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| false_memory_syndrome [2023/01/09 06:00] – [Implicit Suggestion and Leading Questions] andrewtaustin | false_memory_syndrome [2026/10/07 11:30] (current) – Source-based rewrite: memory uncertainty, non-leading practice; remove unsupported case claims and unrelated commentary. andrewtaustin |
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| ==== False Memory Syndrome ==== | ====== False Memory Syndrome ====== |
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| | Memory is reconstructive: a person can sincerely remember an event or detail inaccurately. A false memory is therefore different from a deliberate lie. The historical term “false memory syndrome” is associated with disputes about recovered autobiographical memories, particularly allegations of childhood abuse. It should not be used as a shortcut for deciding that a particular person's account is false. See the [[https://dictionary.apa.org/false-memory|American Psychological Association's definition of false memory]]. |
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| | For IEMT practice, the central distinction is between **the person's present experience of remembering** and **evidence about what happened in the past**. A change in distress, vividness or certainty during a session does not independently establish historical accuracy. |
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| ==== Implicit Suggestion and Leading Questions ==== | ===== Implicit Suggestion and Leading Questions ===== |
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| Memory is neither constant nor fixed but is malleable, idiosyncratic, gullible and complex. While you would view a memory as a black or white aspect, the fact is that memories are changeable, and frequently unreliable. Being readily prone to suggestion, direct or indirect, a single statement could alter the map of our memory. While you sleep, events are transferred from your brain's temporary memory to permanent storage. However, the transformation isn't absolute. Memory fragments may be lost. This is the point at which false memories might emerge. | A question can introduce information as well as request it. “What did your father do to frighten you?” presupposes both an actor and an event. “What, if anything, do you remember about that time?” leaves more room for the person's own account. These examples illustrate question construction; they are not a forensic interviewing protocol. |
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| False memory is not the same as basic memory failures. While we are all susceptible to memory fallibility, false memory is more than a simple error; it entails a level of certainty in the memory's reality. We May face memory errors from time to time, but false memories are unusual in that they constitute a specific remembrance of something that did not actually occur. It's not about forgetting or mixing up specifics of things we've done; it's about recalling things we've never done in the first place. | |
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| One way that false memories can form is via questions that are loaded with implicit suggestions and/or presupposition that suggest certain events may have happened. Despite the question taking the form of being “just a question” and elicitation of information, the effect of “leading questions” is well established in both law and psychology. | Practitioners should avoid filling gaps, rewarding a particular account, repeatedly pressing for a hidden cause, or presenting imagined scenes as discoveries. Record the person's words separately from the practitioner's questions and interpretations. A request to recall an earlier experience should allow “I don't know” or “nothing comes to mind” as complete answers. |
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| A question asked of a witness in a manner that suggests the answer sought by the questioner (e.g. “You threw the brick through the window, didn't you?”) or that assumes the existence of disputed facts to which the witness is to testify. Leading questions may not be asked during examination-in-chief (except relating to formal matters, such as the witness's name and address) but may normally be asked in cross-examination.[(leading_question>leading question[[https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100055949|Oxford Reference]])] | The American Psychiatric Association's [[https://www.psychiatry.org/getattachment/930fb215-2147-40e9-9d44-f06d84fc64de/Position-2013-Memories-Child-Abuse.pdf----Decision|position statement on therapies focused on memories of childhood abuse]], reaffirmed in 2013, describes the influence of suggestion and recommends an empathic, non-judgmental stance. It warns that both accepting false accounts and dismissing true accounts can cause harm. |
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| Further examples of leading questions: | ===== False Memories or Lies? ===== |
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| - "Don't you agree that this new policy is a good idea?" | Inaccuracy and deception are different questions. An honestly held memory may contain errors; a deliberate fabrication involves knowing misrepresentation. Neither emotional intensity nor a calm delivery provides a reliable test of which situation applies. Nor does confidence alone supply independent corroboration. |
| - "Isn't it true that you were feeling really stressed out that day?" | |
| - "Didn't you say that you were at home all night?" | |
| - "Did you really mean to break that vase?" | |
| - "You don't have any plans for the weekend, do you?" | |
