Many people have requested information from the Foundation, and this booklet was written in response to the questions asked most often. 
We hope that it provides you with a helpful introduction to the issues of FMS and a better understanding of the Foundation.

                                                  Pamela Freyd, Ph.D.
                                                  Executive Director
                                                  September 1995

WHAT IS FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME?

Dr. John F. Kihlstrom, professor of psychology at Yale University, has suggested the following
definition:

"a condition in which a person's identity and interpersonal relationships are centered around a memory of traumatic experience which is objectively false but in which the person strongly believes. Note that the syndrome is not characterized by false memories as such. We all have memories that are inaccurate. Rather, the syndrome may be diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained  that it orients the individual's entire personality and lifestyle, in turn disrupting all sorts of other adaptive behavior. The analogy to personality disorder is intentional. False Memory Syndrome is especially destructive because the person assiduously avoids confrontation with any evidence that might challenge the memory. 
Thus it takes on a life of its own, encapsulated and resistant to correction. The person may become so focused on memory that he or she may be effectively distracted from coping with the real problems in his or her life."
There are many early references to false memories, pseudo-memories,  and confabulations in the memory literature, but the use of the term false memory syndrome was introduced with the formation of the Foundation. A syndrome is a set of symptoms that occur together.

What is the problem? Starting in the late 1980s, many families began to receive letters or calls from their children who were now adults. The families were shocked by what they were told. One mother, for example, was stunned to received this letter:

"At this time and for an indefinite period of time I do not wish to have contact of any sort between us. I find it too painful because I believe you are being false. I have also decided that my well being   is more important to my family than the gifts and letters you send the kids. Please discontinue...I give up the hope I've had for a relationship with you."

The mother was devastated when her daughter suddenly and arbitrarily cut off contact, especially since the letter represented such a radical change. Just a few months earlier she had received a letter
more typical of their correspondence. It read as follows:

"Dear Mom,

Thank you for your love and support. I love who you are, not just as mom but as you. I am so grateful to have you in my life and in the lives of my children.  I don't know if they'll ever put your   name in a history book, but in my life you are not only one of the greatest women, but one of the greatest people. You have taught me so much about just being a good person.
                                                Love, 'First Name'"

WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO CAUSE SUCH ALIENATION?

Some families received letters from lawyers which in their similarity read like form letters. An abridged example follows:

This law firm represents your daughter who has consulted me regarding the effects she is suffering from severe childhood trauma resulting from the abuse inflicted by you. The trauma described is  unspeakable... Your daughter has authorized me to make the following demand letter for settlement:

1. You assume responsibility for your daughter's medical and therapeutic expenses for the rest of her life.

2. You reimburse your daughter for therapy expenses she has already incurred, $10,000.

3. Payment of $250,000 to compensate for her pain and suffering.

4. A life insurance policy with your daughter as beneficiary.
If I do not hear from you in 10 days, your daughter will be requesting substantially higher sums and attorneys fees.

As a lawyer I have dealt with many of these cases, and the facts related to a jury will warrant the imposition of substantial punitive and compensatory damages.

Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, grandparents, others -- all were suddenly told that they could no longer see their children and grandchildren. Most were also told that they had committed terrible abuse, usually sexual abuse, that the accuser learned about for the first time in therapy. Those accused said that the accusations were false and that the new memories were
not real memories.

The Foundation does not know the truth or falsity of the reports from the families. Instead, we looked for patterns in the reports. The patterns prompted serious questions about the assumption that memories of abuse were always true.  The patterns raised the possibility that memories of abuse might also be false memories.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF FMS?
John Kihlstrom's definition on page 1 offers a general description of many who were making accusations. In virtually every situation of which the Foundation is aware, the accusing adult was facing emotional and psychological distress. Often there was a precipitating event such as a job loss or change, divorce, eating disorder, relationship problem, or birth or death in the family. These contemporary concerns were seldom addressed in therapy.

Other common observations of FMS are: radically changed behavior, claiming a new malady of repressed memory syndrome, redefining personal history, assuming a new identity and refusing to have contact with anyone who did not share the beliefs of abuse.

