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Memory Wars and Torture; Parents Or Other Close Fam- Lished About Social Inßuences and Cults BOOK REVIEWS by Daniel L. Schacter Memory Wars and torture; parents or other close fam- lished about social inßuences and cults. ily members are typically recalled as the Elizabeth Loftus (The Myth of Repressed MAKING MONSTERS: FALSE MEMORIES, perpetrators. Patients frequently be- Memory, co-authored with writer Kath- PSYCHOTHERAPY, AND SEXUAL HYSTE- come overwhelmingly convinced of the erine Ketcham) is a memory researcher RIA, by Richard Ofshe and Ethan Wat- reality of their recovered memories; the who has made numerous pioneering ters. Charles ScribnerÕs Sons, 1994 accused often deny the memories with contributions to the cognitive study of ($23). THE MYTH OF REPRESSED MEMO- equal fervor. memory distortion and suggestibility. RY: FALSE MEMORIES AND ALLEGATIONS Are these memories accurate recollec- And Mark Pendergrast (Victims of Mem- OF SEXUAL ABUSE, by Elizabeth F. Lof- tions of terrible traumas or phantoms ory) is a writer and journalist who is tus and Katherine Ketcham. St. MartinÕs of events that never happened? Have himself an accused parent. Despite their Press, 1994 ($22.95). VICTIMS OF MEM- therapists developed eÝective new mem- disparate backgrounds, the authors ORY: INCEST ACCUSATIONS AND SHAT- ory-retrieval techniques, or have they share a critical view of what they refer TERED LIVES, by Mark Pendergrast. Up- employed misguided procedures that to as recovered-memory therapy. per Access Books, 1995 ($24.95). actually help to create the memories? Ofshe and Watters adopt the most And are the patients who recover mem- confrontational approach. The scathing debate is ragingÑin courtrooms, ories of sexual abuse being empowered tone of Making Monsters surfaces in in journals and in the popular to speak out, or are they being diverted the Þrst paragraph of its preface: ÒOur A pressÑabout the validity of re- from the problems that brought them to goal is to prove beyond doubt that dev- covered memories of long-past events. therapy in the Þrst place? astating mistakes are being made with- Because these memories often involve These questions have sparked pas- in certain therapy settings.... This work sexual abuse and other horrible experi- sionate, sometimes acrimonious dis- is intended as an exposŽ of a pseudo- ences, the dispute has stimulated broad putes. Memory researchers have been scientiÞc enterprise that is damaging interest in what is known about how astonished to Þnd their world of exper- the lives of people in need.Ó Ofshe and the mind records events. Fascination iments, theories and laboratory para- Watters lay the blame squarely at the with the workings of memory is noth- digms intertwined with high-proÞle is- feet of incompetent, even morally rep- ing new, of course. Aristotle oÝered a sues of incest, new-age psychotherapy rehensible therapists. ÒIf, for no defen- wide-ranging discourse on memory and even satanic cults. sible reason,Ó they write, Òsome thera- more than 2,000 years ago, and numer- The books discussed in this review pists are causing the same emotional ous philosophers since have pondered delve into the recovered-memories de- and psychological trauma as an actual the mindÕs capacity to travel backward bate from diverse perspectives. Richard rape or sexual assault, then they, like in time. But, as recent events reaÛrm, Ofshe (Making Monsters, co-authored those who physically victimize people, science has long had a hard time grap- with writer Ethan Watters) is a social deserve moral condemnation.Ó pling with that remarkable ability. psychologist who has studied and pub- These are serious charges. In support Serious research into the nature of memory did not begin until 1885, when the German psychologist Hermann Eb- binghaus applied scientiÞc method to the analysis of memory. The past de- cade has been particularly exciting, as scientists from a number of disciplines have begun to develop a thorough un- derstanding of memory. The new anal- yses range from detailed models of how experiences are recorded to broader theories about the brain systems in- volved in various forms of memory. Those of us studying human memo- ry feel optimistic that we are Þnally at the threshold of understanding some of the deepest enigmas of the mind. Yet this exploration has also developed a dark side. During the past half a dozen years, there has been an explosion of Jayne Baum Gallery (all photographs from collection of D. Schacter and S. McGlynn) cases in which adult men and womenÑ most frequently, young women under- 1987 going psychotherapyÑhave seemingly remembered childhood sexual abuse that they had forgotten for years or “Fragments,” even decades. Those memories include everything from single episodes of in- appropriate touching to years of rape LORIE NOVAK, Copyright 1995 Scientific American, Inc. