
By: David Bloomberg
Re: Latest FMSF FAQ Booklet, 1/7

********************************************************************* *

The    F A L S E   M E M O R Y   S Y N D R O M E   F O U N D A T I O N

********************************************************************* *
3401 Market Street suite 130,  Philadelphia, PA 19104,  
(215-387-1865)
**********************************************************************

                         F R E Q U E N T L Y
                              A S K E D
                          Q U E S T I O N S

**********************************************************************

  THANK YOU FOR CONTACTING THE FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME FOUNDATION.  
  Many people have requested information from the Foundation, and this
  booklet was written in response to the questions asked most often.
  We hope that it provides you with a helpful introduction to the
  issues of FMS and a better understanding of the Foundation.

                                                  Pamela Freyd, Ph.D.
                                                  Executive Director
                                                      September 1995

  WHAT IS FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME?  Dr. John F. Kihlstrom, professor of
psychology at Yale University, has suggested the following 
definition:

  "a condition in which a person's identity and interpersonal
  relationships are centered around a memory of traumatic experience
  which is objectively false but in which the person strongly
  believes. Note that the syndrome is not characterized by false
  memories as such. We all have memories that are inaccurate. Rather,
  the syndrome may be diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained
  that it orients the individual's entire personality and lifestyle,
  in turn disrupting all sorts of other adaptive behavior. The analogy
  to personality disorder is intentional. False Memory Syndrome is
  especially destructive because the person assiduously avoids
  confrontation with any evidence that might challenge the memory.
  Thus it takes on a life of its own, encapsulated and resistant to
  correction. The person may become so focused on memory that he or
  she may be effectively distracted from coping with the real problems
  in his or her life."

There are many early references to false memories, pseudo-memories,
and confabulations in the memory literature, but the use of the term
false memory syndrome was introduced with the formation of the
Foundation. A syndrome is a set of symptoms that occur together.

  What is the problem? Starting in the late 1980s, many families began
to receive letters or calls from their children who were now
adults. The families were shocked by what they were told. One mother,
for example, was stunned to received this letter:

  "At this time and for an indefinite period of time I do not wish to
  have contact of any sort between us. I find it too painful because I
  believe you are being false. I have also decided that my well being
  is more important to my family than the gifts and letters you send
  the kids. Please discontinue...I give up the hope I've had for a
  relationship with you."

The mother was devastated when her daughter suddenly and arbitrarily
cut off contact, especially since the letter represented such a
radical change. Just a few months earlier she had received a letter
more typical of their correspondence. It read as follows:

  "Dear Mom,

    Thank you for your love and support. I love who you are, not just
  as mom but as you. I am so grateful to have you in my life and in
  the lives of my children.  I don't know if they'll ever put your
  name in a history book, but in my life you are not only one of the
  greatest women, but one of the greatest people. You have taught me
  so much about just being a good person.
                                                Love, 'First Name'"

WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO CAUSE SUCH ALIENATION?  Some families received
letters from lawyers which in their similarity read like form
letters. An abridged example follows:

    This law firm represents your daughter who has consulted me
  regarding the effects she is suffering from severe childhood trauma
  resulting from the abuse inflicted by you. The trauma described is
  unspeakable... Your daughter has authorized me to make the following
  demand letter for settlement:

  1. You assume responsibility for your daughter's medical and
  therapeutic expenses for the rest of her life.

  2. You reimburse your daughter for therapy expenses she has already
  incurred, $10,000.

  3. Payment of $250,000 to compensate for her pain and suffering.

  4. A life insurance policy with your daughter as beneficiary.
    If I do not hear from you in 10 days, your daughter will be
    requesting substantially higher sums and attorneys fees.

  As a lawyer I have dealt with many of these cases, and the facts
  related to a jury will warrant the imposition of substantial punitive
  and compensatory damages.

  Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts,
grandparents, others -- all were suddenly told that they could no
longer see their children and grandchildren. Most were also told that
they had committed terrible abuse, usually sexual abuse, that the
accuser learned about for the first time in therapy. Those accused
said that the accusations were false and that the new memories were
not real memories.

  The Foundation does not know the truth or falsity of the reports
from the families. Instead, we looked for patterns in the reports. The
patterns prompted serious questions about the assumption that memories
of abuse were always true.  The patterns raised the possibility that
memories of abuse might also be false memories.

  WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF FMS?  John Kihlstrom's definition on page 1
offers a general description of many who were making accusations. In
virtually every situation of which the Foundation is aware, the
accusing adult was facing emotional and psychological distress. Often
there was a precipitating event such as a job loss or change, divorce,
eating disorder, relationship problem, or birth or death in the
family. These contemporary concerns were seldom addressed in therapy.

  Other common observations of FMS are: radically changed behavior,
claiming a new malady of repressed memory syndrome, redefining
personal history, assuming a new identity and refusing to have contact
with anyone who did not share the beliefs of abuse.

  The symptoms indicated that FMS was probably of social origin such
as in folie a deux. FMS is not listed in the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual-IV (1994). It quite properly takes many years for
the official recognition of a medical diagnosis. The fact that the
major professional organizations have issued statements about FMS is
an indication of its seriousness.

   ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 |
 | "The AMA considers recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse o
 | be of uncertain authenticity, which should be subject to external
 | verification. The use of recovered memories is fraught with
 | problems of potential misapplication.
 |                                      Council on Scientific Affairs
 |                       American Medical Association,  June 16, 1994
  ____________________________________________________________________

  WHAT IS THE FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME FOUNDATION?  The FMS Foundation is
a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization formed in March 1992 and located
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Foundation's Scientific and
Professional Advisory Board is composed of prominent researchers and
clinicians from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, social work,
law, and education. This group advises on issues of memory and therapy
practice and helps set the future direction for the organization. The
Foundation's Board of Directors sets policy and the Executive Director
oversees the fiscal and day-to-day operations.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 |
 |  "While our awareness of childhood sexual abuse has increased
 |  enormously in the last decade and the horrors of its consequences
 |  should never be minimized, there is another side to this situation,
 |  namely that of the consequences of false allegations where whole
 |  families are split apart and terrible pain inflicted on everyone
 |  concerned. This side of the story needs to be told, for a
 |  therapist may, with the best intentions in the world, contribute
 |  to enormous family suffering."
 |                                   Harold Lief, M.D., November 1991
 |                         Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry , U. of P.
 | ____________________________________________________________________


  HOW IS THE FOUNDATION FINANCED?  Membership dues and contributions
from families and friends are the major sources of funding for the
Foundation. Dues constitute less than half of the income. Small
foundation grants have allowed the FMSF to plan meetings with the
Advisory Board and to undertake two major conferences. Volunteers
devote significant time and effort. The Foundation's staff is small
and it would not be possible to exist without volunteers. A financial
report is available in the FMSF office. Because the FMS Foundation is
a 501(c)(3) institution, contributions are tax deductible.