The symptoms indicated that FMS was probably of social origin such as in folie a deux. FMS is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV (1994). It quite properly takes many years for the official recognition of a medical diagnosis. The fact that the major professional organizations have issued statements about FMS is an indication of its seriousness.

WHAT THERAPY PRACTICES CAUSE CONCERN?
Research articles and court testimony confirm the family reports about the widespread use of memory enhancement techniques in the belief that these will help recover accurate "memories." These techniques include hypnosis, sodium amytal, dream interpretation, guided imagery, journaling, body massages, participation in survivor groups and reading of self-help books. In the summer of 1993, the American Medical Association passed a resolution warning of the dangers of misapplication in the use of these techniques. In June of 1994 they issued a warning about all recovered memories.  Both the AMA and the American Psychiatric Association have stated:
 
"...there is no completely accurate way of determining the validity of reports in the absence of corroborating information."

The problem with the practices mentioned above -- which are used to some degree by about 25% of psychotherapists according to a study by Poole, et. al (1995) that looked at Ph.D. level clinical psychologists in the United States and Great Britain -- is that when they are used, they increase the risk of influence and suggestibility. An extensive body of research in the area of hypnosis, for example, has shown repeatedly that images that arise under hypnosis are strongly held as accurate, may contain many details and may be associated with strong emotion. None of these things indicates historical accuracy. Whether they occur in or out of therapy, some memories may be historically accurate, some distorted or confabulated and some false.

WHO IS AFFECTED BY FMS?
Like a pebble dropped into a pond, an accusation has a ripple effect on the entire family: the accuser, the accused and the non-accused. Parents, brothers, sisters, grandchildren, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends may all be affected. When we looked in detail at six extended families, we found that between 42 and 90 lives were touched by the accusation of one person.

As part of an ongoing effort to describe and understand the phenomenon, we collected in-depth demographic information from affected families. Here are some of the findings:

    Accuser:
      92% are female. 93% of retractors are female.
      74% are between ages 31 and 50.
      31% have education beyond college.
      60% report memory of abuse prior to age 4.
      64% report memories from 20 to 39 years ago.
    Accused:
      62% accused fathers of abuse,
      30% accused both mother and father of abuse.
      18% included allegations of satanic ritual abuse.
    Siblings:
      71% of siblings do not believe the accusations.

WILL I BE SUED?  CAN I SUE?
Child abuse is a criminal offense. Anyone who has been accused of a crime should consult legal counsel. One out of sixteen of the families that contact the Foundation tell us that they are being sued. Of these suits, nearly 90% are civil suits. Of the civil suits, two-thirds are dropped, dismissed or concluded in favor of the accused. Foundation records for 1994 indicate that one in twelve criminal cases resulted in a conviction. This information comes from over 800 lawsuits brought on the basis of recovered memories that the Foundation has been tracking. The most frequent comment from families who have had lawsuits brought against them is, "I won but I lost. I didn't get my child back."

In June of 1994, the Ramona case in California was the first in which a third party -- the father who was not a patient -- was allowed to bring a lawsuit against his daughter's therapists. While the therapists were found guilty of malpractice, there are many obstacles to filing this type of case.

Many retractors, people who now say that their recovered memories were false, are initiating malpractice lawsuits against their therapists. Over half of the retractors who contact the Foundation inform us that they plan a lawsuit. In July of 1995, a retractor in Minneapolis was awarded $2.5 million dollars in a malpractice lawsuit against a psychiatrist.

In the spring of 1995, significant changes in the way that recovered memory cases are handled by the courts began to take place. Courts have begun to hold special pre-trial hearings on the scientific status of repressed memories to determine the admissibility of testimony. Other courts have insisted on verifiable evidence of the alleged wrongdoing.

WHAT IS A FLASHBACK?
The use of the term flashback for a vivid image or sequence of images occurring while a patient is awake first appeared in the substance abuse literature to describe altered states of awareness with drug use, especially LSD. Although the term was introduced as a metaphor, the content of flashbacks began to be treated as historically accurate in the sexual abuse and trauma literature.  There is no evidence, however, that flashbacks are historically accurate. "Contextual factors such as expectation, in addition to the suggestibility of patients and the social construct of role-playing, influence in a crucial way the creating and content of flashbacks." (Fred Frankel, M.D., International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.  XLII, No. 4, October 1994, p.332.) A flashback is not proof that abuse occurred.

