False memories of sexual abuse lead to terrible miscarriages of justice
To avoid the innocent being convicted, police, lawyers and judges must understand the fickle nature of human memory
Many of those working in our legal system have such a poor understanding of the nature of human memory that miscarriages of justice are an almost inevitable consequence, according to a book published today by the British False Memory Society. Miscarriage of Memory, edited by William Burgoyne, Norman Brand, Madeline Greenhalgh and Donna Kelly, presents factual accounts of prosecutions in the UK that were based entirely upon memories of sexual abuse recovered during therapy in the absence of any supporting evidence
Typically such cases occur when a vulnerable individual seeks help from a psychotherapist for a commonly occurring psychological problem such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and so on. At this stage, the client has no conscious memories of ever being the victim of childhood sexual abuse and is likely to firmly reject any suggestion of such abuse. To a particular sort of well-meaning psychotherapist, however, such denial is itself evidence that the abuse really did occur
Despite strong criticism from experimental psychologists, many psychotherapists still accept the Freudian notion of repression – the idea that when someone experiences extreme trauma, a defence mechanism kicks in that buries the memory of the traumatic event so deep that it cannot be retrieved into consciousness. Like radioactive waste, its presence is said to exert a malign influence. Indeed, the whole rationale of such therapy is that these hidden memories must be recovered and worked through in order to achieve psychological health.
During therapy, and often as a result of "memory recovery" techniques such as hypnotic regression and guided imagery, the client may gradually develop clear and vivid memories of abuse having taken place, typically at the hands of parents and other family members.
On the evidence of a huge amount of well-controlled research, we can now be confident that these memory recovery techniques are highly likely to give rise to false memories – apparent memories for events that never took place.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/24/false-memories-abuse-convict-innocent
Chris French is a professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he heads the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit. He edits the The Skeptic
Counselling or Quackery? [Paperback]
William BurgoyneGiven the unregulated nature of the therapy and counselling industry inhabited by many practitioners with little or no training, it is inevitable that malpractice and abuse of the relationship between counsellor and client will occur. This can destroy the lives of those who have, innocently, placed their complete trust in their therapist to whom they have revealed their innermost thoughts and fears at a time when they are at their most vulnerable and suggestible. It can have a devastating effect on their parents, relatives and others who know the client and may be wrongly accused. This small booklet attempts to provide an easily-read guide for parents and other secondary victims of therapy, and those who are contemplating therapy, are already receiving it or have experienced therapy but have doubts about their treatment.
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