FMS Foundation Newsletter
Fall, 2010, Volume 19 No. 4
If you would prefer to read the newsletter in the pdf version, go
to:
http://www.FMSFonline.org/currentnewsletter.pdf
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F M S F O U N D A T I O N N E W S L E T T E R (e-mail edition)
FALL 2010 Vol. 19 No. 4
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ISSN #1069-0484. Copyright (c) 2010 by the FMS Foundation
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The FMSF Newsletter will be published 4 times in 2011 by the False
Memory Syndrome Foundation and delivered electronically. It is also
available at on the FMSF website: www.FMSFonline.org. Those without
access to the Internet should contact the Foundation.
1955 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-5766
Phone 215-940-1040, Fax 215-940-1042
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The next e-mail newsletter will be sent in January 2011
**********************************************************************
Dear Friends,
A remarkable number of FMS-related events have occurred since the last
Newsletter issue. Most seem to move the phenomenon closer to its
ultimate demise, but one, an Oprah program about MPD, demonstrates why
it is such a slow process.
James Toward, one of the last persons in prison from the day-care
ritual-abuse cases, has finally been released. On October 1, 2010 he
flew to The Hague where he will live with his daughter. (See p. 4) In
1989, Toward took a plea to charges of abusing children at the
Glendale Montessori school in Stuart, Florida. Rather than release him
when he was eligible for parole in 1999, authorities placed him in the
Florida Civil Commitment Center where he remained for more than a
decade. Toward had hoped for a new trial because he was sure that he
would be exonerated given what is now known about suggestive
interviewing of children. Eighty-years-old and in failing health,
Toward has accepted that is not going to happen and instead looks
forward to spending time with his family.
Although not as rampant as in the past, examples of over-zealous child
sex-abuse prosecutions are still happening. On page 3 of this issue,
the harrowing story of Rabbi Bryan Bramly's arrest in 2009 until
charges were dropped in 2010 is a riveting reminder that there is
still need for organizations such as the FMSF to continue to provide
information and to maintain their vigilance. This is what Bramly
observed:
"What became clear to us is that this nightmare can descend upon
anyone, any parent who happened to host a sleep-over -- even one held
10 or 20 years ago. It can happen to any person in any profession, be
it teacher, doctor or bus driver. Anyone can be falsely accused of
sexual abuse. It is the most potent of charges -- the one that brings
the TV cameras and the instant glaring headlines. All that is required
for a false accusation of sexual abuse to be made is a toxic mix of a
person troubled with mental and/or emotional issues and a therapist
who reflexively concludes that all present troubles of a client are
based on past sexual abuse. No evidence or corroborating evidence is
required for charges to be laid, arrests made and lives irreparably
damaged -- only a statement from the alleged 'victim.'"
As upsetting as Bramly's story is, however, the charges were finally
dropped only because of the scientific evidence that Bramly and his
attorneys amassed. The Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued
a remarkable decision in the Jesse Friedman appeal. (See below.)
Friedman, 19 at the time, pled guilty to child abuse in 1988 in a
widely publicized and highly emotional case. After his release, a
documentary was made about the case: Capturing the Friedmans. From
that documentary, Jesse Friedman learned, among other things, that
hypnosis had been used to help elicit memories from at least one of
his accusers. He filed an appeal in the hope that with new evidence he
would eventually be exonerated. Unfortunately, the appeal was not
filed in time and his request was denied. The Appeal Court decision is
such a remarkable indictment of the prosecution of child-abuse cases
in the late 1980s and early 1990s that we have reprinted much of it.
"The 'new and material evidence' in this case is the post-conviction
consensus within the social science community that suggestive memory
recovery tactics can create false memories and that aggressive
investigation techniques like those employed in petitioner's case
can induce false reports."
Unfortunately, America's romance with multiple personality and
repressed memories is still "going strong." An Oprah show in October
is a prime example of the type of program that likely is prolonging
the false memory phenomenon. Oprah and her staff have apparently not
kept up with the scientific information about claims of repressed and
recovered memories and multiple personality disorder. (See below) In
the October program, not only did Oprah rehash all the unscientific
popular misconceptions about memory of the past decades, she actually
appeared to exploit her guest who claimed to have 20 personalities.
Multiple personality disorder is, after all, a mental illness, not
entertainment. Yet one promotion for the program advertised: "Watch
Kim [Noble] switch into one of her personalities -- a woman with an
eating disorder." To this writer that is not far removed from "Watch
the monkey dance to the music." Besides disseminating misinformation
to millions of viewers, many people would say that Oprah ended up by
exploiting a patient for entertainment purposes. Regardless of how it
is characterized, the program was deeply disappointing.
The publication of My Lie: A True Story of False Memory (Jossey-Bass)
by Meredith Maran, on the other hand, is truly exciting news. My Lie
is the first major book about FMS told from the perspective of a
person who came to believe that she had had false memories when she
accused her father of abuse. This is Maran's 10th book and it has had
an impressive number of positive reviews. Comments that follow the
reviews are another matter, showing that anyone who speaks out about
false memories is still subject to mean attack.
See: http://www.meredithmaran.com/MyLie.htm
Several years ago, we spoke with Meredith Maran on the telephone. She
told us about her experience, about how she came to believe her father
abused her and how she later realized that she had been wrong. She
said that she was really fortunate because she had been able to
reconcile with her father and she took complete responsibility for
what she had done. She said that she had made up her mind that she
would write a book about her experience.
Because she was a professional writer, she thought she could make an
impact and help others to understand how an intelligent capable person
could come to believe that her father had abused her when it never
happened. She thought that she would be especially credible because
she had spent so many years working in the child abuse prevention
area. And this is exactly what Maran has accomplished in this book.
