False Memory Syndrome Foundation

Last updated
False Memory Syndrome Foundation
FoundedMarch 1992 [1]
FounderPamela and Peter Freyd
Dissolved2019
Type 501(c)(3)
PurposeTo seek the reasons for the spread of false memory syndrome, to work for ways to prevent it, to aid those who were affected by it and to bring their families into reconciliation
Location
Key people
Pamela Freyd, PhD - Executive Director
Website Official website

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) was a nonprofit organization founded in 1992 [2] and dissolved in late 2019.

Contents

The FMSF was created by Pamela and Peter Freyd, after their adult daughter Jennifer Freyd accused her father of sexual abuse when she was a child. [3] [4] The FMSF described its purpose as the examination of the concept of false memory syndrome and recovered memory therapy and advocacy on behalf of individuals believed to be falsely accused of child sexual abuse. [5] This focus included preventing future incidents, helping individuals and reconciling families affected by FMS, publicizing information about FMS, sponsoring research on it and discovering methods to distinguish true and false memories of abuse. [6] This initial group was composed of academics and professionals and the organization sought out researchers in the fields of memory and clinical practice to form its advisory board. The goal of the FMSF expanded to become more than an advocacy organization, also attempting to address the issues of memory that seemed to have caused the behavioral changes in their now-adult children. [7]

Mike Stanton in the Columbia Journalism Review stated that the FMSF "helped revolutionize the way the press and the public view one of the angriest debates in America—whether an adult can suddenly remember long-forgotten childhood abuse". [8] The FMSF originated and popularized the term false memory syndrome to describe a "pattern of beliefs and behaviors" which followed after participation in therapy intended to recover previously unknown memories. [9] The term recovered memory therapy was, in turn, originated as a catch-all term for the types of therapies that were used to attempt to recover memories, and observed to create false memories. [10] False memory syndrome is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , [11] as it is not a psychiatric diagnosis or illness, but it is included in public advisory guidelines relating to mental health. [12] [13] The FMSF has been accused of misrepresenting the science of memory, protecting child abusers, and encouraging a societal denial of the existence of child sexual abuse. The foundation believed that false memories devalued the tragedy of real abuse. [3] [5] [14]

History

Founded in March 1992 by Pamela and Peter Freyd, after their thirty-three year old daughter Jennifer Freyd accused her father of sexually abusing her as a teenager. The parents believed that their daughter's memories of abuse were due to a therapist who had influenced fabricated remembrances of abuse when (Jennifer) had sought out therapy for her anxiety attacks over an upcoming Christmas family visit. The accusations between the family members escalated after Pamela Freyd published an article in 1991 titled “How Could This Happen? Coping with a False Accusation of Incest and Rape” in the journal Issues in Child Abuse Accusations. Pamela Freyd used the name Jane Doe but details made it obvious who really was responsible, thus outing daughter Jennifer Freyd. The parents decided to form the organization False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) out of their home in Center City, Philadelphia. [1]

The term False Memory Syndrome was coined to define a set of behaviours and actions resulting from false memories of trauma and/or sexual abuse. The memories are recovered as an adult, usually during therapy and contested by the person accused. This pattern furthered the need to incorporate in order to provide research and advocate for others falsely accused. [1]

Initially the Foundation sought to document the phenomena of false memories, provide support to parents accused by their adult children, and to raise awareness in the media. Other founding members of the FMSF were psychiatrists from Philadelphia, Martin Orne, Harold Lief [1] .

Board members

Members of the FMS Foundation Scientific Advisory Board included a number of members of the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine: Aaron T. Beck, Rochel Gelman, Lila Gleitman, Ernest Hilgard, Philip S. Holzman, Elizabeth Loftus, Paul R. McHugh, and Ulric Neisser. The Scientific Advisory Board included both clinicians and researchers. The FMS Foundation was funded by contributions and had no ties to any commercial ventures. [15]

The FMSF dissolved on December 31, 2019, quoting the increasing number of supportive avenues online for discussion regarding false memories. [16] With the increased education of the legal system regarding false or recovered memories, the need for the FMSF had declined. [17]

Reception and impact

Stanton states that, "Rarely has such a strange and little-understood organization had such a profound effect on media coverage of such a controversial matter." A study showed that in 1991 prior to the group's foundation, of the stories about abuse in several popular press outlets "more than 80 percent of the coverage was weighted toward stories of survivors, with recovered memory taken for granted and questionable therapy virtually ignored" but that three years later "more than 80 percent of the coverage focused on false accusations, often involving supposedly false memory" which the author of the study, Katherine Beckett, attributed to FMSF. [8]