  HOW DID THE FOUNDATION START?  In November 1991, Darrell Sifford,
the late Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, wrote about a couple who
said that their adult daughter, after entering therapy, suddenly
claimed to recover "repressed memories" of incest and then cut off all
contact with anyone who would not validate her new identity as an
incest survivor. In the week following the publication Dr. Harold
Lief, who was quoted in the column, received close to one hundred
calls from affected families.  "This is the big bang of therapy for
the 90's," Sifford stated. He felt it was important to write more
columns about the issue and believed that there should be a place
where people who were affected could turn to for help and
information. That was the seed that later grew to become the FMS
Foundation.

   A group of families and professionals affiliated with the
University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University actually
formed the FMS Foundation in March of 1992. They felt that an
organization was needed to document and study FMS, to disseminate the
latest scientific information on memory and to help families.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 |
 |  "After the column appeared in newspapers around the country, I
 |  received a response that was larger and more passionate than
 |  anything that's come to me in more than a decade. About 25 percent
 |  of the response was negative and outraged -- from people who felt
 |  that I and those I interviewed didn't believe that childhood
 | sexual abuse ever happened. About 75 percent was positive and
 | appreciative -- from parents and family members who said they had
 | been falsely accused, and also from some 'victims.'"
 |                                  Darrell Sifford, January 5, 1992
 |                                             Philadelphia Inquirer
  ____________________________________________________________________


  WHO CONTACTS THE FOUNDATION AND WHY?  At first, most callers were
people who had a personal concern. They believed that they had been
wrongly accused by someone because of "recovered memories," or they
wanted information to understand their own memories. These still
constitute the majority of calls and letters, but we have been
receiving an increasing number of calls from professionals in all
fields and, more recently, from students. In addition to requesting
general information, callers ask for help with finding speakers and
for planning programs. Foundation members tell us the most important
benefit from contact with the Foundation is being put in touch with
both families and professionals at local meetings.

  WHAT HAS THE FOUNDATION ACCOMPLISHED?  Above all, the Foundation has
helped families.

  "You have saved my life!"  A Mom

  "For me, your work has performed a miracle: transforming a baffling
  personal nightmare into a comprehensible and challenging social
  problem. Building on the literature you have assembled, I am now
  able to reach out to enlist other family members to help my
  daughter."      A Dad

  "This is the most worthwhile organization I never intended to join."
                  A Dad

  These letters are typical of thousands we have received. Equally
compelling are the extensive changes in society. In these dramatic
changes, the False Memory Syndrome Foundation has played a pivotal
role.

  In three years, the term _false_memory_syndrome_, coined by the
Foundation, has become a part of everyday language. It has, moreover,
become a topic of television news reports, documentaries, talk shows,
soap operas, books, continuing education seminars, professional
conferences, lawsuits, general psychology textbooks, almanacs, and is
a Library of Congress Subject classification. In addition to hundreds
of scholarly articles, there have been nine professional journals with
special issues devoted to the topic of repressed memories and false
memories. The Foundation led the way when it sponsored the first major
scientific conference about false memories called, "Memory and
Reality: Emerging Crisis," held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in April
1993.

  The concept of false memories is not new to the therapeutic 
community. The issues surrounding false memories of incest are at
least as old as Freud.  Because of the recent publicity about the harm
done to families, however, professional organizations are now
addressing these issues. The topic has divided the therapy community
as few topics have.

  The FMS Foundation has galvanized people's thinking; its existence
has helped focus the issues of a phenomenon previously undefined. The
Foundation has played a vital role by changing the climate. It has
acted as a clearinghouse for information, put families in touch with
resources which have enabled them to become proactive, built a library
used by scholars, attorneys, families and the media, and the FMSF
Newsletter keeps thousands informed of important developments.
  
  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 | "The tide is already being turned... Above all, steady progress in
 | public enlightenment has been forged, over the past two-and-a-half
 | years, by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation..."
 |                                                    Frederick Crews
 |                             New York Review of Books, Dec. 1, 1994
  ____________________________________________________________________

 
DOES THE FOUNDATION SPEAK OUT AGAINST CHILD ABUSE?  Yes. Child sexual
abuse is a reprehensible crime. Empirical evidence substantiates that
the sexual abuse of children exists to a greater extent than was
previously recognized. Every effort should be made to help victims of
sexual abuse and to create a social climate in which abuse does not
continue to take place. The problem of false memory syndrome is a
separate problem from child abuse. They are parallel problems and both
must be solved.

  WHAT THERAPY PRACTICES CAUSE CONCERN?  Research articles and court
testimony confirm the family reports about the widespread use of
memory enhancement techniques in the belief that these will help
recover accurate "memories." These techniques include hypnosis, sodium
amytal, dream interpretation, guided imagery, journaling, body
massages, participation in survivor groups and reading of self-help
books. In the summer of 1993, the American Medical Association passed
a resolution warning of the dangers of misapplication in the use of
these techniques. In June of 1994 they issued a warning about all
recovered memories.  Both the AMA and the American Psychiatric
Association have stated:
 
  "...there is no completely accurate way of determining the validity
  of reports in the absence of corroborating information."

  The problem with the practices mentioned above -- which are used to
some degree by about 25% of psychotherapists according to a study by
Poole, et. al (1995) that looked at Ph.D. level clinical psychologists
in the United States and Great Britain -- is that when they are used,
they increase the risk of influence and suggestibility. An extensive
body of research in the area of hypnosis, for example, has shown
repeatedly that images that arise under hypnosis are strongly held as
accurate, may contain many details and may be associated with strong
emotion. None of these things indicates historical accuracy. Whether
they occur in or out of therapy, some memories may be historically
accurate, some distorted or confabulated and some false.

  WHO IS AFFECTED BY FMS?  Like a pebble dropped into a pond, an
accusation has a ripple effect on the entire family: the accuser, the
accused and the non-accused. Parents, brothers, sisters,
grandchildren, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends may all be
affected. When we looked in detail at six extended families, we found
that between 42 and 90 lives were touched by the accusation of one
person.

  As part of an ongoing effort to describe and understand the
phenomenon, we collected in-depth demographic information from
affected families. Here are some of the findings:

    Accuser:
      92% are female. 93% of retractors are female.
      74% are between ages 31 and 50.
      31% have education beyond college.
      60% report memory of abuse prior to age 4.  
      64% report memories from 20 to 39 years ago.
    Accused:
      62% accused fathers of abuse, 
      30% accused both mother and father of abuse.
      18% included allegations of satanic ritual abuse.
    Siblings:
      71% of siblings do not believe the accusations.

   ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 | "On April 4th our daughter wrote to her father (70 years old) and
 | me (67 years old). She accused her father of molesting her over
 | and over again and abusing her from ages 3 to 8. She accused her
 | older brother of knowing about the abuse because, she said, his
 | room was under the attic where it was supposed to have gone on.
 | There was no attic in that house. I asked her to go with me to
 | that house to see if there was an attic but she refused. On April
 | 30th, my husband of 46 years, died of a ruptured aneurysm. I know
 | he died of a broken heart."
 |                                                           A Mom
  ____________________________________________________________________


  WILL I BE SUED?  CAN I SUE?  Child abuse is a criminal offense.
Anyone who has been accused of a crime should consult legal counsel.
One out of sixteen of the families that contact the Foundation tell us
that they are being sued. Of these suits, nearly 90% are civil suits.
Of the civil suits, two-thirds are dropped, dismissed or concluded in
favor of the accused. Foundation records for 1994 indicate that one in
twelve criminal cases resulted in a conviction. This information comes
from over 800 lawsuits brought on the basis of recovered memories that
the Foundation has been tracking. The most frequent comment from
families who have had lawsuits brought against them is, "I won but I
lost. I didn't get my child back."

  In June of 1994, the Ramona case in California was the first in
which a third party -- the father who was not a patient -- was allowed
to bring a lawsuit against his daughter's therapists. While the
therapists were found guilty of malpractice, there are many obstacles
to filing this type of case.

  Many retractors, people who now say that their recovered memories
were false, are initiating malpractice lawsuits against their
therapists. Over half of the retractors who contact the Foundation
inform us that they plan a lawsuit. In July of 1995, a retractor in
Minneapolis was awarded $2.5 million dollars in a malpractice lawsuit
against a psychiatrist.

  In the spring of 1995, significant changes in the way that recovered
memory cases are handled by the courts began to take place. Courts
have begun to hold special pre-trial hearings on the scientific status
of repressed memories to determine the admissibility of testimony.
Other courts have insisted on verifiable evidence of the alleged
wrongdoing.
 ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
| "...the phenomenon of memory repression, and the process of       
| therapy used in these cases to recover the memories, have not     
| gained general acceptance in the field of psychology; and are not 
| scientifically reliable."                                         
|                                William J. Groff, Presiding Justice
|                               Court 1995
|
 ____________________________________________________________________

  WHAT IS A FLASHBACK?  The use of the term flashback for a vivid
image or sequence of images occurring while a patient is awake first
appeared in the substance abuse literature to describe altered states
of awareness with drug use, especially LSD. Although the term was
introduced as a metaphor, the content of flashbacks began to be
treated as historically accurate in the sexual abuse and trauma
literature.  There is no evidence, however, that flashbacks are
historically accurate. "Contextual factors such as expectation, in
addition to the suggestibility of patients and the social construct of
role-playing, influence in a crucial way the creating and content of
flashbacks." (Fred Frankel, M.D., International Journal of Clinical
and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.  XLII, No. 4, October 1994, p.332.) A
flashback is not proof that abuse occurred.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 | "It is imperative that all involved in this debate work hard to
 | ensure that the standard of science, not rhetoric or pseudoscience,
 | constitute the framework for future discussion."
 |                                          Daniel L. Schacter, Ph.D.
 |                                   Scientific American, April 1995
 |
  ____________________________________________________________________


  WHAT ARE BODY MEMORIES?  Some people have made an effort to explain
their pain, even cancer, as coming from repressed memories of incest
in the body. Scientists have studied related phenomena such as people
whose hands bleed in certain religious settings. Presumably such
people, called stigmatics, "are not revealing unconscious memories of
being crucified as young children, but rather are demonstrating a
fascinating psychogenic anomaly that springs from their conscious
fixation on the suffering of Christ. Similarly, it is possible that
conscious fixation on the idea that one was sexually abused might
increase the frequency of some physical symptoms, regardless of
whether or not the abuse really occurred." (Stephen Lindsay, Ph.D. &
Don Read, Ph.D., Applied Cognitive Psychology, Vol 8, 1994, p. 302.)
A physical pain or sensation is not proof that abuse occurred.

  IS AN EATING DISORDER A SIGN OF SEXUAL ABUSE?  The belief that a
person with an eating disorder must have been sexually abused has been
widespread. It is, however, unfounded. The research linking sexual
abuse with bulimia and anorexia has so many methodological flaws that
the claim that sexual abuse is a risk factor for eating disorders is
not justified. Data from several articles in the August 1994 American
Journal of Psychiatry suggest that childhood sexual abuse is neither
necessary nor sufficient for the later development of an eating
disorder.

  Another belief is that there is a link between aversions to foods
(such as bananas and pickles) and sexual abuse. The fact that a person
has an aversion, however, does not tell us how that aversion came
about. It is pure speculation, a guess, when someone tries to infer a
cause.  A food aversion or an eating disorder is not proof that abuse
occurred.
  
  CAN A CHECKLIST OF SYMPTOMS TELL IF SEXUAL ABUSE OCCURRED?  Many
symptoms besides flashbacks, body memories and eating disorders have
been suggested as indicators of past abuse. These symptoms range from
headaches to irritable bowels. In fact, one psychologist compiled a
list of over 900 different symptoms that had been presented as proof
of a history of abuse. When he reviewed the professional literature,
he found that not one of the symptoms could be shown to be an
inclusive indication of a history of abuse. "Given the lack of
consistent scientific evidence, therapists must be careful in
declaring that abuse has in fact occurred." (London, Independent
Practitioner, March 1, 1995, p. 64.)

  * There are no signs or symptoms that prove that past sexual abuse
abuse happened.

  * The attempt to find the cause for something is not new.

  * The reality is that complicated psychological and social issues
have complicated etiologies.

  ARE TRAUMATIC MEMORIES MORE ACCURATE?  There is no evidence that
they are. Many scientific studies have demonstrated that when events
are accompanied by strong emotion, they are likely to be remembered.
There is a parallel belief, however, that it is common for people to
repress memories of horrible events and that these can be accurately
recovered years later. This belief, often referred to as a theory of
repression (or dissociation or traumatic amnesia), is based on several
assumptions listed below.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 |              Assumptions of a  belief in repression:
 | * It is common to repress traumatic memories.
 | * These memories are relegated to a region of the unconscious
 |   where they are protected from the kinds of decay that affect
 |   other kinds of memories
 | * Even though repressed, these memories can be dug out with
 |   therapeutic assistance years or decades later.
 | * Once they are dug out, they are accurate.
 | * Digging out traumatic memories is essential for healing.
  ____________________________________________________________________


  IS THERE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THESE BELIEFS?  WHAT IS TO
BE ACCEPTED AS EVIDENCE?  That is what the FMS controversy has been
about. Memory scientists say that these beliefs are not supported by
scientific research. Some clinicians defend these beliefs.

  WHAT DO SCIENTIFIC STUDIES SHOW ABOUT THESE BELIEFS?  The American
Psychological Association reflected the research when it stated, "The
reality is that most people who are victims of childhood sexual abuse
remember all or part of what happened to them." (Office of
Communication, August, 10, 1995).  Moreover, there is no scientific
evidence to show that it is essential to dig out memories for 
healing.

  Memory research refutes the other assumptions. There is no evidence
for a special place that protects a memory from natural decay. There
is substantial evidence that memories can be inaccurate.

