The False Memory debate has been a battle between researchers, theorists and investigators of child abusefor several years. False memory refers to the false recollection of a traumatic event that did not occur.
It is typically induced during a therapeutic or investigative process where so called recovered memories of childhood abuse are introduced into the minds of vulnerable people. In most cases there are often no pre-existing memories of being abused, and the repressed memories are often recovered shortly after starting therapy or at the onset of an investigation.Incidences of satanic ritual abuse, child sexual and physical abuse and rape are believed to have been unearthed during these investigations..
(Snyder, F. The False Memory Debate: A Battle between Researchers and Theoreticians) Because of the unreliability of the investigators and the unreliable methods used in the investigations, many of these recounts of heinous abuse have been deemed by authorities as being outlandish, preposterous and devoid of credibility.That being so, in the cases of authentic abuse, a problem has emerged in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse regarding the victims, the investigators and the perpetrators. It becomes impossible or difficult for investigators, including the judiciary system, to investigate and prosecute cases of abuse.
The perpetrators of the abuse are not brought to justice. The victim is discredited and suffers mentally and emotionally.There are repercussions also for unknown and future abused victims who may choose not to disclose the abuse. How then can the creation of false memories of abuse be prevented? One of the preventable causes is the incompetence of therapists, who sometimes contribute to the creation of false memories.
In order to avoid the tragedies presented in the aforesaid paragraph, each report of abuse must be properly and reliably investigated. Trying to recover abuse memories using hypnosis or other mind-altering techniques is unreliable.It creates the risk of producing very distorted or outright false memories. (Hopper, J. Recovered Memories of Sexual AbuseScientific Research and Scholarly Resources.
Retrieved from http://www. jimhopper. com/memory/) The American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs found that “recollections obtained during hypnosis can involve confabulations and pseudo memories and not only fail to be more accurate, but actually appear to be less reliable than no hypnotic recall. (American Medical Association, Council on Scientific Affairs, Scientific Status of Refreshing Recollections by the Use of Hypnosis, [1985]. Similarly, the Royal College of Psychiatrists reports that there is no evidence that memory recovery techniques such as drug-mediated interviews, hypnosis, regression therapies, guided imagery, body memories, literal dream interpretation and journaling can reveal or accurately elaborate factual information about any past experiences including childhood sexual abuse.
They further state that regression therapy techniques such as age regression and hypnotic regression are of “unproved effectiveness. " (Royal College of Psychiatrists, Reported Recovered Memories of Child Sexual Abuse. [1997. UK] Add to this, the investigator must not use interrogative suggestibility.
Leading, misleading and coercive questions should not be asked. Additionally, the investigator should not use leading statements such as “You have the classic symptoms of someone who has been abused”.Questions should be open-ended and not closed-ended which forces either a yes or no answer and may produce erroneous information. (American Prosecutors Research Institute.
Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse. [2003] p. 33) In sum, the investigator should be objective and nonjudgmental and not couch his or her questions or design the interview in such a way that it would produce a desired self-interested response.