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| Leading questions are those that suggest a particular answer or contain a biased or loaded phrase. They can be used to influence or manipulate the person being questioned, and they can make it difficult for the person to give a genuine or unbiased response. | The practical response is to take distress seriously without asserting that a disputed event has been proved or disproved. “That sounds distressing” acknowledges an experience without adding facts to it. Where factual investigation is needed, therapeutic impressions should not substitute for independently assessed evidence. |
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| | ===== False Memory or Repressed Memory? ===== |
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| ==== The Ingram Case ==== | “Recovered memory” describes a report of remembering something that the person says was previously unavailable. That description alone does not establish why it was unavailable, how it returned, or whether every detail is accurate. It does not automatically demonstrate a special repression mechanism. Equally, delayed disclosure or later recall is not itself proof of fabrication. |
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| One of the most noted scenarios of false memories is about Paul Ingram, county Republican Party Chairman of Thurston County, Washington (USA), and the Chief Civil Deputy of the Sheriff's department, who was accused of sexually abusing his daughters.[(Thurston_County_ritual_abuse_case>Thurston County ritual abuse case[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurston_County_ritual_abuse_case|Wikipedia]])] | The American Psychological Association's [[https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma/memories?lang=en|1995 questions and answers about childhood-abuse memories]] is a historical professional statement discussing both genuine recollection and convincing pseudomemories. It emphasises the difficulty of distinguishing them without corroboration. Its date should be kept in mind when using it alongside later research. |
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| After extensive "therapy" Ingram's daughters and mother reported the abuse and details about the event kept emerging. These details became more thorough and vivid over time until Ingram himself confessed. The daughters at some point even reported satanic rituals, during which one daughter was made pregnant and contracted a sexually transmitted disease. | ===== Recovered Memory Therapy ===== |
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| Ingram, a deeply religious man, would not believe his daughters could possibly lie and that he must be himself repressing the memories of the abuse, thus he confessed. As time went on with repeated questions, he began to "remember." | This term has been used for approaches that make eliciting previously unavailable memories a central therapeutic aim. It should be distinguished from responding to memories a person already brings to a session. The Psychiatric Association statement concerns the former and advises against prejudging either the cause of difficulties or the truth of an account. |
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| <blockquote center> | For this wiki's practice framework, there is no requirement to discover a hidden traumatic event before addressing an agreed present difficulty. If new material emerges, note how it arose, preserve uncertainty, and discuss suitable support within the practitioner's competence. Follow applicable safeguarding procedures when a disclosure raises a current concern; uncertainty about historical detail does not justify ignoring present safety. |
| "The memories of sexual depravity were “recovered” with the help of a stand-up comic/sitcom actress-turned-charismatic Christian healer, and those memories made it all the way to the Sally Jessy Raphael show." | |
| <cite>LA Times</cite> | |
| </blockquote> | |
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| At court, he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. | ===== Research on Memory Suggestion ===== |
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| However, after a meticulous investigation, it was revealed that none of the events could have taken place and that Ingram, the father, was wrongfully accused. It has been reported that at some point, the daughter had heard a story of sexual abuse during a seminar and was later told by a priest that she appears to be a victim of abuse as well, simply because Erica was crying over the stories she had heard. The account reported by the daughters seemed to have been implanted by therapists who had discussed sexual abuse. | |
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| <blockquote center> | Elizabeth Loftus's research examines how information received after an event can affect later remembering. Her [[https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/eloftus/|University of California, Irvine profile]] describes her work on eyewitness memory and memory distortion. |
| Ingram also contends that his plea was the result of improper pressure from his family and his pastor, but complains principally about the tactics of his wife's divorce attorney, who told Ingram | |
| that only by pleading guilty could he hope for any reconciliation with the family. | |
| A defendant who had weeks to retract his admission of voluntariness by putting on evidence of coercion has a heavy burden, and that task will be especially difficult "where there are other apparent reasons for pleading guilty, such as a generous plea bargain or virtually incontestable evidence of guilt." | |