  A body of scientific experiments has shown that it is remarkably
easy to influence people so that they come to believe in memories that
are false. This is reviewed in a paper by Garry and Loftus, (1994,
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol XLII
No. 4). One of the best known experiments is the "lost in a mall"
study in which some people were led to describe a time when they were
lost in a shopping mall -- an event that never happened. Some critics
have said that this research is not relevant because the events
remembered were not traumatic. The argument that a traumatic memory is
not subject to the ordinary processes of memory such as
misperceptions, distortions, decay, and change has no scientific
base. Scientific research is clear: memories of events, whether they
are traumatic or not, are reconstructed.  As a result, all memories
are subject to change.

  The issue is the accuracy of memory. The truth or falsity of a
memory is independent of whether a memory is traumatic. While there is
a lack of evidence accepted by the scientific community to support the
collection of claims we call repression theory, there is solid,
accepted scientific evidence that false memories can be created.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 | "Memory appears to be stored as distributed ensembles of synaptic
 | change. Neural networks are continuously resculpted as time passes
 | after learning, i.e., there are both gains and losses of synaptic
 | connectivity, and gradual changes in the substrate of memory. In
 | general, what is understood about the biology of memory fits
 | traditional psychological accounts of memory that emphasize its
 | proneness to error and reconstruction, and change over time."
 |                                                Larry Squire, Ph.D.
 |                         Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences
 |                             University of California at San Diego
 |                             "Memory and Reality" Conference, 1994
  ____________________________________________________________________


  HOW DO I KNOW IF MY MEMORIES ARE TRUE?  Sometimes people call the
Foundation and ask us if their recovered memories are true. There is
no way that we could ever know what happened to other people many
years ago. In the absence of some independent external corroboration,
there is no magic formula that anyone has to discern true from false
memories. When people ask us this question, we generally try to help
them reflect upon how the memory came to them. If memory enhancement
techniques such as hypnosis were involved, they should know that while
they may feel that they are remembering more, there is no evidence
that any of these techniques work reliably. Hypnosis and sodium amytal
("truth serum") are especially unreliable.

  While other techniques of "memory work" have not been studied as
systematically as hypnosis, cognitive psychologists have warned about
the risks of inadvertent suggestion with techniques such as journal
writing, guided imagery and relaxation exercises. They have also noted
the risks of dream interpretation. Dreams are not videotapes of
events, and interpretations, even if made by experts, are subjective.

  Memory does not work like a video tape recorder. There just is no
button or pill that anyone can take to guarantee historically accurate
memories. Memory is constructive. People take bits and fragments and
reconstruct a narrative that makes sense to them in the here and now.
There is a lot of filling in the blanks. Those blanks get filled in
with new information that mixes with the old information, and it
becomes impossible to separate.  There is just no way to tell the
truth or falsity of a memory except by external corroboration.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 | "We quite literally 'make up stories' about our lives, the world,
 | and reality in general. Often it is the story that creates the
 | memory, rather than vice versa."
 |                                                 Robyn Dawes, Ph.D.
 |                             Rational Choice in an Uncertain World,
 |          reprinted in Issues in Child Abuse, Vol.1 # 3, 1991, p 25
  ____________________________________________________________________


  WHY WOULD SOMEONE REMEMBER SOMETHING SO HORRIBLE IF IT DIDN'T REALLY
HAPPEN?  This is a haunting question, but there are several possible
explanations which might shed light on some of the false memories. A
pseudomemory, for example, may be a kind of symbolic expression of
troubled family relationships. There may be a cultural climate in our
society in which the belief in the relationship between sexual abuse
and individual pathology is nurtured. It may be that in such a climate
people more readily believe things happened when they didn't.  When
people enter therapy, they do so to get better. They want to change.
People also tend to look for some explanation for why they have a
problem. Clients come to trust the person they have chosen to help
them. Because they are trying to get better, clients tend to rely on
the therapist's opinion. If the therapist believes that the reason the
client has a problem is because of some past trauma, and especially if
the therapist believes that the patient will not get better unless he
or she remembers the trauma, the patient will work to find what he or
she thinks is a trauma memory in order to get better.

  Richard Ofshe, Ph.D. and Ethan Watters noted that "No one -- not he
patients, therapists, parents, or critics of recovered memory therapy
-- questions that this therapy is an intensely difficult and painful
experience.  That the pain of therapy is real should not be accepted,
however, as an argument that the memories uncovered are accurate.
One's emotional reaction to a perceived memory need not correlate with
the veracity of that event, but rather only to whether one believes
that event to be true." (Making Monsters: False Memory, Psychotherapy
and Sexual Hysteria, 1994, p. 109).

  Therapists may believe that they are helping clients and improving a
culture in which sex abuse is far too prevalent. A patient may find
group acceptance in the cadre of survivors and find "the" reason for
problems. Patients suffering from severe psychological symptoms are
known to engage in what is called "effort after meaning," in that they
seek some explanation, however remote, for suffering.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 |                        Effort after meaning
 |
 | "When you first remember your abuse or acknowledge its effects,
 | you may feel tremendous relief. Finally there is a reason for your
 | problems. There is someone, and something to blame."
 |                      Bass and Davis, Courage to Heal, 1988, p.173
  ____________________________________________________________________


  HAS THE FOUNDATION RECEIVED CALLS ABOUT MPD?  Some parents tell us
that their children have been diagnosed with MPD and they wonder what
that is. The diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) was
changed to Dissociative Identity Disorder with the publication of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV. While there were only a handful
of MPD cases reported in all the world literature before 1970, there
have been thousands reported in the past decade. The leap in cases
seems to have followed the publication and movies of Three Faces of
Eve and Sybil.

  There is lively discussion as to the cause of this disorder in which
a person seems not to be aware of various aspects of him or her
self. Some claim that most cases are iatrogenic or therapy-induced.
Others claim that it is a "response to" or is "linked to" or is "an
outcome of" childhood maltreatment, generally sexual abuse. The flaw
with this line of reasoning is that the studies cited fail to
establish that the trauma really happened and they fail to consider
other aspects of a child's life. According to August Piper Jr., M.D.,
"Whether MPD is a discrete condition or simply a collection of
symptoms having no intrinsic relationship to each other, is unclear
and controversial."

  Whereas other diagnoses carry a negative stigma, MPD patients describe
themselves as having special talents to survive. Retractors who had MPD
diagnoses tell us that they had frequent and expensive 
hospitalizations.

  WHAT ABOUT SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE AND ALIEN ABDUCTION?  About 18% of
the families surveyed by the Foundation tell us that they have been
accused of being part of an intergenerational cult that sacrificed
babies and performed elaborate rituals.  There is no evidence that
there exists an intergenerational cult conspiracy to murder and eat
babies in elaborate rituals. We have also received calls from
relatives concerned about family members who have come to believe that
they were abducted and abused by space aliens or that they had been
abused in past lives. While these beliefs give a reason for
unhappiness or dissatisfaction, there is no empirical evidence that
such events ever happened.  In recent years some therapists seem to
have interpreted their role as one of validating a patient's
memories. This ignores the important clinical distinction between
historical truth and narrative truth.

 ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
| "Until hard evidence is obtained and corroborated, the public     
| should not be frightened into believing that babies are being bred
| and eaten, that 50,000 missing children are being murdered in     
| human sacrifices, or that satanists are taking over America's day 
| care centers or institutions. No one can prove with absolute      
| certainty that such activity has NOT occurred. The burden of proof,
| however, as it would be in a criminal prosecution, is on those who
| claim that it has occurred. The explanation that the satanists are
| too organized and law enforcement is too incompetent only goes so 
| far in explaining the lack of evidence. For at least eight years  
| American law enforcement has been aggressively investigating the  
| allegations of victims of ritual abuse. There is little or no     
| evidence for the portion of their allegations that deals with     
| large-scale baby breeding, human sacrifice, and organized satanic 
| conspiracies.  Now it is up to mental health professionals, not   
| law enforcement, to explain why victims are alleging things that  
| don't seem to have happened."                                     
|                                                Kenneth V. Lanning,
|                                           Behavioral Science Unit,
|     FBI "Investigator's Guide to Allegations of Ritual Child Abuse"
 ____________________________________________________________________


  WHAT DOES THE FOUNDATION KNOW ABOUT RETRACTORS AND RETRACTIONS?
Retractors are people who say that their memories of abuse were wrong.
People retract because their memories of abuse were false and their
accusations unfounded. What led them to retract varies from person to
person. Some of them changed therapists or left therapy because their
insurance ran out; others had supportive spouses, siblings, friends,
or clergy who helped serve as important reality checks; others read
something about similar circumstances or saw something on television
and started to read more about memory; some returned to the family
without initially retracting because of a significant family event --
wedding, illness, birth, death, etc. -- and later in that familiar
environment began to question their memories. The Foundation is aware
of many families that have resumed contact even though the belief of
abuse continues. Several families have successfully used the services
of a therapist in exploring the accuracy of the incest claims and then
reconciled. There are other explanations, but for many the road to
retraction is complex, not fully understood and a combination of
factors. Some retractors have told us of the sadness that may never
leave them because their retraction came after the death of a
parent. Yet, the experience we have with retractors reinforces our
belief that as terrible as the situation might be, there is hope for
many.

  "We are now talking to each other on the phone weekly. We try when
  talking to have only good feelings which is not hard because we love
  her very much, and we are happy to keep the lines of communication
  open. Neither of us speaks of the conflict we have gone
  through. When my husband and I talk it over later we know, of
  course, that nothing has really been solved, but I do not expect it
  to change, at least in the near future...I realize that this may not
  work for some families but in our case it is the only thing we feel
  that we can do."
                                                         A Mom

  "My daughter is back. She is the same wonderful loving person she
  was before she recovered memories. Her brother is upset because she
  has not apologized, but I don't need an apology. It is enough to
  know that she is safe and to have her love."
                                                         A  Dad 

  "I was reunited with my parents after three horrible years of being
  involved with a bad counselor and learning first hand what the False
  Memory Syndrome was all about. Today I am very thankful to God to be
  back together with my family.  My parents have been so forgiving and
  I am deeply thankful that we have been reunited."
                                                       A Retractor 
  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 | "I began to doubt that the memories I had retrieved in therapy
 | were real after reading Dr. Pittman's article in the April 1995
 | Psychology Today and the article in the Readers Digest on page 81
 | of the July 1994 issue entitled, "Donna and the Therapy Police,"
 | which I read this past April...[I began to question because]
 | stories of voodoo arose and that my family was involved in it and
 | there was child sacrifice. This had started by using nightmares
 | that I could remember having before I started to school."
 |                                         Retractor,  August, 1995
  ____________________________________________________________________


  HOW DO I REACH MY CHILD?  Over and over again, parents ask us what
they can do to reach their own child. Professionals have urged
families to try to keep contact in a non-confrontational way when it
is possible. Cards or letters or calls that can keep the family in
touch may be useful. Although there may be long-term benefits, parents
who want to send information about memory or other relevant material
to their child should be aware that, generally, this strategy doesn't
work and may even contribute to added stress, at least in the short
term. As Richard Gardner, M.D. has written, "When the father, mother,
and other family members try to convince the accusing woman that her
beliefs are false and that many of the elements in her scenario are
absurd and even impossible, their arguments fall on deaf ears. If the
accusing woman does respond, she provides some kind of a
rationalization that may be as implausible as the original scenario.
These patients and their therapists commonly claim, 'There was no
point to even confronting him: he would deny it anyway, so why waste
time.' When the mothers of these women try to convince them that the
accusation has no basis in reality, they will claim that the mother is
only trying to protect the father in order to preserve her marriage."
(Academy Forum, Fall 1994, p.12)

   For the many thousands of families that are affected with this
problem, the way to reach a child may not be direct. By working
together, families can alert the mental health professional
organizations to the desperate need for them to intervene in this
area.
  
  WHAT IS GOOD THERAPY?  This is a very difficult question. An
important thing to remember is that any technique with the power to
help, also has the power to harm. Missing in the scheme of things in
the mental health community is an effective monitoring of the benefits
and the risks of therapy or therapists.  While in most states a
hairdresser must show his or her license, anyone can get a small
business license and claim to be a therapist. Counseling programs and
hypnotherapy programs abound, eager to supply certification for
attending weekend workshops. Concern has been growing about the
chaotic situation that currently exists in the mental health field. It
is difficult for consumers to know what to do. A place to start is to
find out if a therapist is licensed, if there is a monitoring system,
and if informed consent is expected.

  Validated therapeutic practices focus on responsibility and are
forward-looking. One prominent clinician has written that "Seeing
ourselves as victims of childhood makes us prisoners of the past and
erodes our sense of responsibility. All successful therapy has two
things in common: it is forward-looking and it requires assuming
responsibility. Therapy that reviews childhood endlessly, that does
not focus on how to cope in the here and now, that views a better
future as incidental to undoing the past, has a century-long history
of being ineffective." (Seligman, 1994, What You Can Change & What You
Can't.)

  Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and marriage and
family counselors bring different expertise and focus to their work.
Some approaches that therapists use have been tested and shown to be
safe and reliable, but even reliable approaches require competent
therapists. If an approach has not been tested, then the patient
should be informed. One of the concerns about recovered memory therapy
is that many patients have not been informed that this theory is novel
and that it has never been demonstrated in scientific studies to be
effective.

