never saw her again. I hope she's not still living with the nightmare of 'little boxes' filled with traumatic memories that possibly never occurred. But wherever there are vulnerable people, there will be those who easily take advantage of them; and, as this issue was virtually unheard of til 'Sybil' was placed in front of the American public, I believe it's important to add it to this blog.
Some of the most informative books: The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse- Elizabeth Loftus, 1994; Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria- Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watters, 1994; Confabulations: Creating False Memories, Destroying Families- Eleanor C. Goldstein and Kevin Farmer, 1996; Victims of Memory- Mark Pendergrast, 1995; Second Thoughts: Understanding the False Memory Crisis and How It Could Affect You- Dr. Paul Simpson, 1996.