She has, in addition, done this by writing a book that is also a "good
read." It's hard to put down.
Meredith Maran is not easy on herself for what she did. She doesn't
blame anyone and I'm not certain that she even yet realizes the extent
to which she was drawn into the beliefs of a subculture. Readers may
not agree with all of her opinions, but that in no way diminishes the
value of this book. This book is a great tool for families. We hope it
is the first of many to tell the story from the perspective of someone
who experienced false memories of childhood abuse.
Thank you for your generosity to our yearly appeal.
PAMELA
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| From Reviews of My Lie: |
| A True Story of False Memory by Meredith Maran |
| http://www.meredithmaran.com/MyLie.htm |
| |
| Salon.com, 9/20/10 http://bit.ly/djxem6: |
| |
| "More than 20 years ago, Meredith Maran falsely accused her father |
| of molestation. That she came to believe such a thing was possible |
| reveals what can happen when personal turmoil meets a powerful |
| social movement." |
| |
| Boston Globe, 9/21/10: |
| |
| "In this terrifying, haunting, and controversial memoir, |
| award-winning journalist Meredith Maran delves into the |
| fascinating subject of the recovered memory movement... Her |
| refusal to whitewash her own behavior, her fierce ability to |
| expose all sides of the issue, and her compassion for the abused |
| as well as those still falsely imprisoned as abusers opens up a |
| dialogue about memory, belief, and past- and present-day culture |
| that is as riveting as it is important." |
| |
| San Francisco Chronicle Book Review |
| "Top Shelf Book" October 3, 2010: |
| |
| "During the '80s and '90s thousands of people claimed they'd |
| repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse -- and Maran was one |
| of them. This is a frank, honest narrative." |
| |
| People Magazine, October 4, 2010: |
| |
| "In 1988 journalist Meredith Maran accused her father of having |
| molested her...Eight years later she realized it wasn't true. In |
| My Lie Maran, 59 (who has reviewed books for PEOPLE), explains why |
| she thought she'd been abused, how she decided she was wrong, and |
| what happened when" she apologized." |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
CHARGES DROPPED
In Chandler, Arizona on March 23, 2010, Rabbi Bryan Bramly was
arrested in the parking lot of his synagogue by the Child Predator
Apprehension Team of the U.S. Marshalls and detectives with the New
York Police Department. He was accused of raping a 7-year-old girl in
New York City in 2000 where he was living with his family while
enrolled in rabbinical school.
The alleged incident was said to have occurred at the Bramly family
home while the accuser was spending the night with the Bramly
daughter. The accuser did not report the incident until she was 17
during the summer of 2009. Indeed, the girls remained best friends and
the families continued to visit each other from time to time. At no
time was there ever any mention of a rape.
In recent years, the girls drifted apart. The accuser spent the last
two or three years in therapy according to Bramly.
In September 2010, the charges were dropped after investigators
conducted what they called a "secondary" investigation and found
inconsistencies in the girl's story.
Following is an email sent by Rabbi Bramly about his release.
Lauinger, J. (2010, March 3). Arizona rabbi busted for allegedly
raping 7-year-old girl in New York in 2000. NY Daily News. Retrieved
on 9/15/10 from http://www.nydailynews.com/fdcp?1284578934291
* * *
__________________________________________________________
Great News from Rabbi Bramly! It's Over -- Case Dismissed!
September 15, 2010 12:47 PM
Dear Friends, Family and Colleagues,
It is with great joy and hearts full of gratitude to God and to
everyone who has stood with me and my family during the past six
months, that Laura and I share the following wonderful news:
This morning in the New York County Supreme Court, Justice Rena
Uviller, upon an application made by the District Attorney,
dismissed all of the charges against me, bringing this six-month
nightmare to an end.
In a letter addressed to the judge and my lawyers, the DA's office
clearly stated that their decision was not based on legal, technical
or procedural grounds. Rather, that "after further investigation by
our office... we have withdrawn all charges in this case."
As you can imagine, along with celebrating this wonderful news, we
are left with many questions. We must point out that no legal
authority undertook the kind of investigative work one would expect
prior to my arrest at gunpoint in the synagogue parking lot on March
23, 2010. For example, nobody notified me of the existence of an
investigation, questioned anyone I've worked with over the past ten
years, asked me whether I wanted to bring any facts to the attention
of the investigative authorities or otherwise considered whether it
was appropriate to bring criminal charges based on nothing else than
the apparent statement by a 17-year-old regarding an alleged event
claimed to have occurred ten years earlier. Had the authorities done
such an investigation from the get-go, they would have come to the
same conclusion they have come to now, and done so before dragging
my name through the national and international press, causing
tremendous trauma to me, my family and friends, tearing apart our
congregation and my career as a rabbi, and throwing us into
desperate financial turmoil. These events forever changed my life
and the lives of my family.
We owe our deepest gratitude to all of you who have provided
valuable advice, love, support, prayers, and contributions to my
legal defense fund. For one thing, we have learned that without the
money for a proper legal defense, particularly in cases of this
sensational kind, the prospects for a just outcome are not high. The
DA's office has bottomless pockets and the individual who made the
allegation never had to spend a penny. We cannot emphasize enough
the effort that it took on the part of our lawyers to bring us to
this point. They did the strategic thinking, and encouraged legal
risks -- like the one we undertook when I testified to the Grand
Jury (something most defense attorneys discourage defendants from
doing). They had me take a polygraph administered by one of the
toughest polygraphers in the country. They were intuitive, dauntless
in their efforts, tireless in their research, and passionate in
their determination that I should not become another victim of false
and flagrantly fabricated sexual abuse accusations. For all this,
Laura and I owe our deepest gratitude to Alan Lewis and Michael
Shapiro of Carter Ledyard and Milburn.