  Currently, professionals are working on appropriate guidelines for
informing patients and for monitoring their work when dealing with
this type of recovered memory therapy. Few have yet asked the basic
question as to whether the assumptions underlying this type of therapy
are valid and if the risks and costs of using it are acceptable.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 | "Strange as it may seem for such an exacting discipline with such
 | potential to influence people's lives for good or ill,
 | psychotherapy is not a licensed profession. Therapy is an
 | 'unregulated field.' No regulatory body at any governmental level
 | oversees certification and maintenance of professional standards
 | for the practice of psychotherapy as such, though standards exist
 | for psychiatry and the other professions most psychotherapists
 | belong to. Legally, anyone can call him or herself a
 | 'psychotherapist.'"
 |                              The Consumer's Guide to Psychotherapy
 |                                      Engler & Goleman, 1992, p. 73
  ____________________________________________________________________

  DO CHILDREN GET FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME?  The Foundation has received
thousands of calls from people who are accused by young children. The
situation with dependent children is similar to FMS to the extent that
issues of memory accuracy, suggestibility, and interviewing techniques
may be involved. The situation with young children is different in
that repression or amnesia are seldom claimed. When minor children
make accusations, child welfare agencies, police, and custody issues
are usually involved. Accusing adults speak for themselves, generally
do not claim to be in present danger, and are not dependent on those
they accuse. That is not the case for children who must be protected.

Readings related to minor children.
  
CECI, S. J. & BRUCKE, M. (1995). Jeopardy in the Courtroom. 312
pages. American Psychological Association.  Call 800-374-2721. (Case
studies and scientific research to clarify points for evaluating
children's statements.)
  
FMSF FOUNDATION: Resources For Families Accused by Minor Children
(1995) Order from FMSF.  (Send check) # 825 [$ 12.00]
  
GARDNER, RICHARD (1992) True and False Accusations of Child Sex
Abuse. Order from Creative Therapeutics, 155 Country Road, Cresskill,
NJ 07626-2675. (A guide for legal and mental health professionals.)
  
ISSUES IN CHILD ABUSE ACCUSATIONS, A quarterly journal published by
Institute for Psychological Therapies, 13200 Cannon City Boulevard,
Northfield, MN 55057-4405 (507) 645-8881.
  
TONG, DEAN (1992) Don't Blame Me Daddy, False Accusations of Child
Sexual Abuse.  Hampton Roads.  (Personal experiences and lists some
resources.)
  
WEXLER, RICHARD (1990) Wounded Innocents: The Real Victims in the War
Against Child Abuse.  369 pages Prometheus Books. (Investigates child
welfare system.)
  
Additional Resources:.
  
National Child Abuse Defense and Resource Center. 
(419) 865-0513. FAX (419) 865-0526  

VOCAL (Victims of Child Abuse Legislation) 
(520) 722-1968.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 | "People who care deeply about victims of sexual misconduct should
 | be appalled by those who falsely cry wolf. In the end, everyone
 | benefits from a policy which deters false accusations and
 | encourages true accusations."
 |                                             Alan Dershowitz, 1994
 |
  ____________________________________________________________________


  WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF JOINING FMSF? 

Members of the FMS Foundation receive:

  * a comprehensive Basic Information packet,
  * one year's subscription to FMSF Newsletter,
  * announcements of local meetings,
  * a contact in their state,
  * discounts on printed material and conferences,
  * legal resources,
  * help in finding resources and answers to questions, and
  * a sympathetic ear if needed.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of joining the Foundation is the
knowledge that you are contributing to solutions -- that through our
combined efforts, the climate has changed and hundreds of accusors
have retracted their allegations and reunited with their families.

   It is vital to ensure that this kind of problem does not happen
again. The scientific research base is there to be tapped, and the
majority of professionals care and are eager to join in the
effort. Reaching those professionals and energizing them is an
important Foundation activity which your membership supports.

  Membership supports Foundation research to understand the problem
and to help families. This includes surveys of families and patients
who contact the Foundation and legal research. It supports a Speakers
Bureau and development of Continuing Education programs.

 Membership in the Foundation gives families, retractors, and
professionals an opportunity to work together in these efforts.

JOIN THE FMS FOUNDATION. BE PART OF THE SOLUTION.
    
  What articles are available through FMSF?  The FMS Foundation has
become an international resource for professional journal articles,
relevant legal decisions, amicus briefs and significant newspaper and
magazine articles that relate to the scientific, legal and personal
issues associated with FMS.

  A complete annotated bibliography of material available through MSF
will be sent upon request. Please enclose a stamped self-addressed
envelope.  (If you are not a member of the Foundation include $1.00 to
cover handling.)

  The Foundation has secured permission to copy the articles on the
Bibliography and provide them at our cost. Here is a sample of the
kinds of material on the Bibliography. [Prices in effect through
1995.]

# 801                                                      [$200.00]
FMS FOUNDATION: Summary of Legal Resources (1995). For Those Accused
of Sexual Abuse of Children Based on Repressed Memories of Long
Duration.

# 925                                                       [$12.50] 
FMSF Video: False Memory Syndrome. (16 min.) This video presents an
overview of False Memory Syndrome, exploring key issues through
interviews with world-renowned researchers and clinicians. It also
contains stories of families and retractors.

# 60                                                        [$10.50]
COLLECTION E - (Ramona Trial) 39 Newspaper/ Magazine Articles,
unbound, that trace the Ramona trial. (Collection from the popular
press of interest to people tracing media portrayal and public opinion
on 3rd party suits.)

# 702                                                        
[$2.00]  
AMA COUNCIL REPORT (1994).  Memories of childhood abuse.  #5-A-94.
International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis, Vol. XLIII,
No 2.  Based on research by Orne and others, this report notes the
problems with using hypnosis to enhance recall and states that in the
absence of external verification, we cannot know whether a given
memory is true or not.

# 753                                                        
[$3.50]  
CAMPBELL, T.W. (1992). Therapeutic relationships and iatrogenic
outcomes: Blame-and-change maneuver in psychotherapy. Psychotherapy,
Vol.. 29, No 3.  A paper that outlines how some therapists redefine a
patient's problems to fit a preconceived belief system.

# 355                                                        [$6.00] 
CREWS, F. (1994).  Revenge of the repressed (Parts 1 & 2). The New
York Review of Books, Vol. XLI, Nos 19 &20. A discussion of the
repressed memory problem within the context of the broader
reevaluation of Freud and his research..

# 259                                                        
[$2.50]  
FRANKEL, F.H. (1993).  Adult reconstruction of childhood events in the
multiple personality literature. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol.
150, No 6. A review of the MPD literature, summary of studies of
memory with and without hypnosis, and discussion of ethical and legal
consequences of validating patients' memories without external
corroboration.

# 610                                                        [$3.50] 
GARRY, M & LOFTUS, E. F. (1994). Pseudomemories without hypnosis.
International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis,Vol. XLII,
No 4. This article describes how researchers were able to "implant"
memories of being lost in a shopping mall. Considers four rounds of
research showing that it is not hard to make people believe they have
experienced something they have not.

# 615                                                        [$4.50] 
KIHLSTROM, J F. (1993). The recovery of memory in the laboratory and
clinic.  Paper presented at the joint convention of the Rocky Mountain
Psychological Association and the Western Psychological Association,
Phoenix, Arizona, April.  This paper outlines the definition of "false
memory syndrome" and presents an overview of the working of memory.

