A Legitimate Therapy Suffers Rip-Offs : Sexual abuse: Pressures for faster, cost-effective therapy have contributed to a new syndrome of false ‘recovered memories.’
Twenty-five years of work as a clinical psychiatrist have shown me that there is nothing easy about diagnosing or caring for people who were sexually victimized as children. Memories of sexual abuse are profoundly different from those associated with other kinds of trauma. They are usually locked into secrecy by unspeakably frightening threats from the abuser. The result is often an altered state like hypnosis that renders the child highly susceptible to cognitive and neurochemical processes that isolate these memories behind a veil of self-protective forgetfulness.
That is why I blink incredulously when I see the flood of articles in the professional and popular literature lately giving weight to the naive notion that if adults can remember childhood car accidents, they certainly should always be able to recall being sexually molested. I blink even harder when they quote “new research” that “disproves” the possibility of ever recalling any actual memories of early abuse once they have been forgotten. Aren’t there just too many well-known and well-documented cases of sexual-abuse recall and subsequent corroboration for anyone to believe that? Does anyone truly think that if traumatic forgetting isn’t validated in tepid laboratory experiments, it doesn’t happen in dark bedrooms where children’s bodies and minds are violated? Do studies purporting to prove that memories can be modified by suggestion mean that all memories are false?
Reading further in the current literature, it becomes apparent why these strange ideas are finding a ready audience.
A small number of patients and families (less than 10% of authentic cases) have come forward to describe adverse experiences in connection with a process called “recovered memory therapy.” They say that therapists doing this work behave as if forgotten sexual abuse is the root of all problems. After being admitted into the hospitals where these therapists work (places more likely to be covered by insurance), patients are reportedly exposed to techniques such as hypnosis and drugs until detailed “memories” of abuse emerge. In a number of instances, the patients take legal action against their alleged abusers.
The families who claim to have been victimized in this way have formed an organization called the False Memory Syndrome Assn. Although no one knows how many of the 4,000 members truly qualify as wrongly accused sexual abusers, they have gained considerable influence and are, for obvious reasons, advocates of any research that supports their cause.
While I believe the research is inconclusive, I suspect that many of these stories about false memories are true. The people victimized in this way deserve our heartfelt concern. They are among the first casualties of the new federally encouraged marketplace mentality in mental-health care, which has some therapists marketing their practices like detergents. “Recovered memory therapy” is a marketing consultant’s dream. It’s timely, catchy and result-oriented. It taps into a large audience of people whose awareness of sexual abuse has been raised by the media. It sells a tantalizing product (recovered memories) that supposedly can cure nearly everything. It is quick and “cost-effective.” And, it can create artificial memories that are nearly indistinguishable from real ones.
This would be a merchandising paradise if the “units” being modified for profit weren’t the minds of human beings.
What can we do about this situation? Here are some recommendations:
* If you think you may have been sexually abused but aren’t sure, seek out an experienced psychotherapist who is recommended by someone you trust, such as a family doctor, a friend or, at the least, the referral service of your local psychiatric or psychological society. Never put yourself in the hands of a self-described “recovered memory therapist.”
* If you are in therapy and are feeling pressured to believe that you were sexually abused, discuss your concerns with the therapist; if the pressure continues, report the experience to the therapist’s professional association or society. Look for another therapist who has an open mind and an open heart, someone who will let you know when you’re not operating in your own best interest.
* If you are a mental-health professional, reassess the work you are doing to make certain that you are not contributing to the problem by operating under the assumption (or business strategy) that a single cause, such as sexual abuse, explains most of the problems you see. Avoid using any techniques that can foster false memories unless you are well-trained and experienced in protecting patients from that complication and are certain that you have no preconceived biases about the memories you are eliciting.
* If you are influential, push for better mental-health coverage in the Clinton health-reform package. Many people can have their lives turned around in a positive way by psychotherapy, but it won’t happen if they are coerced economically into seeking short-cut methods that promote premature diagnosis and inept, possibly dangerous, forms of intervention.