To educate ourselves to fight these false accusations, both Laura
and I read about many cases in the American legal system involving
victims of false accusations of sexual abuse (and we can recommend
some books if you are interested). While we believe that the high
profile of my case and the manner in which it was handled by various
law enforcement agencies is due mainly to the fact that I am clergy,
what became clear to us is that this nightmare can descend upon
anyone, any parent who happened to host a sleep-over -- even one
held 10 or 20 years ago. It can happen to any person in any
profession, be it teacher, doctor or bus driver. Anyone can be
falsely accused of sexual abuse. It is the most potent of charges --
the one that brings the TV cameras and the instant glaring
headlines. All that is required for a false accusation of sexual
abuse to be made is a toxic mix of a person troubled with mental
and/or emotional issues and a therapist who reflexively concludes
that all present troubles of a client are based on past sexual
abuse. No evidence or corroborating evidence is required for charges
to be laid, arrests made and lives irreparably damaged -- only a
statement from the alleged "victim." "Obviously we are deeply
perplexed about these last six months and may never know the answer
to the question "why." However, what truly upsets me is that there
are literally hundreds of people in this country -- men and women
alike -- who have been falsely accused of sexual abuse and stand at
various points of the legal process. While those who are truly
guilty of such crimes should feel the maximum force of the law,
there must be a mechanism put in place to ensure that the innocent
are not swept up in the same dustpan as the guilty....
So what now? As we learn in Jewish tradition, these days between
Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur are days of inner reflection and
personal review. The idea is to formulate how we, in partnership
with God, are to write ourselves into the Book of Life in this new
year. It is clearly sound advice! So, we're going to take some time
to explore "the what might be" and hope that the coming days, weeks
and months will bring clarity, opportunity and direction.
"Wishing you a sweet, joy-filled and healthy New Year and a safe and
meaningful fast.
Rabbi Bryan & Laura Bramly
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Have you given a gift to your library recently? |
| Are you looking for gift ideas for the holidays? |
| |
| The Great Good Place for Books is offering a discount to FMSF |
| members and friends for My Lie: A True Story of False Memory by |
| Meredith Maran. Orders placed through A Great Good Place For |
| Books' owner Kathleen Caldwell will get a 20% discount on orders |
| of 2 copies or more. Orders of 10 or more will get 25% off -- and |
| will support a wonderful independent bookstore whose owner is |
| providing great support for My Lie |
| http://greatgoodplace.indiebound.com |
| Tel: 510-339-8210 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
LES RAVAGES des FAUX SOUBENIRS ou la MEMOIRE MANIPULEE
BRIGITTE AXELRAD
(The Ravages of False Memories or the Manipulated Memory)
BOOK E-BOOK: A CANDLE IN DARKNESS
Available at Amazon.fr
http://www.amazon.fr/s/refDnb_sb_noss?__mk_fr_FRD%C5M
%C5Z%D5%D1&urlDsearch-alias%3Daps&field-keywordsDravages
+des+faux+souvenirs&xD0&yD0
The aim of this book is to answer questions and to teach patients,
families, professionals, and lawyers about recovered memory therapies
and their destructive consequences for all the victims. The questions
and answers given in the book are small candles that illuminate and
clear the way towards better understanding of this sociological
phenomenon.
Commenting on this book, Elizabeth Loftus. stated:
The Ravages of False Memories is a wise and important book. Brigitte
Axelrad's cogent analysis of the false memory problem is a must-read
for families who are caught in the trap of the memory wars, and for
the professionals whose work influences their lives.
This is the first book written in French about false memories
"recovered" in therapy.
+------------------------------------------+
| "Things turn out best for those who make |
| the best of the way things turn out." |
+------------------------------------------+
**********************************************************************
WAS RACHEL YOULD ABUSED or WERE HER CLAIMS PART of an ELABORATE FRAUD?
Toobin, J. (2010, October 4).
Annals of Law, The Scholar, The New Yorker, p. 76
In September, 38-year-old Rhodes-Scholar Rachel Yould was sentenced to
nearly five years in prison for fraudulently obtaining hundreds of
thousands of dollars in student loans using a second Social Security
card and identity that she obtained after claiming that her father had
abused her. The case, which was tried in Alaska, became a cause
celebre for domestic-violence advocates even though the father was
never charged with any crimes, and Yould apparently never produced
medical or police records, witness statements or other evidence to
support her claims to either the police or the Social Security
Administration.
Although Yould's case does not involve claims of recovered repressed
memories, it does provide insight into the social response to claims
of past abuse and as such gives broader understanding to the diffusion
of the recovered memory phenomenon.
Jeffrey Toobin writes about the intriguing case of Rachel Yould in the
October 4th issue of The New Yorker. Some of his story is available
at: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_toobin
#ixzz112bXz9g7.
In a separate post, Toobin commented on the Yould case:
What attracted me to Rachel Yould's case, which I wrote about for
The New Yorker this week (subscription required) was that it was
kind of a double mystery. The first is her criminal case: did she
hatch the bizarre scheme to defraud the government in order to fund
her quixotic dream of running a scholarly magazine? The second is a
deeper and more sinister question about domestic violence: did
Rachel's father abuse her in the grotesque way that she claimed (and
he denies)-or are the charges an example of how her own character is
twisted?" Toobin notes that the defense and prosecution documents
presented to the judge prior to sentencing show "entirely different
pictures of the very same woman."