# 730                                                        [$5.50]
LANNING, K. V. (1992). Investigator's Guide to Allegations of 'Ritual'
Child Abuse, Behavior Science Unit, National Center for the Analysis
of Violent Crime, Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI Academy,
Quantico, VA 22135.  FBI investigator began his research in the belief
that stories of intergenerational satanic ritual abuse conspiracies
were true. This report details why he changed his mind after
investigating hundreds of cases.

# 396                                                        [$4.50]
LEVITT, E. & PINNELL, C. M. (1995). Some additional lights of the
childhood sexual abuse-psychopathology axis. International Journal of
Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis.,Vol. XLIII, No 2.  A review of the
research on the effects of child sexual abuse shows that many of the
current claims, especially alleged signs and symptoms, have no
scientific base.

# 400                                                       [$4.50]
LOFTUS, E. F. (1993). The reality of repressed memories.  American
Psychologist, Vol. 48, No 5.  This landmark article reviews and
evaluates the literature and arguments for repression.

# 766                                                       [$4.50]
MCHUGH, P. (1992). Psychiatric misadventures. American Scholar, Fall.
Chief of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions sets the FMS
and MPD discussions within the framework of fads in psychiatry.

# 772                                                       [$2.50]
NASH, M. R. (1994). Memory distortion and sexual trauma: Problem of
false negatives and false positives. International Journal of Clinical
& Experimental Hypnosis, Vol. XLII, No 4. This article reviews the
empirical evidence for the occurrance of each of these types of errors
of diagnosis.

# 420                                                       [$4.50]
OFSHE, R. & WATTERS, E. (1993).  Making monsters. Society,
March/April, Vol. 30, No. 3.  An expert in influence techniques
provides a sociological context for the current phenomenon and
predicts that when former patients leave therapy, their lawsuits will
change the nature of the mental health profession.


# 656                                                      [$2.50]
PASLEY, L. (1994). Misplaced trust. Skeptic , Vol. 2, No 3. A
retractor writes about her experiences in recovered memory therapy and
what led her to leave her therapy.

# 315                                                      [$3.50]
PIPER, A. (1993). "Truth serum" and "recovered memories" of sexual
abuse: A review of the evidence. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, Winter.
This article reviews the literature on the use of sodium amytal in
recovering memories. Results show that its use is similar to the use
of hypnosis in that there is no way to determine the accuracy except
for external corroboration.

# 431                                                      [$2.50]
POPE, H. G. & HUDSON, J. I.  (1995). Can memories of childhood sexual
abuse be repressed? Psychological Medicine, Vol 25. This article is a
detailed critique of the three papers most often cited as evidence for
the existence of recovered repressed memories.

# 333                                                      [$2.50]
POPE, H. G. et al.(1994). Child sexual abuse and bulimia nervosa: A
comparison of American, Austrian, and Brazilian women. American
Journal of Psychiatry , Vol 151, No 5. The data show no greater rate
of bulimia nervosa in sexually abused subjects than in the general
population. Findings add to weight of evidence suggesting that
childhood sexual abuse is not a risk factor for bulimia nervosa.

# 776                                                      [$4.50]
POOLE, D.A., LINDSAY, D.S., Memon, A. & Bull, R. (1995).
Psychotherapy and the recovery of memories of childhood sexual abuse:
U.S. and British practitioners' opinions, practices, and experiences.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , Vol 63, No 3.  A study
of Ph.D. level clinicians in two countries indicates that 25% may
engage in practices that run the risk of producing confabulations or
false memories.

# 788                                                      [$3.50]
SPENCE, D. P. (1994). Narrative truth and putative child abuse.
International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis, Vol XLII,
No 4.  In therapy, the memories of a patient reflect the way that
person feels about things at the present time. They should not be
confused with historical reality.

# 791                                                      [$3.50]
WILLIAMS, L.M. (1994). Recall of childhood trauma. A prospective study
of women's memories of child sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology, December 1994.  This is the most widely cited
study by those supporting repressed memories of abuse. Williams
interviewed people with documented histories of child sexual abuse
seventeen years later and found 38% did not report abuse.

  ______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
 |     To order additional copies of this booklet or other listed
 |     articles:
 |
 |  "Frequently Asked Questions"               Order #25
 |
 |     QUANTITY  PRICE PER  BOOKLET
 |              1-4    $1.00
 |              5-9    $0.90
 |             10-19   $0.80
 |             20-49   $0.65
 |             50-100  $0.60
 |
 |      Send check to            (US$ only)
 |             FMS Foundation
 |             3401 Market Street - Suite 130
 |             Philadelphia, PA  19104
 |      Include:
 |             Name
 |             Address
 |             City, State, Zip
 |             Phone
 |             Article order #
 |
 |  Prices in effect through 1995.   Members receive a 10% discount.
  ____________________________________________________________________


BOOKS

    Even though the FMS Foundation does not sell books, we list the
following because so many people have recommended them.

CAMPBELL, TERENCE, (1994) Beware the Talking Cure: Psychotherapy May
be Hazardous to Your Health.  $14.95. To order: Upton Books.  
800-232-7477.

DAWES, ROBYN (1994) House of Cards: Psychology and Psychiatry Built on
Myth.  $22.95 The Free Press, Division of Macmillan, Inc. 866 Third
Avenue, New York, NY 10022.

GOLDSTEIN, ELEANOR & FARMER, KEVIN (1992) Confabulations: Creating
False Memories - Destroying Families. (1993) True Stories of False
Memories.  SIRS Books.  800-232-7477.

LOFTUS, ELIZABETH & KETCHAM, KATHERINE (1994) The Myth of Repressed
Memory.  $22.95 + $4.50 shipping.  St. Martin's Press.  800-288-2131

OFSHE, RICHARD & WATTERS, ETHAN, (1994) Making Monsters: False Memory,
Psychotherapy and Sexual Hysteria. $22.00 Charles Scribner's Sons.
800-257-5755

PENDERGRAST, MARK (1994) Victims of Memory: Incest Accusations and
Shattered Lives. Special price for FMSF members $22.50 Upper Access
Books. 800-356-9315

UNDERWAGER, RALPH & WAKEFIELD, HOLLIDA, (1994) Return of the Furies:
Analysis of Recovery Memory Therapy. $16.95 Open Court Publishing Co.
800-435-6850

VICTOR, JEFFREY (1993) Satanic Panic.  Open Court Publishing Co.
800-435-6850

WRIGHT, LARRY (1994) Remembering Satan: Case of Recovered Memory and
the Shattering of an American Family.  $22.00 205 pages   Knopf.

YAPKO, MICHAEL (1994) Suggestions of Abuse.  271 pages $22.00 To
order: Simon & Schuster, Rockefeller Center, 1230 Avenue of the
Americas, New York, NY 10020

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 
  Contact the following directly to order videos or transcripts of TV
     productions:
  Journal Graphics, Inc  800-825-5746
  Burrelle's Transcripts  800-777-8398

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM HISTORY?

