Psychotherapy and Reports of Early Sexual Trauma: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Memory Errors (From Truth in Memory, P 90-106, 1998, Steven Jay Lynn and Kevin M. McConkey, eds.)

• NCJ Number: 185925
• Author(s): Michael R. Nash
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Guilford Publications, Inc.
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article presents a conceptual framework for understanding memory errors.

Abstract

The article briefly reviews the theoretical and empirical foundations that argue respectively for the existence of false positives ("pseudomemory") and false negatives ("repression"). It delineates the reasons why clinical efficacy cannot be relied on to rule out either type of error. Finally, it presents summaries of two successful therapies, one illustrating an example of an almost certain instance of a false-positive error and the other a fairly certain instance of a false-negative error. The article concludes that memories do not literally return in pristine form, unsullied by contemporary factors like suggestion, transference, values, social context, and fantasies elaborated at the time of and subsequent to the event. False positives can and do occur. The field must acknowledge the reality of both types of inferential errors concerning self-report of early traumatic false positives and false negatives. Figure, note, references