Toobin's post and those documents can be found at http://www.newyorker.
com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/09/the-two-rachel-youlds.
html#ixzz112fma26P
Holland, M. (2009, March 5). Scholar charged with fraud. Anchorage
Daily News. Retrieved on 8/27/10 from
www.adn.com/2009/03/05/712453/anchorage-rhodes-scholar-charged.html
**********************************************************************
ONE of the LAST PERSONS in PRISON from DAY-CARE RITUAL-ABUSE CASES
IS FINALLY RELEASED [1]
On October 1, 2010, James Toward was released from the Florida Civil
Commitment Center in Arcadia, Florida and ordered to leave the country
immediately.
In 1989, Toward took a plea to charges of abusing children at the
Glendale Montessori school in Stuart, Florida where he was the
headmaster. The case was one of more than 100 ritual abuse day care
cases to follow in the wake of McMartin.
Toward's agreement in 1989 was that he would serve 27 years in prison
followed by 10 years of probation. Toward was supposed to be paroled
in 1999 but just as he was to be released, he was ordered to be held
at a treatment center because state psychiatrists said that he might
molest other children. The law that allowed his civil commitment was
passed after his plea. Toward has been waiting for a civil jury to
determine if he should continue to be incarcerated after completing
his criminal sentence.
Assistant State Attorney Linda Craft told reporters that the state
agreed to release Toward because he is 80-years-old and in failing
condition. She also indicated that the original accusers had moved on
and did not want to participate in another trial. "[T]rying to prove
that (Toward) meets the criteria for commitment did not seem
viable."[2]
Toward has moved to The Hague where he will live with his daughter and
her husband. James' wife will join them soon.
This is not the way in which Toward and his family wanted him
released. They wanted another trial because they believed that he
would be exonerated in the current climate that is not fueled by
satanic-abuse hysteria and because of the greater understanding of how
children's interviews could be contaminated.
[1] According to investigative reporter Debbie Nathan, Frank Fuster is
still in prison in Florida and the Daniel and Francis Keller are
still in prison in Texas. Nathan says that the National Center for
Reason and Justice is still learning about non-day-care cases from
the period. One such case can be found at http://
www.fourliveslost.com.
[2] See: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/oct/01/child-molester-james-
toward-80-ordered-to-leave/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Problems With Glendale Case |
| |
| A lengthy article about the Glendale case appeared in the FMSF |
| Newsletter in 2008, Vol 17 (2). |
| |
| Briefly, anatomically correct dolls were used in the interviews |
| which elicited accusations; there was evidence of intensive |
| suggestive interviewing including at least one interviewer- |
| therapist who was described as being preoccupied with satanic |
| ritual abuse; there was no physical evidence found to support the |
| bizarre reports of the children; parents were talking to each |
| other about the case and therapists organized meetings in the |
| highly charged climate of the time thus contaminating the stories. |
| |
| The case was succinctly summed up in a quote from sociologist Mary |
| de Young who has studied ritual abuse cases for more than a |
| decade. |
| |
| The Glendale case grew from an allegation of a single child to |
| complaints of ritual abuse and descriptions of filmed orgies, |
| the forced consumption of blood and feces, and rapes with |
| crucifixes and knives. |
| Mary de Young |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Between 1984 and 1995, there were approximately 185 adults, about |
| half of them women, who were charged with ritual sexual abuse. 113 |
| of those were convicted, mainly on words of young children. [*] |
| |
| Below is a list of some of the better known of the scores of day |
| care cases. |
| 1982 Kern county child abuse case |
| 1983 McMartin preschool trial in California |
| 1984 Fells Acres Day Care Center |
| 1985 Wee Care Nursery School in New Jersey in April |
| 1987 Cleveland child abuse scandal in England |
| 1989 Glendale Montessori sexual abuse case in Stuart, Florida |
| 1989 Little Rascals Day Care Center scandal in Edenton, North |
| Carolina |
| 1990 All charges dropped in McMartin preschool trial |
| 1991 Christchurch Civic Creche |
| 1992 Martensville Scandal, Martensville, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| 1994 start of Wenatchee Sex Rings case |
| |
| [*] Nathan, D. (1995). Satan's Silence. New York: Basic Books. |
| See http://members.shaw.ca/imaginarycrimes/othercases.htm, web |
| site of reporter Lorna Manning. |
| |
| Reprinted from FMSF Newsletter Spring 2008, Volume 17 No. 2 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
WASHINGTON STATE JUDGE REFUSES to ALLOW RARE DEFENSE
in ATTEMPTED MURDER CASE
Following a two-day hearing to determine the admissibility of
"betrayal trauma theory" to explain why Sheryl J. Martin was not
responsible for shooting her husband, Clark County Washington Superior
Court Judge Barbara Johnson ruled in August that the theory was
interesting but that there had been only limited research on the
subject.
In 2007, Sheryl Martin called police to say she had shot her husband.
She told detectives that she suspected he was having an affair and
confronted him. Her husband admitted to the affair and said he wanted
a divorce and then went to sleep in a camper parked near their house.
According to records, Sheryl later went to the camper with a loaded
16-gauge shotgun and shot her husband twice. She then went out,
reloaded, and came back to shot him again. Her husband survived the
shooting.
Defense attorney David McDonald claimed Sheryl Martin was so
emotionally distraught that she was not able to form the legal intent
to shoot him. He argued that betrayal trauma theory explained her
situation. The hearing was to determine if betrayal trauma theory has
been generally accepted by the scientific community and was relevant
to the Martin case. The theory emerged as a way to explain how child
sex abuse victims repressed memories of abuse from close relatives on
whom they depended.