  "The witch-craze of the 16th and 17th centuries "made clear that
validation means something much more than proposing ways -- even
consistent ways -- to make the diagnosis even of something that does
not exist. That is, the witch hunters received explicit and
operational ways of identifying witches. They taught each other and
wrote their procedures in a large and influential book. This book
entitled Malleus Maleficarum or the Hammer of Witches spelled out in
exquisite detail the kinds of behaviors that characterize the witch
and identify the evidence on her body of congress with devils, incubi
and succubi. The Malleus had as its epigraph: Haeresis est maxima
opera maleficarum non creders (to disbelieve in witchcraft is the
greatest of heresies).

  "What was learned from this that might illuminate practices with
  repressed memories? The fact that there is a manual telling how to
  recognize the manifestations of repressed memories does not confirm
  them. It is an exercise in creating a consistent approach to the
  diagnosis amongst therapists -- a uniformity of diagnostic practice
  and does not validate the presumed abusive experience...

  "The issue for repressed memories is validation -- and validation in
  every case when it appears...To treat for repressed memories without
  any effort at external validation is malpractice pure and simple;
  malpractice on the basis of standards of care that have developed
  out of the history of psychiatric service -- as with witches -- and
  malpractice because a misdirection of therapy will injure the
  patient and the family."
                                                    Paul McHugh, M.D.
                         Chief of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins Hospital
        Paper presented at Memory and Reality Conference, April 1993


FMSF Scientific and Professional Advisory Board,    September 1, 1995:
AARON T. BECK, M.D., D.M.S., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
PA;  TERENCE W.   CAMPBELL,  Ph.D., Clinical  and Forensic Psychology,
Sterling Heights, MI; ROSALIND CARTWRIGHT, Rush Presbyterian St. Lukes
Medical   Center, Chicago, IL;   JEAN  CHAPMAN,  Ph.D.,  University of
Wisconsin, Madison, WI; LOREN CHAPMAN, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin,
Madison, WI;  FREDERICK C.  CREWS,   Ph.D., University of
California, erkeley, CA;  ROBYN  M.  DAWES,  Ph.D.,  Carnegie  Mellon
University, ittsburgh, PA; DAVID F.   DINGES, Ph.D., University of
Pennsylvania, he  Institute of Pennsylvania   Hospital, Philadelphia, PA;  HENRY
C. LLIS, Ph.D., University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; FRED
FRANKEL, .B.Ch.B.,  D.P.M.,  Beth Israel  Hospital,  Harvard  Medical
School, oston,  MA; GEORGE K.  GANAWAY,   M.D., Emory University of
Medicine, tlanta, GA;   MARTIN  GARDNER,  Author,  Hendersonville, NC;
ROCHEL ELMAN,  Ph.D., University   of   California, Los  Angeles,  CA;
HENRY LEITMAN, Ph.D.,  University of  Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
LILA LEITMAN, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
RICHARD REEN, M.D., J.D., Charing Cross Hospital, London; DAVID A.
HALPERIN, .D., Mount Sinai School of  Medicine, New  York, NY; ERNEST
HILGARD, h.D., Stanford  University, Palo Alto, CA;  JOHN HOCHMAN,  M.D.,
UCLA edical School,  Los Angeles, CA; DAVID  S.  HOLMES, Ph.D.,
University f  Kansas,  Lawrence,   KS;  PHILIP  S.    HOLZMAN, Ph.D.,
Harvard niversity, Cambridge, MA; JOHN KIHLSTROM, Ph.D., Yale University,
New aven,  CT;   HAROLD  LIEF,   M.D.,    University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; ELIZABETH  LOFTUS, Ph.D.,  University of
Washington, Seattle, WA; PAUL  McHUGH, M.D., Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, MD; HAROLD  MERSKEY,  D.M., University  of  Western  Ontario,
London, Canada; ULRIC NEISSER, Ph.D.,  Emory University, Atlanta,  GA;
RICHARD OFSHE,  Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley,   CA; EMILY K
ORNE, B.A., University   of  Pennsyllvania, The   Institute  of
Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA;  MARTIN  ORNE, M.D., Ph.D., University
of Pennsylvania,  The Institute  of  Pennsylvania Hospital,
Philadelphia, PA; LOREN    PANKRATZ,   Ph.D., Oregon  Health   Sciences
University, Portland, OR;  CAMPBELL PERRY, Ph.D.,  Concordia University,
Montreal, Canada; MICHAEL A.   PERSINGER, Ph.D., Laurentian University,
Ontario, Canada; AUGUST T.  PIPER, Jr., M.D., Seattle,  WA; HARRISON POPE,
Jr., M.D.,  Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA;  JAMES RANDI, Author
and Magician,   Plantation, FL;    HENRY L.  ROEDIGER,   III,  Ph.D.
,Rice University, Houston,  TX;  CAROLYN SAARI,  Ph.D., Loyola
University, Chicago, IL; THEODORE  SARBIN, Ph.D., University  of California,
Santa Cruz, CA; THOMAS  A.  SEBEOK, Ph.D., Indiana  Univeristy,
Bloomington, IN; LOUISE SHOEMAKER, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA;  MARGARET SINGER,  Ph.D., University of  California, Berkeley,
CA; RALPH SLOVENKO,  J.D.,   Ph.D.,  Wayne State  University   Law
School, Detroit, MI; DONALD SPENCE, Ph.D., Robert Wood Johnson Medical
Center, Piscataway, NJ;  JEFFREY  VICTOR, Ph.D.,  Jamestown Community
College, Jamestown, NY; HOLLIDA  WAKEFIELD,  M.A., Institute  of
Psychological Therapies,  Northfield,  MN; LOUIS  JOLYON WEST, M.D.,  UCLA School
of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA.

********************************************************************* *
                 FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME FOUNDATION
                           ________________
                           MEMBERSHIP  FORM


    Annual Dues for individual and/or family ($100.00)   $________

    Annual Dues for professionals ($125.00)              $________

    I enclose a tax-deductible contribution of           $________

                                               Total     $________


METHOD OF PAYMENT:

___Credit Card:

___VISA:  Card: #________-________-________-________ exp. date 
___/___

___MASTER CARD: #________-________-________-________ exp. date 
___/___

___Check or Money Order: Payable to FMS FOUNDATION in U.S. dollars.
  Foreign & Canadian payments may only be made with a Credit Card, a 
  U.S. dollar money order, or a check drawn on a U.S. dollar account.

______________________________________________________________________
Name(s)

______________________________________________________________________
Street Address or P.O.Box


______________________________________________________________________
City                                 State         Zip+4

(_____)_____________________________(_____)___________________________
Home Telephone                      Work Telephone


______________________________________________________________________
Signature


*  MAIL the completed form with payment to: 
FMS Foundation, 3401 Market ST, Suite 130, Philadelphia, PA 
19104-3315

*  FAX your order to (215) 287-1917. Fax orders cannot be processed 
without credit card information.


--- msgedsq 2.0.5
 * Origin: The Temples of Syrinx! (1:2430/2112)
SEEN-BY: 102/2 835 890 943 270/101 280/1 26 31 113 180 333 359
@PATH: 2430/1 1423 270/101 280/1 102/2 835 943