| <cite right 70%> IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON | |
| THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, NO. 13613-9-II | |
| Respondent, Division Two | |
| V. Unpublished Opinion | |
| PAUL ROSS INGRAM, | |
| Appellant. | |
| Filed January 22, 1992[(GGroups>Ingram Google Groups discussion[[https://groups.google.com/g/alt.true-crime/c/SBegOWCyp-Y/m/FIk6vXriKnQJ?pli=1|Google Groups]])] </cite> | |
| </blockquote> | |
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| Ingram served his sentence despite court appeals and maintains to this day that his confession was extracted under coercion. | In [[https://journals.healio.com/doi/full/10.3928/0048-5713-19951201-07|Loftus and Pickrell's 1995 study, The Formation of False Memories]], some participants came to report recollecting a suggested childhood event. This supports the possibility of suggestion-related autobiographical memory errors under the study's conditions. It does not determine the truth of an individual abuse allegation or establish how often false memories occur in ordinary therapy. |
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| ==== False Memories or Lies? ==== | When reading memory research, distinguish changes to an event's details, belief that an event happened, and a reported recollective experience. Also distinguish laboratory findings from conclusions about a particular person's life. The strength of an inference depends on the design, measures and context of the study. |
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| It’s been said that when someone is lying, they tend to narrate specific details to make you believe them. Our brain functions similarly to a computer, storing anything we feed it. If we provide it incorrect information, it will store incorrect information. It convinces us that a memory exists because it truly took place. Memories tend to be in fragments as we recall them, and we realize that there are a bunch of loopholes and we can begin to fill in the loopholes ourselves by whichever piece of the puzzle fits perfectly. | ===== The British False Memory Society (BFMS) ===== |
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| Sometimes we may mix components of many experiences in our memory to form a single one. When we recollect a memory, we are recalling past experiences. However, the chronology has become jumbled or muddled as a result of the collection of events that have now formed a single recollection in your mind. | The BFMS is an organisation concerned with disputed memories and allegations. Its own material represents the organisation's perspective and should be read alongside research and professional guidance. Consult the [[https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/1040683/full-print|Charity Commission entry for charity 1040683]] for its registered information and [[https://bfms.org.uk/|the BFMS website]] for information it currently publishes. This page does not make a claim about the availability of particular support services. |
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| In other instances, when people feed us false information about something that happened and convince us that it did. Our brain believes them if we consider them to be a reputable and reliable source. We listen to authority figures that we consider more knowledgeable than ourselves. Hence, our brain can make a new memory or blend actual and fake memories. | ===== Application to IEMT Practice ===== |
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| The emotions of the moment may have a substantial influence on how and what is remembered. Positive or neutral emotions produce fewer false memories than negative emotions. | The following is a proposed practice application, rather than a finding that validates IEMT or a method for verifying memories. |
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| | ^ Practice task ^ Useful record ^ |
| | | Agree a present focus | The difficulty, context and desired change in the person's own words. | |
| | | Explore without supplying an explanation | The actual question and response; uncertainty or absence of recall is retained. | |
| | | Record change accurately | A reported change in distress or functioning, separately from claims about the event. | |
| | | Review beyond the session | What happened in ordinary life, what remains difficult, and whether further assessment or support is needed. | |
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| ==== False Memory or Repressed memory ==== | For example, “The client reported less distress when thinking about the incident” records an observation. “The session proved the incident occurred” goes beyond that observation. The same limit applies to a claim that improvement proves the memory was false. |
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| Repression[(Memory_inhibition>Memory inhibition[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_inhibition|Wikipedia]])] is considered to be the transfer of a severely traumatic memory into the back of your mind in order to remove it from consciousness. Most people who report childhood traumas 20 or 30 years later suddenly unlock their memories when doing something completely mundane and unrelated. They are regulated healthy adults who have simply dissociated from the memory. | |
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| The primary idea underlying repressed memories is that they serve as a defence mechanism when people are subjected to a stressful incident. The premise here is that when traumatic events are distressing, the mind automatically and instinctively removes them from conscious consciousness. The alleged result is that people can no longer recall the event that prompted it, and are frequently unaware that they have been assaulted or traumatized. | See [[adaptive_formulation|Adaptive Formulation]], [[treatment_plans|Treatment Plans]] and [[governing_principles|Governing Principles]] for the assessment, planning and review framework. |