WHAT ARE BODY MEMORIES?
Some people have made an effort to explain their pain, even cancer, as coming from repressed memories of incest in the body. Scientists have studied related phenomena such as people whose hands bleed in certain religious settings. Presumably such people, called stigmatics, "are not revealing unconscious memories of being crucified as young children, but rather are demonstrating a fascinating psychogenic anomaly that springs from their conscious fixation on the suffering of Christ. Similarly, it is possible that conscious fixation on the idea that one was sexually abused might increase the frequency of some physical symptoms, regardless of whether or not the abuse really occurred." (Stephen Lindsay, Ph.D. & Don Read, Ph.D., Applied Cognitive Psychology, Vol 8, 1994, p. 302.) A physical pain or sensation is not proof that abuse occurred.

IS AN EATING DISORDER A SIGN OF SEXUAL ABUSE?
The belief that a person with an eating disorder must have been sexually abused has been widespread. It is, however, unfounded. The research linking sexual abuse with bulimia and anorexia has so many methodological flaws that the claim that sexual abuse is a risk factor for eating disorders is not justified. Data from several articles in the August 1994 American Journal of Psychiatry suggest that childhood sexual abuse is neither necessary nor sufficient for the later development of an eating disorder.

Another belief is that there is a link between aversions to foods (such as bananas and pickles) and sexual abuse. The fact that a person has an aversion, however, does not tell us how that aversion came about. It is pure speculation, a guess, when someone tries to infer a cause.  A food aversion or an eating disorder is not proof that abuse occurred.
 
CAN A CHECKLIST OF SYMPTOMS TELL IF SEXUAL ABUSE OCCURRED?
Many symptoms besides flashbacks, body memories and eating disorders have been suggested as indicators of past abuse. These symptoms range from headaches to irritable bowels. In fact, one psychologist compiled a list of over 900 different symptoms that had been presented as proof of a history of abuse. When he reviewed the professional literature, he found that not one of the symptoms could be shown to be an inclusive indication of a history of abuse. "Given the lack of consistent scientific evidence, therapists must be careful in declaring that abuse has in fact occurred." (London, Independent Practitioner, March 1, 1995, p. 64.)

• There are no signs or symptoms that prove that past sexual abuse abuse happened.
• The attempt to find the cause for something is not new.
• The reality is that complicated psychological and social issues have complicated etiologies.

ARE TRAUMATIC MEMORIES MORE ACCURATE?
There is no evidence that they are. Many scientific studies have demonstrated that when events are accompanied by strong emotion, they are likely to be remembered. There is a parallel belief, however, that it is common for people to repress memories of horrible events and that these can be accurately recovered years later. This belief, often referred to as a theory of repression (or dissociation or traumatic amnesia), is based on several assumptions listed below.

• It is common to repress traumatic memories.
• These memories are relegated to a region of the unconscious  |   where they are protected from the kinds of decay that affect  |   other kinds of memories
• Even though repressed, these memories can be dug out with therapeutic assistance years or decades later.
• Once they are dug out, they are accurate.  
• Digging out traumatic memories is essential for healing.
  

WHAT DO SCIENTIFIC STUDIES SHOW ABOUT THESE BELIEFS?  The American Psychological Association reflected the research when it stated, "The reality is that most people who are victims of childhood sexual abuse remember all or part of what happened to them." (Office of
Communication, August, 10, 1995).  Moreover, there is no scientific evidence to show that it is essential to dig out memories for healing.

Memory research refutes the other assumptions. There is no evidence for a special place that protects a memory from natural decay. There is substantial evidence that memories can be inaccurate.

A body of scientific experiments has shown that it is remarkably easy to influence people so that they come to believe in memories that are false. This is reviewed in a paper by Garry and Loftus, (1994,
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol XLII No. 4). One of the best known experiments is the "lost in a mall" study in which some people were led to describe a time when they were lost in a shopping mall -- an event that never happened. Some critics have said that this research is not relevant because the events remembered were not traumatic. The argument that a traumatic memory is not subject to the ordinary processes of memory such as misperceptions, distortions, decay, and change has no scientific base. Scientific research is clear: memories of events, whether they are traumatic or not, are reconstructed.  As a result, all memories are subject to change.