An expert for the prosecution stated: "The most glaring error is there
there is no prior record of this defense being raised in any courtroom
in the United States," He said that most psychologists who are aware
of the theory are among a close-knit group who focus on trauma
behavior. Another prosecution expert testified that she had consulted
numerous colleagues at the state hospital where she worked and none of
them had heard of the theory. Judge Johnson wrote:
The court has concluded...it has not been researched and established
to any degree with respect to adult domestic violence.
The case will go to trial in October.
**********************************************************************
OPRAH GOT it WRONG:
MPD as ENTERTAINMENT
www.oprah.com/showinfo/An-Oprah-Show-Exclusive-One-Mom-20-Personalities
The October 6, 2010 "Oprah" program was called "One Mom, 20
Personalities." Promotions for the show featured: "Watch Kim [Noble]
switch into one of her personalities -- a woman with an eating
disorder." Was Oprah exploiting mental illness for entertainment?
Kim Noble, from Great Britain who appeared with her daughter by her
side, was the featured guest. Viewers learned that the personality
most often present was Patricia. Pat told viewers that:"living with
DID means sharing a household-there are different clothes, closets and
toothbrushes for each personality. I mean, I suppose I don't blame
them. They don't want to use somebody else's toothbrushes.'" (If each
of the 20 alters had his or her own closet, might this imply that Kim
Noble lived in a truly spacious house or mansion?).
Oprah questioned Kim's daughter Aimee who remained rather non
committal until a discussion in which one of the alters did not know
that she was Aimee's mother. Tears came to the child's eyes who said
she felt rejected.
Twenty years ago Oprah had a similar program on which she interviewed
Truddi Chase who claimed 92 personalities and who wrote the popular
book, When Rabbit Howls. Oprah tells viewers how Truddi's story of
abuse moved her to tears.
"I really connected the dots of how profound the manifestation of
abuse can be in other people's lives. The way she shattered her
personality and became a multiple is her way of protecting
herself. Her own little inner-spirited child."
Oprah replayed some of that program and then showed a clip of a person
whose life was improved because she had seen Oprah's program. Oprah
then interviewed Truddi Chase's daughter Kari, asking her what it was
like growing up in such circumstances.
"It was a roller coaster ride, but it's what I know as normal."
While MPD may provide attention and explanations to the person who
believes he or she has it, from what daughter Kari said it plays havoc
with that the life of the person's child. Kari says:
"When I started to tell [other children] what was happening, a lot
of them were not accepting. The few that were are still my friends
today. I think it was a big fear thing. We fear what we don't
understand, and they didn't want to take the time to understand.
Their parents didn't understand, so their parents wanted to keep
them away."
Oprah did mention that the diagnosis of MPD (DID) is controversial.
But her understanding of "controversial" seems different from the use
of the term "controversial" in the memory wars. She calls on an
"expert", Mary S. Moore, Ph.D. to explain:
OPRAH: D.I.D. is still a very controversial diagnosis, though. What
is the debate? That this isn't real?
MOORE: One of the things that, I think, happens is, that the way the
brain works what we have experienced we can image. This D.I.D.-- or
multiple personality as it used to be called -- that is so far on
the extreme because of the extensive and extreme abuse that most of
us haven't felt it before.
OPRAH: You can't relate to it.
MOORE: Yeah
(Since most of us have not experienced Vampirism, we wonder if Dr.
Moore would say that is the reason why a diagnosis of Vampirism is
controversial.)
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| The Woman with 15 Personalities |
| |
| http://streamingdirecttv.com/latest-tv-shows/us-latest-tv-shows/ |
| the-woman-with-15-personalities-health-special/ |
| |
| In May, 2010 the Health Channel presented "The Woman with 15 |
| Personalities." TV Guide noted that the program "takes a unique |
| look at a person living with dissociative identity disorder...this |
| hour-long special reveals how this often misunderstood illness |
| affects their daily lives, and provides insight into what it is |
| like to manage multiple personalities who all want a voice." |
| |
| The personalities are extremely varied: a 5 year old girl named |
| Mariah, a basketball loving man named Jonathan, and another is an |
| outspoken teenage girl. One blogger wrote: "The United States of |
| Tara" may show this disorder in a relatively lighthearted way, but |
| when Paula's alters make even a trip to the grocery store |
| impossibly difficult, it's nothing short of tragic." |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
A SAD MEMOIR
Mother Had A Secret:
Learning to Love My Mother & Her Multiple Personalities
by Tiffany Fletcher
Covenant Communications, Inc. (2010)
Tiffany Fletcher begins her memoir with an incident that took place
when she was a senior in high school in 1994. She was working at a
restaurant and saw an automobile accident through the restaurant
window only to realize that the driver of one of the cars is her
mother. Tiffany's mother does not respond coherently to the medic and
Tiffany explains to him that her mother is on many medications. In
fact, Tiffany's mother had a serious drug problem.
While her mother is in the hospital after the accident, the doctor
diagnoses her with MPD. Fletcher tells us that mother had been
seriously abused as a child and that the doctor said that her mother "
seems to be a classic case," (p. 10) and that
"normally a person with a disorder like this one would undergo
several months'-- even years'-worth of evaluation and treatment. . .
Unfortunately, your insurance will not cover it. If you would be
willing to pay the --" The family had no money to pay for treatment.
They brought the mother home and continued to care for her. Most of
that care was done by the author. Even before the accident, the
author tells us that when she was fourteen, "I felt as though I was
responsible, not just for my younger siblings who, like me, were
abandoned by my parents' neglect, but to my mother as well."...
For the family, the diagnosis of MPD and the mother's 15 personalities
appear to explain her tumultuous moods and behavior. The children can
love some of the personalities and hate others. After the mother died
from a drug overdose, the family moved on to happier times.
The book which is published by Covenant Communications appears to be
marketed to a Mormon (LDS) audience. At the end of the book, the
author provides a list of resources to which others in similar
situations could turn for help.