J.A. Walker claimed the FMSF reversed the gains made by feminists and victims in gaining acknowledgment of the incestuous sexual abuse of children. [18] Responding to this criticism the Foundation stated, "Is it not 'harmful to feminism to portray women as having minds closed to scientific information and as being satisfied with sloppy, inaccurate statistics? Could it be viewed as a profound insult to women to give them slogans rather than accurate information about how memory works'". [19] S.J. Dallam criticized the foundation for describing itself as a scientific organization while undertaking partisan political and social activity. [3]

The claims made by the FMSF for the incidence and prevalence of false memories have been criticized as lacking evidence and disseminating alleged inaccurate statistics about the problem. [3] While the existence of a specific diagnostic "syndrome" is debated, including amongst FMSF members, [20] researchers affiliated with the FMSF have said that a memory should be presumed false if it involves accusations of satanic ritual abuse due to the unsubstantiated nature of reports and the 1992 FBI investigation on the matter. [21] They further say that memories for events beginning between "birth and age 2" should be considered "with extreme caution". A distinguishing feature of FMS is that the memories were discovered after starting specific forms of therapy and considerable effort and time was taken to recover them through methods such as hypnosis, guided imagery, or attendance in groups that have a specific focus on recovering memories. [20] Most of the reports by the FMSF are anecdotal, and the studies cited to support the contention that false memories can be easily created are often based on experiments that bear little resemblance to memories of actual sexual abuse. In addition, though the FMSF claims false memories are due to dubious therapeutic practices, the organization presents no data to demonstrate these practices are widespread or form an organized treatment modality. [18] [22] Within the anecdotes used by the FMSF to support their contention that faulty therapy causes false memories, some include examples of people who recovered their memories outside of therapy. The claims of supposed abductees and ritual abuse victims became a powerful reminder of how false ideas can become incorporated into an explanation of one’s life problems. [3]

Astrophysicist and astrobiologist Carl Sagan cited material from a 1995 issue of the FMS Newsletter in his critique of the recovered memory claims of UFO abductees and those purporting to be victims of Satanic ritual abuse in his last book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. [23]

Related Research Articles

The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse starting in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout many parts of the world by the late 1990s, and persisting today. The panic originated in 1980 with the publication of Michelle Remembers, a book co-written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his patient, Michelle Smith, which used the discredited practice of recovered-memory therapy to make sweeping lurid claims about satanic ritual abuse involving Smith. The allegations, which arose afterward throughout much of the United States, involved reports of physical and sexual abuse of people in the context of occult or Satanic rituals. In its most extreme form, allegations involve a conspiracy of a global Satanic cult that includes the wealthy and elite in which children are abducted or bred for human sacrifices, pornography, and prostitution.

In psychology, false memory syndrome (FMS) was a proposed "pattern of beliefs and behaviors" in which a person's identity and relationships are affected by false memories of psychological trauma, recollections which are strongly believed by the individual, but contested by the accused. False memory syndrome was proposed to be the result of recovered memory therapy, a scientifically discredited form of therapy intended to recover memories. Originally conceptualized by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, the organization sought to understand what they understood as a general pattern of behaviors that followed after a patient underwent recovered memory therapy and to come up with a term to explain the pattern. The principle that individuals can hold false memories and the role that outside influence can play in their formation is widely accepted by scientists, but there is debate over whether this effect can lead to the kinds of detailed memories of repeated sexual abuse and significant personality changes typical of cases that FMS has historically been applied to. FMS is not listed as a psychiatric illness in any medical manuals including the ICD-11, or the DSM-5. The most influential figure in the genesis of the theory is psychologist Elizabeth Loftus.

Repressed memory is a controversial, and largely scientifically discredited, psychiatric phenomenon which involves an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is understood as a defense mechanism that excludes painful experiences and unacceptable impulses from consciousness. Repressed memory is presently considered largely unsupported by research. Sigmund Freud initially claimed the memories of historical childhood trauma could be repressed, while unconsciously influencing present behavior and emotional responding; he later revised this belief.

The Rind et al. controversy was a debate in the scientific literature, public media, and government legislatures in the United States regarding a 1998 peer reviewed meta-analysis of the self-reported harm caused by child sexual abuse (CSA). The debate resulted in the unprecedented condemnation of the paper by both chambers of the United States Congress. The social science research community was concerned that the condemnation by government legislatures might have a chilling effect on the future publication of controversial research results.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Loftus</span> American cognitive psychologist

Elizabeth F. Loftus is an American psychologist who is best known in relation to the misinformation effect, false memory and criticism of recovered memory therapies.