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| People who have been victimized, for example, may not want to talk about or may even forget the painful event, but this does not imply unconscious suppression of trauma. Second, a well-known phenomenon known as the forget-it-all-along effect may explain why people claim to have forgotten traumatic situations. According to this phenomenon, some persons who claim to have forgotten sexual abuse may not have done so, since additional research reveals that they really communicated their recollection to others but have forgotten this revelation. Third, people may not have seen the incident as traumatic at the time it occurred and later construed the event as abusive in retrospect. Finally, a substantial body of research has demonstrated that, contrary to the fundamental assumption of the concept of repressed memories, traumatic experiences are generally well recalled. | {{tag>Related memory trauma ethics}} |
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| Unlike repressed memories, false memories[(False_memory>False memory[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory|Wikipedia]])] are built over time in a way and exposed in a sequence. Another aspect that isn't necessary but has been seen to be dominant in people with false memories is that they narrate it with a great deal of emotion, while repressed memories of traumatic events are often told conversationally and casually. People with repressed memories give an account as though they are discussing events unrelated to themselves. This is due to their dissociation from the trauma, also the reason they seem to be so well-adjusted in their life. | |
| To sum it up, the most basic difference to remember between repressed and false memories is that repressed memories are ultimately completely true, and false memories are just fabrications of our mind. | |
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| The problem is that in an attempt to recover repressed memories of clients, therapists end up creating false memories by implanting events and details that may have never taken place. | |
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| ==== Recovered memory therapy ==== | |
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| This is a therapeutic technique[(Recovered-memory_therapy>Recovered memory therapy[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovered-memory_therapy|Wikipedia]])] that has no properly researched scientific background. Recovered "memories" typically begin as visions that arise during rigorous treatment, often months after the client has been seeking for his or her past. Suggestive treatments such as hypnosis, guided imagery, or just visualizing abuse situations are frequently employed. These pictures frequently combine into what appear to be memories later on. | |
| They appear to be accurate recollections of childhood sexual abuse to both the client and the therapist. | |
| Regrettably, they are usually invariably unrelated to genuine occurrences in the individual's history. | |
| Their true beginnings are said to be in dreams, horror movies, literature, one's imagination, and so on. | |
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| The majority of recovered memories occur after months or years of therapy. The emergence of apparent recollections during self-hypnosis or self-help or mutual support groups focusing on memory recovery is an uncommon phenomenon. Once these images are produced and merge into what appears to be true memories of real occurrences, they are extremely convincing to both the client and the therapist. | |
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| <blockquote center>“The truth about our childhood is stored up in our body, and although we can repress it, we can never alter it. Our intellect can be deceived, our feelings manipulated, our perceptions confused, and our body tricked with medication. But someday the body will present its bill, for it is as incorruptible as a child who, still whole in spirit, will accept no compromises or excuses, and it will not stop tormenting us until we stop evading the truth.” | |
| <cite right 50%>Ellen Bass, The Courage to Heal [( :harvard:Bass1988>> | |
| authors : Ellen Bass, Laura Davis | |
| title : The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse | |
| publisher : Harpercollins | |
| published : 1988 | |
| isbn : 978-0060551056 | |
| url : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780060551056 | |
| )]</cite> | |
| </blockquote> | |
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| <blockquote center> | |
| "Not all cases of false memory arise from therapeutic practice. Increasingly, the request for 'memory recovery therapy' is initiated by a client who has read one of a number of self-help books. The Courage to Heal (Bass & Davis, 1988) promulgates the view that forgotten sexual abuse lies at the root of almost all adult psychiatric problems and that unless it is brought fully into consciousness, treatment will prove ineffective. The very inability to recall abuse is taken as a sign that abuse has occurred but is being 'denied' through the process of repression. The therapist and patient embark together upon the process of recovering hidden memories. This approach is supported by the existence of check-lists of symptoms that these therapists believe to be indicative of represses sexual abuse." | |
