Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:05:10.613Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Characteristics, context and consequences of memory recovery among adults in therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Bernice Andrews ,
Chris R. Brewin ,
Jennifer Ochera ,
John Morton ,
Debra A. Bekerian ,
Graham M. Davies  and
Phil Mollon
Bernice Andrews*
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey
Chris R. Brewin
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey
Jennifer Ochera
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey
John Morton
Affiliation:
MRC Cognitive Development Unit, London
Debra A. Bekerian
Affiliation:
MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge
Graham M. Davies
Affiliation:
University of Leicester, Leicester
Phil Mollon
Affiliation:
Lister Hospital, Stevenage
*
Bernice Andrews, Department of Psychology. Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

There are concerns that memories recovered during therapy are likely to be the result of inappropriate therapeutic techniques.

Aims

To investigate systematically these concerns.

Method

One-hundred and eight therapists provided information on all clients with recovered memories seen in the past three years, and were interviewed in detail on up to three such clients.

Results

Of a total of 690 clients, therapists reported that 65% recalled child sexual abuse and 35% recalled other traumas, 32% started recovering memories before entering therapy According to therapists' accounts, among the 236 detailed client cases very few appeared improbable and corroboration was reported in 41%. Techniques to aid recall were used in 42%, but only in 22% were they used before memory recovery started.

Conclusions

Some of the data are consistent with memories being of iatrogenic origin, but other data clearly point to the need for additional explanations.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 175 , Issue 2 , August 1999 , pp. 141 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

∗

A fuller version of this paper is available on request from the first author.

References

Andrews, B. (1997) Can a survey of British False Memory Society members reliably inform the recovered memory debate? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11, 19–23.Google Scholar
Andrews, B., Morton, J., Bekerian, D., et al (1995) The recovery of memories in clinical practice: experiences and beliefs of British Psychological Society Practitioners. The Psychologist: Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 5, 209–214.Google Scholar
Brandon, S., Boakes, J., Glaser, D., et al (1998) Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Implications for clinical practice. British Journal of Psychiatry, 172, 296–307.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. R. (1996) Scientific status of recovered memories. British Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 131–134.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. R. & Andrews, B. (1998) Recovered memories of trauma: phenomenology and cognitive mechanisms. Clinical Psychology Review, 18, 949–970.Google Scholar
Cheit, R. E. (1998) Consider this, skeptics of recovered memory. Ethics & Behavior, 8, 141–160.Google Scholar
Feldman-Summers, S. & Pope, K. S. (1994) The experience of ‘forgetting’ childhood abuse: a national survey of psychologists. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 636–639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freyd, J. J. (1996) Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gudjonsson, G. H. (1997) Accusations by adults of childhood sexual abuse: a survey of the members of the British False Memory Society. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11, 3–18.Google Scholar
Herman, J. L. & Harvey, M. R. (1997) Adult memories of childhood trauma: a naturalistic clinical study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10, 557–571.Google Scholar
Lindsay, D. S. & Read, J. D. (1994) Psychotherapy and memories of childhood sexual abuse: a cognitive perspective. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 8, 281–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loftus, E. F. (1993) The reality of repressed memories. American Psychologist, 48, 518–537.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mollon, P. (1998) Remembering Trauma. A Psychotherapist's Guide to Memory and Illusion. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Olio, K. (1996) Are 25% of clinicians using potentially risky therapeutic practices? A review of the logic and methodology of the Poole. Lindsay et al. study. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 24, 277–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polusny, M. & Follette, V. (1996) Remembering childhood sexual abuse: a national survey of psychologists' clinical practices, beliefs, and personal experiences. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 27, 41–52.Google Scholar
Poole, D. A., Lindsay, D. S., Memon, A., et al (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, 63, 426–437.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pope, H. G. & Hudson, J. I. (1995) Can memories of childhood abuse be repressed? Psychological Medicine, 25, 121–126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pope, K. (1997) Science as a careful questioning: are claims of a false memory syndrome epidemic based on empirical evidence? American Psychologist, 52, 997–1006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schooler, J. W., Bendiksen, M. & Ambadar, Z. (1997) Taking the middle line: can we accommodate both fabricated and recovered memories of sexual abuse? In False and Recovered Memories (ed. Conway, M.), pp. 251–292. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wakefield, M. A. & Underwager, R. (1992) Recovered memories of alleged sexual abuse: lawsuits against parents. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 10, 483–507.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.