The book shines a light on the role that MPD plays in our culture. It
raises questions about what might have happened if the mother had been
treated for drug abuse, or what would have happened if the family had
had enough money for the traditional MPD treatment that the doctor
wanted to provide. The story is certainly evidence that MPD remains
popular and can wreak havoc on the rest of the members of the family
involved.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Textual Analysis of a Recovered Memory Trial, |
| Assisted by Computer Search for Keywords |
| Max Scharnberg |
| Free download at: http://www.yakida.se/max/start.html |
| |
| Anyone interested in knowing what is happening in other countries |
| in child abuse cases gone awry will likely want to read about the |
| Swedish case that is examined in this book Others may find the |
| author's textural analysis technique for trying to determine the |
| truth to be of interest.
\____________________________________________________________________/
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INVESTIGATING the INVESTIGATOR
CANADIAN AUDITOR GENERAL'S OFFICE USED PUBLIC FUNDS
for REBIRTHING SESSIONS
The Canadian Auditor General is mandated to investigate the misuse of
public funds.[1] This summer, the Auditor General's office itself came
under investigation for using funds for dubious training courses for
its employees, including "rebirthing."[2]
To be fair, the Auditor General's office pays for a wide range of
courses for its employees that further professional development. How
then did rebirthing, a controversial program that aims to "heal
subconscious memories using breathing" techniques, happen to be
approved? The Office defended "rebirthing" sessions saying that they
were "beneficial to increase its employees' confidence."
Rebirthing workshops are not advertised as professional training but
as "health and healing" workshops. In Quebec, however, they have been
considered professional training courses for several years. The
website of the institute in question claims the workshop "allows for
the liberation of energy that was blocked during past experiences,
when that memory, anchored in our subconscious, directly limits our
quality of life."
Rebirthing techniques are highly controversial because there is no
scientific evidence that memories of events occur earlier than 3
years. "Rebirthing" is not an evidence-based therapeutic treatment.
[1] All of the quotes in this article are reprinted from: Turbide,
M. (2010, August 9). AG dishing out for training.
Winnipeg Sun, News 5.
[2] One form of rebirthing was banned in several states after the
death of Candace Newmaker in 2000.
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UPDATE of DES MOINES EMBEZZLER CASE
Phyllis Stevens and her companion Marla Stevens have pled guilty to
embezzling $5.9 million from a Des Moines insurance company where
Phyllis Stevens had worked for 35 years. In the summer FMSF Newsletter
it was reported that Phyllis Stevens's attorney had filed a motion to
determine if she was competent to stand trial because she suffered
from multiple personality disorder for which she had been treated from
1988 to 1995. The judge in the case found that she was competent to
stand trial. After protracted negotiations with the federal
prosecutor, the two women agreed to plead guilty.
Witosky, T. (2010, September 15). Accused embezzler and spouse agree
to plead guilty. Des Moines Register. Retrieved on 9/20/10 from
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/fdcp/ ?1284610245222
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "Only when recall performance can be checked against the original |
| stimulus material (easy in the laboratory, difficult in the |
| clinic) can hits and false alarms be unambiguously identified and |
| response biases controlled. Finally, hypnotic hypermnesia has been |
| revealed to be an empty subset of hypermnesia, as controlled |
| experiments show that hypnosis adds nothing to regular |
| hypermnesia." |
| Erdelyi, M.H. (2010, October) |
| The ups and downs of memory |
| American Psychologist, 65(7), 623-633. (Page 631) |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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L E G A L C O R N E R
FMSF Staff
_____________________________________
Jesse Friedman's Conviction is Upheld
Friedman v. Rehal No. 08-0297-pr. U.S. Ct App 2nd Cir. Dec. Aug. 16,
2010 In August, the Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in
Manhattan upheld Jesse Friedman's 1988 guilty plea. Friedman had filed
his appeal in the hope that he would be exonerated of his child abuse
conviction.
Jesse Friedman and his father Arnold were accused of child molestation
in 1987 in Great Neck, Long Island. Arnold gave computer lessons to
children in his home and he died in prison. Jesse Friedman, who was 19
at the time, was paroled after serving 13 years.
After his release, Jesse Friedman learned that hypnosis had been used
to help at least one witness remember abuse. He learned this from a
2003 documentary video made about his case: "Capturing the
Friedman's." (See FMSF Newsletter, 13(2), March/April 2004) In his
appeal, Jesse Friedman now contends that he lied when he confessed to
sexually abusing children in computer classes.
The Court denied Friedman's appeal on a technicality not on the merits
of the case. The Court wrote that Friedman failed to meet a one-year
submission deadline. The case was held before Circuit Judges Rosemary
Pooler and Reena Raggi and District Judge Edward Korman. All three
judges agreed that the filing had been late and that they must deny
the appeal. However, two of the three judges wrote that they hoped the
Nassau County District Attorney's Office would have a complete review
of the Friedman case. Judge Raggi did not agree that the case should
be reexamined.
The opinion contains a remarkable evaluation of the prosecution of
abuse cases of the period. A portion of it is printed below with most
references deleted. It is available at: www.google.com/search?hlDen&b
iwD1024&bihD790&qDFriedman+v.+Rehal+No.+08-0297-pr.+U.S.+Ct+App+2nd+C
ir.+Dec.+Aug.+ 16%2C+2010&aqDf&aqiD&aqlD&oqD&gs_rfaiD
Excerpt from the opinion:
While the law may require us to deny relief in this case, it does
not compel us to do so without voicing some concern regarding the
process by which the petitioner's conviction was obtained. The
magnitude of the allegations against petitioner must be viewed in
the context of the late-1980's and early-1990's, a period in which
allegations of outrageously bizarre and often ritualistic child
abuse spread like wildfire across the country and garnered world-
wide media attention. [Susan Bondes notes] that the accusations
against Arnold and Jesse Friedman arose at a time at which concern
about day care sexual abuse had reached a fever pitch both in the
United States and abroad. The media sensationalized these
allegations, generating a national perception that sex rings were
widespread and had infiltrated average communities.