| <cite right 70%>"Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse: Implications for clinical practice", p. 298 [( :harvard:Psych1998>> | |
| authors : Sydney Brandon,Janet Boakes, Danya Glaser and Richard Green | |
| title : Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse Implications for clinical practice | |
| publisher : Cambridge University Press | |
| published : 1998 | |
| note : The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 172 , Issue 4 , April 1998 , pp. 296 - 307 | |
| url : https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.172.4.296 | |
| )]</cite> | |
| </blockquote> | |
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| While there is still a way to access repressed memories by simply conversing and poking around the past experiences in a lifetime, there is no exact method to find and comb through false and authentic memories. Human memory is a very volatile and vulnerable part of us. There's a very weak and thin line that could separate the false memories and may require accounts of other people around us. For now, the only solution might be to ask other people that might have been a witness to the incident. Whether they recount authentic memory is a question for another time. | |
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| ==== D. Corydon Hammond ==== | |
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| {{:handbook-of-hypnotic-suggestions-and-metaphors-d-corydon-hammond.jpg?200 |}}Dr. Hammond is a Psychologist with specialities in neurofeedback (EEG biofeedback), quantitative EEG brain mapping, clinical hypnosis, and marital and sex therapy. He has been President of the International Society for Neurofeedback & Research and of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. Couples therapy work includes inhibited sexual desire and sexual arousal problems, and marital communication and conflict resolution training. | |
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| He is the editor of "the big red book" which is very popular with hypnotherapists. | |
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| In the 1990s, Hammond publicised his theory of ritual abuse that he developed from his hypnotherapy sessions with patients. He alleged that they were victims of a worldwide conspiracy of organised satanic groups using torture, mind control, and ritual abuse to create alternate personalities in the victims (i.e. Hammond's hypnosis subjects) that could be "activated" with specific code words. As per the popular Hollywood movies motif, these victims (Hammond's hypnosis subjects) were trained as assassins, prostitutes, drug traffickers, and child sex workers.[(Satanic_panic>Satanic panic[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic|Wikipedia]])] | |
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| He also claimed that he managed to uncover additional details from his hypnosis subjects that a Jewish doctor originally developed the satanic cabal in Nazi Germany, but this doctor was now commissioned by the CIA to further that global satanic agenda. | |
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| Some readers will note the common themes that populate current internet conspiracy tropes of a satanic cabal, a "deep state" government with a satanic agenda, and child abuse by ruling elites that populate the "QAnon" conspiracy theories. Some threads of Hammond's "Jewish doctor" claim may be traceable to the anti-Semitic forgery, "The Protocols of The Elders of Zion." | |
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| === The Greenbaum Lecture === | |
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| **Hypnosis in MPD: Ritual Abuse “The Greenbaum Speech” (//Greenbaum=Green Tree in Hebrew=Kabbalistic Sephiroth Satanic Tree//) by D. Corydon Hammond** was delivered at the Fourth Annual Eastern Regional Conference on Abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) on Thursday, June 25, 1992, at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Mark Center, Alexandria, Virginia. | |
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| It was sponsored by the Center for Abuse Recovery & Empowerment, The Psychiatric Institute of Washington, D.C. | |
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| <WRAP center round box 90%>"...//Basically in the programming the child will be put typically on a gurney. They will have an IV in one hand or arm. They'll be strapped down, typically naked. There'll be wires attached to their head to monitor electroencephalograph patterns. They will see a pulsing light, most often described as red, occasionally white, or blue. They'll be given, most commonly I believe, Demerol. Sometimes it'll be other drugs as well, depending on the | |
| kind of programming. They have it, I think, down to a science where they've learned you give so much every twenty-five minutes until the programming is done.// | |
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| //They then will describe pain on one ear, their right ear generally, where it appears a needle has been placed, and they will hear weird, disorienting sounds in that ear while they see photic stimulation to drive the brain into a brainwave pattern with a pulsing light at a certain frequency, not unlike the goggles that are now available through Sharper Image and some of those kinds of stores. Then, after a suitable period when they're in a | |
| certain brainwave state, they will begin programming, programming oriented to self-destruction and debasement of the person.// | |
