She reports that a staggering 17,000+ families have contacted the The FMSF (False Memory Syndrome Foundation). Basically, these families report that they are traumatized by children who after years of a fine relationship with their parents - suddenly accuse them of having been infant molesters and worse. It is a horrible accusation which "sticks like tar". Someone definitely has been victimized whether such accusations are true or false. Years ago, educated people actually believed that all life's memories get accurately recorded somewhere - and it's just a matter of hypnosis or some alternative stimulation to bring them to the conscious. Though this myth would be useful if true - it has been conclusively found false by many experiments. Experiments have also confirmed that false memories can easily be implanted in the minds of suggestive people.
Apparently there has been a cult of poorly trained pseudo-councilors unleashed on our victim-obsessed society. Pop culture stars like Roseanne have jumped on this latest victim bandwagon. They seem to prey mostly on slightly troubled women between the ages of 35 and 45. Using long lists of symptoms (general enough to "barely distinguish the living from the dead") they convince people that their problems must go way deeper than simple depression or eating disorder. When the victim responds, " but I get along fine with my parents, they aren't perverts". - the trusted advisor responds, "Wow, they must have been really horrible for you to have repressed it that deep. If you won't recall, you won't get better." The counselor then gets a dependent source of long term income - but ironically, one true source of support - the extended family - gets devastated as ugly accusations and lawsuits fly. The list of accusations against parents grows absurdly macabre: torture with spiders, cannibalism, satanic rituals and other things too sick to mention in a family publication. The audience was shocked to hear that poor family members are doing time for charges based on evidence as flimsy as those who were burned as witches 300 years ago. Rather than improve, the 'recaller' may often loses jobs, goes on disability, gets divorced, loses custody of children and extended family, etc.
There is some hope to this pathetic travesty: the FMSF has been in contact with hundreds of 'retractors' - people who have since accused and often sued their crack pot therapists for causing so much damage. Thanks to the FMSF, the incidents seem to be waning.
After her talk, the engrossed audience stayed on for about another hour of open discussion. This included husband Peter Freyd and recent SI article author, Evan Harrington. PhACT appreciates the Freyd's long term support for rational thought. The FMSF can be contacted at 3401 Market Street suite 130 Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215)-387-1865 and http://iquest.com/~fitz/fmsf/ This page is maintained by Eric Krieg
Hypnosis
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False Memory Syndrome
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