Vast moral panic fueled a series of highly-questionable child sex
abuse prosecutions. By 1991, for example, 25 percent of prosecutors
had handled at least one case involving satanic abuse. Although many
of these cases included "fantastical accusations," such as those of
satanic abuse -- a strand of accusations which has been discredited
entirely -- others involved allegations of real and serious crimes
committed in an impossible manner. In the Fells Acre case, for
example, Gerald Amirault, a member of a family which owned the Fells
Acre pre-school, allegedly "plunged a wide-blade butcher knife into
the rectum of a 4-year-old boy, which he then had trouble removing."
According to a child witness, a teacher in the school saw Amirault
with the knife, asked what he was doing, and then told him not to do
it again. "On this testimony, Gerald was convicted of a rape which
had, miraculously, left no mark or other injury." .
Overall, at least seventy-two individuals were convicted in nearly a
dozen major child sex abuse and satanic ritual prosecutions between
1984 and 1995, although almost all the convictions have since been
reversed. Some defendants, fearing trial, pled guilty or "no
contest" to impossible acts of ritualistic abuse, and in some cases
they provided detailed confessions in exchange for immunity or
generous plea bargains. Many have described these widespread
prosecutions as a modern-day "witch hunt."
These prosecutions were largely based on memories that alleged
victims "recovered" through suggestive memory recovery tactics,
including those petitioner claims were used in this case. Indeed,
the dramatic increase in conspiratorial charges of child sexual
abuse has been traced to a relatively small group of clinical
psychologists who supported the psychoanalytic notion of "repressed
memories" and encouraged patients to employ extensive "memory
recovery procedures" to "break through the barrier of repression and
bring memories into conscious awareness." Popular memory recovery
procedures included hypnosis, age regression, dream interpretation,
guided abuse-related imagery, use of photographs to trigger
memories, journaling, and interpretation of symptoms as implicit
memories. These procedures and others commonly employed have great
potential to induce false memories. Hypnosis, for example, has been
shown to produce bizarre and impossible memories, including memories
of ritualistic satanic abuse, memories from early infancy, memories
from past lives, and memories from the future. The prevailing view
is that the vast majority of traumatic memories that are recovered
through the use of suggestive recovery procedures are false, and
that almost all-if not all-of the recovered memories of horrific
abuse from the late- 1980's and early-1990's were false.
Moreover, many highly-publicized and large-scale investigations into
alleged child abuse conspiracies were also accompanied by a variety
of interviewing techniques designed to assist children in recalling
abuse-techniques which an extensive body of research suggests can
induce false reports. Garven et al. describes a "package" of
techniques that, although based on a different highly-publicized
1980's abuse case [8] are remarkably similar to the techniques
employed in petitioner's case. The package included (1) "Suggestive
Questions," (2) "Other People" (telling the child that the
interviewer has already received information from other people
regarding the topics of the interview), (3) "Positive and Negative
Consequences" (responding positively to accusations of abuse and
negatively to denials of abuse), (4) "Asked-and-Answered" (re-asking
a child a question he or she has already unambiguously answered),
and (5) "Inviting Speculation."
Scholars have suggested that each interviewing technique can induce
false reports on its own. For example, they cite research which
indicates that children often change their answer when asked the
same question more than once during an interview, either because
they assume that the first answer was incorrect or because they
would like to please the adult interviewer. But the techniques have
their greatest impact in combination. Garven et al. examined the
effect of the "package" of techniques described above on false
allegations of wrongdoing compared with suggestive questioning
alone. They found that children exposed to the package of
techniques falsely alleged wrongdoing over three times as often (58
percent of the time, compared to 17 percent of the time). This error
rate of nearly 60 percent occurred after less than five minutes of
exposure to the combined techniques. Though the study examined
children who were somewhat younger than the complainants in
petitioner's case, the results are instructive as to the general
dangers of suggestive interviewing techniques.
Finally, once individuals "recovered" memories of abuse or otherwise
labeled themselves victims of abuse, they were generally encouraged
to participate in various activities on an individual and community
level to reinforce and develop existing memories of abuse. There,
proponents of recovered memories advised alleged victims to expand
on existing memories through suggestive memory recovery procedures
(both in and out of therapy), participation in survivor groups, and
solicitation of consistent information from others, "all with
significant potential both to bias construction of historical
narratives and to lead to confabulation of false memories." When
allegations of abuse span an entire community, these activities can
provide an outlet for community reinforcement -- an outlet which can
strengthen survivor identities and foster the collective growth of
increasingly inaccurate memories.
When viewed in its proper historical context, petitioner's case
appears as merely one example of what was then a significant
national trend. This was a "heater case" -- the type of "high
profile case" in which "tremendous emotion is generated by the
public." Bandes writes that in heater cases, the criminal process
often fails:
Emotions like fear, outrage, anger and disgust, in situations like
these, are entirely human. The question is what the legal system
can do to correct for the excesses to which they lead. The crux of
the moral panic dynamic is that the legal system, in such cases,
does not correct for them. It gets swept up in them instead.