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| //In a patient at this point in time about eight years old who has gone through a great deal of early programming took place on a military installation. That's not uncommon. I've treated and been involved with cases who are part of this original mind-control project, as well as having their programming on military reservations in many cases. We find a lot of connections with the CIA. This patient now was in a Cult school, a private Cult school | |
| where several of these sessions occurred a week.// | |
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| //She would go into a room, get all hooked up. They would do all of these sorts of things. When she was in the proper altered state, now they were no longer having to monitor it with electroencephalographs, she also had already had placed on her electrodes, one in the vagina, for example, four on the head. Sometimes they'll be on other parts of the body. They will then begin, and they would say to her, "You are angry with someone in the group." She'd say, "No, I'm not" and they'd violently shock her. They would say the same thing until she complied and didn't make any negative response...// | |
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| [...] //The way that I would inquire as to whether or not some of this might be there would be with ideomotor finger signals. After you've set them up, I would say, "I want the central inner core of you to take control of the finger-signals." Don't ask the unconscious mind.// | |
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| //The case where you're inquiring about ritual abuse, that's for the central inner core. The core is a Cult-created part. "And I want that central inner core of you to take control of this hand of these finger-signals and what it has for the yes-finger to float up. I want to ask the inner core of you is there any part of you, any part of Mary," that's the host's name, "who knows anything about Alpha, Beta, Delta, or Theta.//" | |
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| //If you get a Yes, it should raise a red flag that you might have someone with formal intensive brainwashing and programming in place. I would then ask and say, "I want a part inside who knows something about Alpha, Beta, | |
| Delta and Theta to come up to a level where you can speak to me and when you're here, say, 'I'm here.'" I would not ask if a part was willing to. No one's going to particularly want to talk about this. I would just say, "I want some part who can tell me about this to come out." Without leading them, ask them what these things are. I've had consults where I've come in. Sometimes I've gotten a Yes to that, but as I've done exploration it appeared to be some kind of compliance response or somebody wanting, in two or three cases, to appear maybe that they were ritual abuse, and maybe they were in some way, but with careful inquiry and looking it was obvious that they did not have what we were looking for.// | |
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| //Let me tell you what these are. Let's suppose that this whole front row here are multiples and that she has an alter named Helen, and she has one named Mary, she has one named Gertrude, she has one named Elizabeth, and she has one named Monica. Every one of those alters may have put on it a program, perhaps designated alpha-zero-zero-nine a Cult person could say, "Alpha-zero-zero-nine" or make some kind of hand gesture to indicate this and get the same part out in any one of them, even though they had different names that they may be known by to you.// | |
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| //Alphas appear to represent general programming, the first kind of things put in. Betas appear to be sexual programs. For example, how to perform oral sex in a certain way, how to perform sex in rituals, having to do with producing child pornography, directing child pornography, prostitution. Deltas are killers trained in how to kill in ceremonies. There'll also be some self-harm stuff mixed in with that, assassination and killing. Thetas | |
| are called psychic killers. //" </WRAP> | |
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| ==== Valerie Sinason ==== | |
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| Valerie Sinason[(Valerie_Sinason>Valerie Sinason[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Sinason|Wikipedia]])] is a British psychotherapist who is best known for her influential claims that satanic ritual abuse is widely practised in the UK. She was Founder Director of the Clinic for Dissociative Studies, until her retirement from long-term clinical work in December 2016. Sinason is registered with the BPC, ACP and UKCP. Dr. Sinason claims a speciality in working with abused, abusing, and dissociative patients and has appeared as an expert witness in court cases | |
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| In 1994, Sinason edited a collection of essays entitled Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse [( :harvard:Sinason1994>> | |
| authors : Sinason, V | |
| title : Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse | |
| published : 1994 | |
| publisher : Routledge | |
| isbn : 0-415-10543-9 | |
| url : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-415-10543-9 | |
| )] that claimed satanic ritual abuse existed in the United Kingdom and that she had treated victims. | |
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| <blockquote center>The substance of the attacks on the reality of organized abuse and torture of children always reduce to that old chestnut—it is unscientific. “Give us proof,” say the naysayers. “How is this different from reports of alien abduction?” say the clever-clever wags of Private Eye. Indeed. How is it different? In the case of alien abduction, we are asked to believe that visitors to this planet from outer space have kidnapped someone, taken them away, and brought them back. It is not believable. | |