The issue is the accuracy of memory. The truth or falsity of a memory is independent of whether a memory is traumatic. While there is a lack of evidence accepted by the scientific community to support the collection of claims we call repression theory, there is solid, accepted scientific evidence that false memories can be created.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY MEMORIES ARE TRUE?
Sometimes people call the Foundation and ask us if their recovered memories are true. There is no way that we could ever know what happened to other people many years ago. In the absence of some independent external corroboration, there is no magic formula that anyone has to discern true from false memories. When people ask us this question, we generally try to help them reflect upon how the memory came to them. If memory enhancement techniques such as hypnosis were involved, they should know that while they may feel that they are remembering more, there is no evidence that any of these techniques work reliably. Hypnosis and sodium amytal ("truth serum") are especially unreliable.

While other techniques of "memory work" have not been studied as systematically as hypnosis, cognitive psychologists have warned about the risks of inadvertent suggestion with techniques such as journal writing, guided imagery and relaxation exercises. They have also noted the risks of dream interpretation. Dreams are not videotapes of events, and interpretations, even if made by experts, are subjective.

Memory does not work like a video tape recorder. There just is no button or pill that anyone can take to guarantee historically accurate memories. Memory is constructive. People take bits and fragments and reconstruct a narrative that makes sense to them in the here and now. There is a lot of filling in the blanks. Those blanks get filled in with new information that mixes with the old information, and it becomes impossible to separate.  There is just no way to tell the truth or falsity of a memory except by external corroboration.

Richard Ofshe, Ph.D. and Ethan Watters noted that "No one -- not he patients, therapists, parents, or critics of recovered memory therapy -- questions that this therapy is an intensely difficult and painful experience.  That the pain of therapy is real should not be accepted, however, as an argument that the memories uncovered are accurate. One's emotional reaction to a perceived memory need not correlate with the veracity of that event, but rather only to whether one believes that event to be true." (Making Monsters: False Memory, Psychotherapy and Sexual Hysteria, 1994, p. 109).

Therapists may believe that they are helping clients and improving a culture in which sex abuse is far too prevalent. A patient may find group acceptance in the cadre of survivors and find "the" reason for problems. Patients suffering from severe psychological symptoms are known to engage in what is called "effort after meaning," in that they seek some explanation, however remote, for suffering.

"When you first remember your abuse or acknowledge its effects, you may feel tremendous relief. Finally there is a reason for your problems. There is someone, and something to blame."
                      Bass and Davis, Courage to Heal, 1988, p.173

HAS THE FOUNDATION RECEIVED CALLS ABOUT MPD?
Some parents tell us that their children have been diagnosed with MPD and they wonder what that is. The diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) was changed to Dissociative Identity Disorder with the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV. While there were only a handful of MPD cases reported in all the world literature before 1970, there have been thousands reported in the past decade. The leap in cases seems to have followed the publication and movies of Three Faces of Eve and Sybil.

There is lively discussion as to the cause of this disorder in which a person seems not to be aware of various aspects of him or her self. Some claim that most cases are iatrogenic or therapy-induced. Others claim that it is a "response to" or is "linked to" or is "an outcome of" childhood maltreatment, generally sexual abuse. The flaw with this line of reasoning is that the studies cited fail to establish that the trauma really happened and they fail to consider other aspects of a child's life. According to August Piper Jr., M.D., "Whether MPD is a discrete condition or simply a collection of symptoms having no intrinsic relationship to each other, is unclear and controversial."

Whereas other diagnoses carry a negative stigma, MPD patients describe themselves as having special talents to survive. Retractors who had MPD diagnoses tell us that they had frequent and expensive hospitalizations.