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN April 1995 135 of their case, Ofshe and Watters begin the inßuence of a therapist who uses a case in which a therapist supposedly with a cursory review of experiments suggestive techniques to hunt for re- discovered that a patient was suÝering showing that suggestive inßuences can pressed memories. Such recovered from multiple personalities and re- alter a memory and that people can memories, the authors judge, are most pressed memories of satanic-ritual have vivid recollections of events that likely spurious. abuse. Once the patient ended therapy, never happened. They make this point most convinc- she retracted her memories and aban- No laboratory studies have ever at- ingly when discussing recovered mem- doned her personalities. tempted to demonstrate the possibility ories of satanic ritual abuse, which they In an attack on the underpinnings of of implanting false memories of sexual characterize as Òthe AchillesÕ heel of the recovered-memory therapy, Ofshe and trauma. Indeed, it seems safe to assume recovered memory movement.Ó Many Watters attempt to discredit the notion that such studies never will, because it therapists have reported on patients that there is a special mechanism, which would be unethical for a researcher to who have clearly recalled savage acts they label Òrobust repression,Ó that attempt to do so. Ofshe and Watters carried out by satanic cults: rapes, mur- could cause someone to forget com- consider perhaps the closest analogue, ders, cannibalization of fetuses and re- pletely about years of repeated sexual an experiment published in 1991 by trauma. The authors distinguish ro- the late Canadian researcher Nich- bust repression from the weaker olas Spanos in which he hypno- mental repression (which some tized his subjects, ÒregressedÓ psychologists refer to as suppres- them to Òpast livesÓ and suggest- sion) that occurs when people con- ed to some that they could have sciously avoid thinking about un- been abused in a past life. Spanos pleasant experiences. The idea that found that those who received this people sometimes deliberately put suggestion were later more likely aside painful recollections is not to ÒrememberÓ being abused than controversial. Such conscious those who had not. avoidance could decrease the like- The authors of Making Mon- lihood that someone would later sters also examine the controver- remember the unpleasant experi- sial memory-retrieval techniques ence, because it would not beneÞt (including hypnosis and visualiza- from the postevent rehearsalÑ tion) advocated by some recovery thinking and talking about the therapists. Ofshe and Watters dis- pastÑthat ordinarily strengthens cuss the mounting evidence that memories. But the mere lack of re- hypnosis oÝers a potent method Ruth Bachofner Gallery hearsal probably cannot produce for inducing compelling but inac- 1993 profound amnesia for traumatic curate pseudomemories. They also events that happen repeatedly for eÝectively criticize therapy tech- years. A more potent mechanism niques that involve visualizing or is required; this is where the con- imagining abusive incidents as a cept of robust repression comes in. Þrst step toward remembering “Fugitive Memory III,” Ofshe and Watters eÝectively them. Ofshe and Watters argue criticize the concepts of robust re- that a therapist who believes in pression advanced by several ad- the reality of forgotten abuse can YL CALLERI, vocates of recovered memory. The help validate imagined experi- CHER authors refer to a review article by ences as bona Þde memories. David Holmes of the University of Therapists sometimes infer that Kansas that concludes that there is forgotten abuse has occurred based no good experimental evidence for on symptoms that advocates of recov- lated atrocities. Yet in most instances, repression. The laboratory studies con- ered memory consider telltale signs of no memories of ritual brutality existed sidered by Holmes necessarily use rela- abuseÑattributes ranging from low self- prior to therapy, and no one has pro- tively sterile manipulations, however. It esteem and depression to avoidance of duced hard evidence of such acts. Of- is diÛcult to convince even a laborato- mirrors and the desire to change oneÕs she and Watters note that investiga- ry researcher such as myself that these name. As Ofshe and Watters assert, tions by the Federal Bureau of Investi- studies bear more than a remote rela- there is little evidence to link such be- gation of more than 300 cases have tion to real emotional traumas. haviors to a history of actual abuse. failed to turn up any proof. There is also some information no- Moreover, many of the alleged signs of The lack of empirical support does tably missing from Making Monsters. abuse are observed in people who were not necessarily mean that no satanic Ofshe and Watters do not discuss the almost certainly not abused. cults exist or that no ritual abuse has extensive literature on psychogenic am- Ofshe and Watters also draw on ever occurred. But Ofshe and WattersÕs nesia, whereby traumatic events tem- wrenching case studies of patients who central claimÑthat recovered memories porarily blot out certain memories, have recovered memories in therapy, of ritualistic horrors are very likely to ranging from single episodes to an in- some of whom later retracted those have been created during therapyÑis dividualÕs entire personal past.
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