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| In the case of ritual abuse, we are asked to believe that people can organize themselves into groups for the purpose of torturing children. There would seem to be a significant difference here in what we are asked to believe.” | |
| <cite>Valerie Sinason, Ritual Abuse and Mind Control: The Manipulation of Attachment Needs [( :harvard:Orit2011>> | |
| authors : Orit Badouk-Epstein, Joseph Schwartz, Rachel Wingfield Schwartz | |
| title : Ritual Abuse and Mind Control: The Manipulation of Attachment Needs | |
| publisher : Routledge | |
| published : 2011 | |
| isbn : 978-1855758391 | |
| url : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781855758391 | |
| )]</cite> | |
| </blockquote> | |
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| Despite Sinason claiming in 2001 and 2002 that she had clinical evidence for the widespread practice of satanic ritual abuse in the United Kingdom, a three-year Department of Health (UK) inquiry by the anthropologist Jean La Fontaine into 84 alleged cases of ritual abuse that found no evidence to support such claims. | |
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| Jean La Fontaine commented on the story saying "It is not surprising to me that patients who are having treatment by Valerie Sinason would produce stories that echo such topical issues as the recent trial for receiving internet pornography and the publicity for the film Hannibal. There is good research that shows the "memories" of abuse are produced in and by the therapy." | |
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| <blockquote center>“I have stated elsewhere (Sinason 1994) that the number of children and adults tortured in the name of mainstream religious and racial orthodoxy outweighs any others. | |
| Wiccans, witches, warlocks, pagans, and satanists who are not abusive and practice a legally accepted belief system are increasingly concerned at the way criminal groups closely related to the drug and pornographic industries abuse their rituals.” | |
| <cite>Valerie Sinason, Attachment, Trauma, and Multiplicity: Working with Dissociative Identity Disorder [( :harvard:Sinason2002>> | |
| authors : Valerie sinason | |
| title : Attachment, Trauma and Multiplicity: Working with Dissociative Identity Disorder | |
| publisher : Routledge | |
| published : 2002 | |
| isbn : 978-0415195560 | |
| url : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780415195560 | |
| )]</cite> | |
| </blockquote> | |
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| In April 2016, Dr. Sinason was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the ISSTD[(ISSTD>International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation[[https://www.isst-d.org/about-isstd/annual-award-winners/|ISSTD Annual Award Winners]])] (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation). In 2017, she was made a Fellow of the ISSTD and in January 2019 she was elected to their Board of Directors. | |
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| ==== Jean La Fontaine ==== | |
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| Jean La Fontaine[(Jean_La_Fontaine>Jean La Fontaine[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_La_Fontaine|Wikipedia]])] (born 1931) is a British anthropologist and emeritus professor of the London School of Economics. She has done research in Africa and the UK, on topics including ritual, gender, child abuse, witchcraft, and satanism. In 1994 she wrote a government report: **The Extent and Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse** | |
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| She was born in France and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford before completing a Ph.D. in social anthropology at the University of Cambridge. | |
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| Throughout her career, La Fontaine has conducted extensive research on the social and cultural aspects of child abuse and child protection, with a particular focus on the role of cultural and religious beliefs in shaping attitudes towards abuse. She has also conducted research on a wide range of other topics, including gender and sexuality, violence, and the anthropology of law. | |
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| In addition to her research, La Fontaine has held a number of influential academic positions. She has served as Professor of Anthropology at the University of Sussex, the University of Durham, and the London School of Economics, and has held visiting professorships at universities around the world. She has also served as President of the Royal Anthropological Institute and as a member of various government committees and panels on child protection and other social issues. | |
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| La Fontaine's work has been widely recognized and respected within the field of anthropology, and she has received numerous awards and honors for her contributions. In addition to her academic work, she has also written and spoken extensively for a general audience on a range of topics related to anthropology and social issues. | |
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| <blockquote center>It is over 20 years since the rash of allegations that rituals of devil worship, including the sexual abuse of children, the sacrifice, and (sometimes) eating, of animals, children, and even babies, as well as other extreme acts of depravity, were being conducted across the U.K. | |
