Recovered-Memory Therapy (RMT)

Recovered Memory Therapy (RMT), sometimes referred to as Repressed Memory Therapy, dominated the landscape in psychology and psychiatry in the 1980s and 1990s. The technique, which is now rarely practiced, is based on the belief that certain childhood traumas exist in memory storage. However, because the experience—usually childhood sexual abuse—was so harrowing, dissociation occurs as a way of protecting the victim. Practitioners who advocated for recovered memory therapy believe early childhood abuse can be recalled with hypnosis, visualization, guided imagery, and interpretations of dreams and body sensations. Early childhood sexual abuse incidents are often at the root of many adult mental health conditions such as eating disorders, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and sexual dysfunction. Detractors of recovered memory therapy argue that support for this theory is insufficient. Many opponents have stated that the practice of recovered memory therapy causes more harm because it opens up potential for construction of pseudo memories of events that never occurred.

Background

Though recovered memory therapy hit the mainstream media in the 1980s and 1990s, the concept was introduced to the public decades earlier. In 1957, a psychiatrist-written book turned movie, The Three Faces of Eve, explored recovered memory therapy as it related to multiple personality disorder. A 1973 book, Sybil, achieved bestseller status and was later made into a miniseries starring Joanne Woodward and Sally Field. The work showcased recovered memory of heinous acts of sexual abuse by a patient’s mother that resulted in a character with sixteen different adult personalities.

But it wasn’t until a generation later that the practice of recovered memory therapy took hold in conventional mental health circles. The 1988 book The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse served as a springboard for the introduction of recovered memory therapy into mainstream American culture. The book, which sold more than one million copies, was considered the bible for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Authors Ellen Bass and Laura Davis ignited a national debate when HarperCollins published their book, which outlined symptoms common to incest survivors. Specifically, the authors said adults who may have repressed a memory of incest or abuse experience:

• Feelings of shame;
• Feelings of powerlessness;
• Feeling pressure to achieve perfection;
• Difficulty staying motivated;
• No interests, talents or goals;
• Inability to protect themselves from danger;
• Suspicion that they will be abandoned if others discover there is some wrong with them on the inside.

In one of the book’s most frequently quoted passages, the authors stated, "If you think you were abused and your life shows the symptoms, then you were." The book launched a firestorm, not just in psychology circles, but also in American pop culture. In 1991, TV sitcom star Roseanne Barr Arnold was featured on the cover of People magazine with the headline "A Star Cries Incest" for disclosing memories of childhood sexual abuse by her father that were uncovered in therapy.

The movement peaked when rumors about satanic sexual abuse at daycare centers dominated court agendas throughout the country. According to a 1998 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, approximately three hundred child sex rings in forty-six states were under investigation from 1980 to 1992. Most of these cases were founded on statements from toddlers or preschool-aged children. The now-infamous McMartin preschool trial, which spanned six years and is known as one of the most expensive trials in American history, featured children’s responses to "coached" questions from therapists. The children ultimately accused Los Angeles daycare owners of rape and sodomy, as well as satanic killing of animals and clubbing a horse to death. Ultimately, it was discovered these children’s memories were implanted by therapists and convictions were overturned.

Recovered Memory Therapy Today

Almost as quickly as the idea of recovered memory therapy took hold with the public, doubts began to emerge. Researchers questioning empirical evidence on the mind’s capacity for repressing traumatic memories were gaining more media attention more than recovered memory therapy enthusiasts. When Elizabeth Loftus, psychologist and memory expert at the University of Washington, released The Myth of Repressed Memories: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse in 1994, audiences responded positively to her theory that therapists’ certainty of sexual abuse in a patient’s past could lead patients to inadvertently reconstruct false memories. She reasoned that survivors of the Holocaust did not preserve their memories of the traumatic period for later uncovering with a therapist.

The False Memory Symptom Foundation, which was created by a family torn apart by a daughter’s allegation of abuse, published Loftus’s and similar research. In 1993, the American Psychiatric Association issued an alert about distinguishing memories. In 1994, the American Medical Association followed suit by classifying recovering memories as "fraught with problems of potential misapplication."

Just as the issue of recovered memory therapy first played out on the public stage, so did the recanting. In 2011, Roseanne Barr Arnold appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and backpedaled on the incest allegations, saying she was influenced by psychiatric drugs and The Courage to Heal. By all appearances, non-celebrities also began doubting the validity of their recovered memories. "False memory syndrome" replaced repressed memories in the public’s consciousness and many families have reunited. Since 1999, the majority of recovered memory suits were dropped or dismissed. Malpractice claims, fraud charges and de-licensing of therapists whose suggestive techniques preceded recovered memories have essentially pushed the practice into oblivion.

Patients with a childhood memory of sexual abuse are advised that—contrary to earlier writings—there is no one set of symptomology for abuse victims. The American Psychological Association holds that a "therapist should not approach recovered memories with the preconceived notion that abuse must have happened or that abuse could not possibly have happened." The association encourages psychotherapists to consider the corroborating evidence in deciding whether a recovered memory is valid.

Though many recovered memory clinics have closed and few therapists practice the technique, there is still an active underground community online detailing their repressed memories via YouTube, conferences, and social networking sites. Though conventional medicine has largely rejected the idea of recovered memory therapy, a parallel online universe still holds fast to the practice.

Bibliography

"Bad Memories." New Scientist 228.3042 (2015): 3. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Jan. 2016.

Bass, Ellen and Davis, Lauren. The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. Harper Perennial. May 1, 1988. Print.

Belli, Robert (ed.). True and False Recovered Memories: Toward a Reconciliation. New York: Springer, 2012.

Crampton, Caroline. "The Patient In The Spider's Web." New Statesman 144.5285 (2015): 20. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Jan. 2016.

Haberman, Clyde. "The Trial that Unleashed Hysteria Over Child Abuse." New York Times, March 9, 2014. Print.

Loftus, Elizabeth. The Myth of Repressed Memories: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse. New York: St. Martin’s, 1996.

Myers, Bryan, et al. "Beliefs About Therapist Suggestiveness and Memory Veracity in Recovered-Memory Therapy: An Analogue Study." Professional Psychology: Research & Practice 46.4 (2015): 270–276. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Jan. 2016.

Priest, Robert J., and Esther E. Cordill. "Christian Communities and ‘Recovered Memories’ of Abuse." Christian Scholar's Review 41.4 (2012): 381–400. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Jan. 2016.