Richard Alan Gardner was an American child psychiatrist known for his work in psychotherapy with children, parental alienation and child custody evaluations. Based on his clinical work with children and families, Gardner introduced the term parental alienation syndrome (PAS), which is now "largely rejected by most credible professionals". He wrote 41 books and more than 200 journal articles and book chapters. He developed child play therapy and test materials that he published through his company Creative Therapeutics. Gardner was an expert witness in child custody cases.

The "lost in the mall" technique or experiment is a memory implantation technique used to demonstrate that confabulations about events that never took place – such as having been lost in a shopping mall as a child – can be created through suggestions made to experimental subjects that their older relative was present at the time. It was first developed by Elizabeth Loftus and her undergraduate student Jim Coan, as support for the thesis that it is possible to implant entirely false memories in people. The technique was developed in the context of the debate about the existence of repressed memories and false memory syndrome.

<i>The Courage to Heal</i> 1988 book by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis

The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse is a self-help book by poet Ellen Bass and Laura Davis that focuses on recovery from child sexual abuse and has been called "controversial and polarizing".

Susan A. Clancy is a cognitive psychologist and associate professor in Consumer behaviour at INCAE as well as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University. She is best known for her controversial work on repressed and recovered memories in her books Abducted and The Trauma Myth.

Recovered-memory therapy (RMT) is a catch-all term for a controversial and scientifically discredited form of psychotherapy that critics say utilizes one or more unproven therapeutic techniques to purportedly help patients recall previously forgotten memories. Proponents of recovered memory therapy claim, contrary to evidence, that traumatic memories can be buried in the subconscious and thereby affect current behavior, and that these memories can be recovered through the use of RMT techniques. RMT is not recommended by professional mental health associations. RMT can result in patients developing false memories of sexual abuse from their childhood and events such as alien abduction which had not actually occurred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter J. Freyd</span> American mathematician (born 1936)

Peter John Freyd is an American mathematician, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, known for work in category theory and for founding the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.

A false allegation of child sexual abuse is an accusation against one or more individuals claiming that they committed child sexual abuse when no abuse has been committed by the accused. Such accusations can be brought by the alleged victim, or by another person on the alleged victim’s behalf. Studies on the rate of recorded child abuse allegations in the 1990s suggested that the overall rate of false accusations at that time was approximately 10%.

In psychology, a false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not actually happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation of misinformation, and source misattribution have been suggested to be several mechanisms underlying a variety of types of false memory.

Ralph Charles Underwager was an American minister and psychologist who rose to prominence as a defense witness for adults accused of child sexual abuse in the 1980s and 1990s. Until his death in 2003, he was the director of the Institute for Psychological Therapies, which he founded in 1974. He was also a founder of Victims of Child Abuse Laws (VOCAL), a lobby group which represented the interests of parents whose children had been removed from their care by social services following abuse allegations. He was a founding member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. He was also accused of being a supporter of pedophilia because of controversial statements he made, including those in an interview to Paidika: The Journal of Paedophilia.

Anne Johnson Davis was an American author and public speaker who in 2008 published Hell Minus One, a memoir in which she claimed to have been a childhood victim of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA). In the book, Davis further claimed that her allegations of abuse were corroborated through a confession by her mother and stepfather made to Lt. Detective Matt Jacobson of the Utah Attorney General's office.

Jennifer Joy Freyd is an American psychologist, researcher, author, educator, and speaker. Freyd is an extensively published scholar who is best known for her theories of betrayal trauma, DARVO, institutional betrayal, and institutional courage.

Motivated forgetting is a theorized psychological behavior in which people may forget unwanted memories, either consciously or unconsciously. It is an example of defence mechanism, since these are unconscious or conscious coping techniques used to reduce anxiety arising from unacceptable or potentially harmful impulses thus it can be a defence mechanism in some ways. Defence mechanisms are not to be confused with conscious coping strategies.