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| In 1994 I reported to the Department of Health that in the 84 cases in England and Wales that were the basis of my research, I could find no supporting evidence for the existence of such a satanic cult. | |
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| The allegations have not stopped, however, although they no longer get the publicity they used to have as, officially, satanic or ritual abuse no longer exists. It is not mentioned in guidance to social workers on the subject of abuse of children. | |
| <cite>Jean La Fontaine. [(Fontaine>Professor Jean La Fontaine who headed the governments' official inquiry into SRA explains how the Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic was created and why the myth won't go away[[http://saff.nfshost.com/fontaine.htm|Sub-culture Alternatives Freedom Foundation S.A.F.F.]])] | |
| </cite> | |
| </blockquote> | |
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| ==== Elizabeth Loftus ==== | |
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| Elizabeth Loftus[(Elizabeth_Loftus>Elizabeth Loftus[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Loftus|Wikipedia]])] (born 1944) is an American cognitive psychologist best known for her research on the misinformation effect, eyewitness memory, and the formation of false memories, including recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Loftus' experimental and research findings are frequently used in legal settings, where she also serves as an expert witness on the subject of memory. | |
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| Through her work, Dr. Loftus has illuminated the malleability of memory and its tendency for distortion over time and with experience. Dr. Loftus has conducted experiments creating false memories through hypnotism, leading witnesses to falsely identify perpetrators in mock trials, and other methods that challenge our understanding of the reliability of eyewitness testimony. Her groundbreaking research findings have shed light on numerous legal cases involving witness testimony, demonstrating that our memories can be manipulated by outside influences. As such, her work continues to have an impact far beyond the realms of academia - affecting social sciences and public policy - and has led to her recognition as one of the most highly cited psychological scientists in history. | |
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| She recently made news for her involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein trial, having been hired as an expert witness by Epstein’s defense team. In her testimony, Loftus argued that circumstances of a person’s life can influence their memories, and that details of highly emotional events can easily be muddled and misinterpreted as time passes. While several attorneys attempted to challenge this notion, ultimately the jury rejected Loftus's claims and found Epstein guilty on all counts. | |
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| <blockquote center>"When we remember something, we're taking bits and pieces of experience - sometimes from different times and places - and bringing it all together to construct what might feel like a recollection but is actually a construction. The process of calling it into conscious awareness can change it, and now you're storing something that's different. We all do this, for example, by inadvertently adopting a story we've heard." | |
| <cite>Elizabeth Loftus</cite> | |
| </blockquote> | |
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| ==== The British False Memory Society (BFMS) ==== | |
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| The British False Memory Society[(BFMS>The British False Memory Society[[https://bfms.org.uk/|Website of the BFMS]])] (BFMS) is a registered UK charity formed in 1993 to deal with issues relating to false memory. | |
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| == The Purposes of the Society == | |
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| * The BFMS aims to raise public awareness of the inherent dangers of false memory by: disseminating relevant information through newsletters and articles in learned journals; organising seminars and conferences; and, when appropriate, assisting the media to produce suitable articles and programmes. | |
| * The BFMS collaborates with professional organisations, for example, to encourage the highest standards in the training and practice of psychotherapy and counselling. | |
| * The BFMS incorporates a telephone helpline to support families affected by the phenomenon of false memory. The Society also offers advice and access to legal assistance. | |
| * The BFMS aims to improve the understanding of false memory by encouraging, sponsoring, conducting and publishing academic and professional research. | |
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| The British False Memory Society (BFMS) closed its operations in 2022 due to changing membership and lack of resources. Founded in 1993, the society endeavored to provide help, advice and support to anyone who felt they had been impacted by False Memory Syndrome or a related issue circulating in media and scientific discussion at the time. The organisation brought together a great deal of research on false memory impacts, with information emanating from victims and carers, legal professionals, academics and clinicians. Despite remaining active online via social media since its closure, the BFMS could no longer provide the same level of assistance it once did due to diminishing resources. | |
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