WHAT ABOUT SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE AND ALIEN ABDUCTION?
About 18% of the families surveyed by the Foundation tell us that they have been accused of being part of an intergenerational cult that sacrificed babies and performed elaborate rituals.  There is no evidence that there exists an intergenerational cult conspiracy to murder and eat babies in elaborate rituals. We have also received calls from relatives concerned about family members who have come to believe that they were abducted and abused by space aliens or that they had been abused in past lives. While these beliefs give a reason for unhappiness or dissatisfaction, there is no empirical evidence that such events ever happened.  In recent years some therapists seem to have interpreted their role as one of validating a patient's memories. This ignores the important clinical distinction between historical truth and narrative truth.

Kenneth V. Lanning, Behavioral Science Unit, FBI "Investigator's Guide to Allegations of Ritual Child Abuse"

Retractors are people who say that their memories of abuse were wrong. People retract because their memories of abuse were false and their accusations unfounded. What led them to retract varies from person to person. Some of them changed therapists or left therapy because their insurance ran out; others had supportive spouses, siblings, friends, or clergy who helped serve as important reality checks; others read something about similar circumstances or saw something on television and started to read more about memory; some returned to the family without initially retracting because of a significant family event -- wedding, illness, birth, death, etc. -- and later in that familiar environment began to question their memories. The Foundation is aware of many families that have resumed contact even though the belief of abuse continues. Several families have successfully used the services of a therapist in exploring the accuracy of the incest claims and then reconciled. There are other explanations, but for many the road to retraction is complex, not fully understood and a combination of factors. Some retractors have told us of the sadness that may never leave them because their retraction came after the death of a parent. Yet, the experience we have with retractors reinforces our belief that as terrible as the situation might be, there is hope for many.

"We are now talking to each other on the phone weekly. We try when talking to have only good feelings which is not hard because we love her very much, and we are happy to keep the lines of communication open. Neither of us speaks of the conflict we have gone through. When my husband and I talk it over later we know, of course, that nothing has really been solved, but I do not expect it to change, at least in the near future...I realize that this may not work for some families but in our case it is the only thing we feel that we can do."
                                                         A Mom

My daughter is back. She is the same wonderful loving person she was before she recovered memories. Her brother is upset because she has not apologized, but I don't need an apology. It is enough to know that she is safe and to have her love."
                                                         A  Dad

"I was reunited with my parents after three horrible years of being involved with a bad counselor and learning first hand what the False Memory Syndrome was all about. Today I am very thankful to God to be back together with my family.  My parents have been so forgiving and I am deeply thankful that we have been reunited."
                                                       A Retractor

The Foundation has received thousands of calls from people who are accused by young children. The situation with dependent children is similar to FMS to the extent that issues of memory accuracy, suggestibility, and interviewing techniques may be involved. The situation with young children is different in that repression or amnesia are seldom claimed. When minor children make accusations, child welfare agencies, police, and custody issues are usually involved. Accusing adults speak for themselves, generally do not claim to be in present danger, and are not dependent on those they accuse. That is not the case for children who must be protected. Readings related to minor children.
 
[..........]

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM HISTORY?

"The witch-craze of the 16th and 17th centuries "made clear that validation means something much more than proposing ways -- even consistent ways -- to make the diagnosis even of something that does not exist. That is, the witch hunters received explicit and operational ways of identifying witches. They taught each other and wrote their procedures in a large and influential book. This book entitled Malleus Maleficarum or the Hammer of Witches spelled out in exquisite detail the kinds of behaviors that characterize the witch and identify the evidence on her body of congress with devils, incubi and succubi. The Malleus had as its epigraph: Haeresis est maxima opera maleficarum non creders (to disbelieve in witchcraft is the greatest of heresies).  

"What was learned from this that might illuminate practices with repressed memories? The fact that there is a manual telling how to recognize the manifestations of repressed memories does not confirm them. It is an exercise in creating a consistent approach to the diagnosis amongst therapists -- a uniformity of diagnostic practice and does not validate the presumed abusive experience...

"The issue for repressed memories is validation -- and validation in every case when it appears...To treat for repressed memories without any effort at external validation is malpractice pure and simple; malpractice on the basis of standards of care that have developed out of the history of psychiatric service -- as with witches -- and malpractice because a misdirection of therapy will injure the patient and the family." 
 

Paul McHugh, M.D. 
Chief of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins Hospital 
Paper presented at Memory and Reality Conference, April 1993