NCJ Number
226679
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 18 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2009 Pages: 103-121
Date Published
February 2009
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study details the central factors in the recovered memory controversy and provides a case study that supports the veracity of recovered memories.
Abstract
Results indicate that it is possible for individuals to recover memories previously forgotten, especially in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA). While the exact mechanism involved in the forgetting of memories, whether it be repression, suppression, dissociation, denial, or some other psychic phenomenon, is not clearly understood at this time, what is known and substantiated through valid research is that individuals can and do recover memories previously lost or forgotten for varying periods of time. To determine the validity of repressed memories experimentally is extremely difficult to do as it would be unethical to deliberately traumatize individuals to set up an experimental paradigm. Therefore, case studies in which corroboration has been established, rather than controlled experimentation, play an integral role in the study of the recovered memory phenomenon. It is not reasonable to state a phenomenon does not exist because it cannot be replicated in an experimental design. Qualitative research in the form of clinical case studies has provided substantial documentation of the reality and veracity of recovered memories. However, it is critical that practitioners be aware of the possibility that memories recovered or recalled during treatment could also be false. There is no way to ascertain the validity of any particular memory without corroboration from an independent source. References