The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) is a nonprofit professional organization of health professionals and individuals who are interested in advancing the scientific and societal understandings of trauma-based disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder, complex posttraumatic stress disorder, and the dissociative disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loren Pankratz</span> American psychologist (born 1940)

Loren Pankratz is a consultation psychologist at the Portland VA Medical Center and professor in the department of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

Betrayal trauma is defined as a trauma perpetrated by someone with whom the victim is close to and reliant upon for support and survival. The concept originally introduced by Jennifer Freyd in 1994, betrayal trauma theory (BTT), addresses situations when people or institutions on which a person relies for protection, resources, and survival violate the trust or well-being of that person. BTT emphasizes the importance of betrayal as a core antecedent of dissociation implicitly aimed at preserving the relationship with the caregiver. BTT suggests that an individual, being dependent on another for support, will have a higher need to dissociate traumatic experiences from conscious awareness in order to preserve the relationship.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Packard, Noel (January 15, 2003). "Conceptualizing Parents as Victims of their Children: the founding of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation". American Sociological Association. Washington DC: American Sociological Association: 1–22. Conference Papers presented at the 2003 Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA
  2. ↑ "About the False Memory Syndrome Foundation". False Memory Syndrome Foundation. Archived from the original on 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Dallam, SJ (2001). "Crisis or Creation: A Systematic Examination of 'False Memory Syndrome'". Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. 9 (3/4). Haworth Press: 9–36. doi:10.1300/J070v09n03_02. PMID   17521989. S2CID   26047059. Archived from the original on 2020-10-02. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  4. ↑ Heaney, Katie (2021-01-06). "The Memory War". The Cut. Vox Media.
  5. 1 2 Olio KA (2004). "The Truth About 'False Memory Syndrome'". In Cosgrove L, Caplan PJ (eds.). Bias in psychiatric diagnosis. Northvale, N.J: Jason Aronson. pp.  163–168. ISBN   0-7657-0001-8.
  6. ↑ Kinnear, KL (2007). Childhood sexual abuse: a reference handbook. ABC-CLIO. pp.  256–7. ISBN   978-1-85109-905-4.
  7. ↑ "The FMSF Scientific and Professional Advisory Board – Profiles". False Memory Syndrome Foundation. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  8. 1 2 Mike Stanton. "U-Turn on Memory Lane". Columbia Journalism Review (July/August 1997). Archived from the original on December 16, 2007.
  9. ↑ de Rivera, Joseph (December 1997). "The Construction of False Memory Syndrome: The Experience of Retractors". Psychological Inquiry. 8 (4): 271–292. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0804_1. ISSN   1047-840X.
  10. ↑ McHugh, PR (2008). Try to remember: Psychiatry's clash over meaning, memory and mind. Dana Press. ISBN   978-1-932594-39-3.
  11. ↑ Fink PJ; Whitfield Cl; Silberg JL (2001). Misinformation concerning child sexual abuse and adult survivors. New York: Haworth Maltreatment & Trauma Press. pp.  56. ISBN   0-7890-1901-9.
  12. ↑ "Adult Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse". Canadian Psychiatric Association. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
  13. ↑ "Recovered Memory Therapy". Department of Human Services, State Government of Victoria. Archived from the original on 2015-05-30. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
  14. ↑ Whitfield, Charles L. (1995). Memory and abuse: remembering and healing the effects of trauma. HCI. pp.  5, 10, 73, 79. ISBN   1558743200.
  15. ↑ Freyd, PhD, Pamela. "Advisory Board Profiles". False Memory Syndrome Foundation. False Memory Sydrome Foundation. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  16. ↑ "About FMSF". False Memory Syndrome Foundation. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  17. ↑ Binga, Tim. ""The Memory War" and the FMSF". Center for Inquiry. Center for Inquiry. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  18. 1 2 Walker, JA (2005). Trauma cinema: documenting incest and the Holocaust. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp.  64–5. ISBN   0-520-24175-4.
  19. ↑ Gardner, Martin (2015). "The False Memory Syndrome". Skeptical Inquirer. 39 (1). Committee for Skeptical Inquiry: 16–19.
  20. 1 2 Merskey, Harold (1998). "Prevention and management of false memory syndrome". Advances in Psychiatric Treatment. 4 (5): 253–260. doi:10.1192/apt.4.5.253. ISSN   1355-5146.
  21. ↑ Lief, Harold I.; Fetkewicz, Janet M. (1997). "The Construction of False Memory Syndrome: A Transactional Model". Psychological Inquiry. 8 (4): 303–306. ISSN   1047-840X.
  22. ↑ Olio KA (2004). "The Truth About "False Memory Syndrome"". In Cosgrove L; Caplan PJ (eds.). Bias in psychiatric diagnosis. Northvale, N.J: Jason Aronson. pp.  163–168. ISBN   0765700018.
  23. ↑ Sagan, Carl (1996). The Demon-Haunted world: Science as a Candle in the Dark. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 166. ISBN   0345409469.
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