The record in this case suggests this is precisely the moral panic
that swept up Nassau County law enforcement officers. Perhaps
because they were certain of Arnold Friedman and petitioner's guilt,
they were unfazed by the lack of physical evidence, and they may
have felt comfortable cutting corners in their investigation. After
all, "[t]horoughness is a frequent casualty of such cases.". The
actions of the prosecution are also troubling. In representing the
sovereign, a prosecutor is a "servant of the law, the twofold aim of
which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer." "[W]hile
[a prosecutor] may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike
foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods
calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every
legitimate means to bring about a just one." Thus, prosecutors have
an obligation to curb police overzealousness. In this case, instead
of acting to neutralize the moral panic, the prosecution allowed
itself to get swept up in it.
Petitioner has come forward with substantial evidence that flawed
interviewing techniques were used to produce a flood of allegations,
which the then-District Attorney of Nassau County wrung into over
two hundred claims of child sexual abuse against petitioner.
Petitioner never had an opportunity to explore how the evidence
against him was obtained. On the contrary, the police, prosecutors,
and the judge did everything they could to coerce a guilty plea and
avoid a trial. Thus, with the number of counts in the indictments
and Judge Boklan's threat to impose the highest conceivable sentence
for each charge, petitioner faced a virtually certain life sentence
if he was convicted at trial. And the likelihood that any jury pool
24 would be tainted seemed to ensure that petitioner would be
convicted if he went to trial, regardless of his guilt or innocence.
Nor could he have reasonably expected to receive a fair trial from
Judge Boklan, the former head of the Nassau County District
Attorney's Sex Crime Unit, who admitted that she never had any doubt
of the defendant's guilt even before she heard any of the evidence
or the means by which it was obtained. Even if innocent, petitioner
may well have pled guilty.
As such, this case is unlike other appeals which raise concerns
about the quality of the evidence and the guilt of the defendant. In
those appeals, we defer to the judgment of the jury after the
defendant has received a fair trial. We take comfort in "[t]he
established safeguards of the Anglo-American legal system [which]
leave the veracity of a witness to be tested by cross-examination,
and the credibility of his testimony to be determined by a properly
instructed jury." In this case, the quality of the evidence was
extraordinarily suspect and never subjected to vigorous
cross-examination or the judgment of a properly instructed jury.
[W]hen a prosecutor comes to know of new and material evidence
creating a reasonable likelihood that a person was wrongly
convicted, the prosecutor should examine the evidence and
undertake such further inquiry or investigation as may be
necessary to determine whether the conviction was wrongful. The
scope of the inquiry will depend on the circumstances. In some
cases, the prosecutor may recognize the need to reinvestigate the
underlying case; in others, it may be appropriate to await
development of the record in collateral proceedings initiated by
the defendant. The nature of the inquiry or investigation should
be such as to provide a "reasonable belief" . . . that the
conviction should or should not be set aside.
Quoting from New York Rules of Professional Conduct 3.8,
Comment 6B
The record here suggests "a reasonable likelihood" that Jesse
Friedman was wrongfully convicted. The "new and material evidence"
in this case is the post-conviction consensus within the social
science community that suggestive memory recovery tactics can create
false memories and that aggressive investigation techniques like
those employed in petitioner's case can induce false reports.
Indeed, it is not even clear from the record that Assistant District
Attorney Onorato was aware of the suggestive questioning techniques
that were used by the Nassau County police. More importantly, the
record does not speak to whether the then-District Attorney of
Nassau County, whose principal role was administering and overseeing
the activities of one of the largest such offices in the United
States, was aware of the techniques used by the Nassau County
detectives, who were not members of his staff.
Only a reinvestigation of the underlying case or the development of
a complete record in a collateral proceeding can provide a basis for
determining whether petitioner's conviction should be set aside. We
hope that, even if she continues to oppose relief in collateral
legal proceedings, the current Nassau County District Attorney, who
was not responsible for the investigation and prosecution of Jesse
Friedman, will undertake the kind of complete review of the
underlying case suggested in the Comment to Rule 3.8."
[8] The techniques were based on those used in the McMartin Preschool
case, in which seven teachers were accused of abusing several
hundred children over a ten-year period. None of the teachers were
actually convicted. The case, which took place in a Los Angeles
suburb, began in 1983 and ran through 1990, and it remains one of
the longest and most expensive trials in California history.
[9] These interviewing techniques are consistent with the theory that
child abuse victims tend to deny abuse at first but will
eventually admit abuse if repeatedly questioned. This theory,
known as child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome ("CSAAS"), is
now highly controversial. Indeed, empirical support for the theory
was largely based on children who claimed they had experienced
ritualistic satanic abuse. See id. at 211-13.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Regarding means for correcting the present problems inherent in |
| recovered memory therapy: "The treatment requires public |
| awareness, public indignation, and massive media exposure. The |
| implementation of these measures-outside the confines of our |
| offices-provides us with the best help for a turnaround. |
| Richard Gardner |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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ABSTRACTS of TWO PAPERS of INTEREST
____________________
Nonbelieved Memories.
Mazzoni, G., Scoboria, A., Harvey, L. (2010).
Psychological Science, 21(9), 1334-1340.
Authors' Abstract:
"This is the first empirical study of vivid autobiographical memories
for events that people no longer believe happened to them. Until now,
this phenomenon has been the object of relatively rare, albeit
intriguing anecdotes, such as Jean Piaget description of his vivid
memory of an attempted abduction that never happened. The results of
our study show that nonbelieved memories are much more common than is
expected. Approximately 20% of our initial sample reported having at
least one nonbelieved autobiographical memory. Participants' ratings
indicate that nonbelieved memories share most recollective qualities
of believed memories, but are characterized by more negative
emotions. The results have important implications for the way
autobiographical memory is conceptualized and for the false-memory
debate."
_____________________
Observation Inflation:
Your Actions Become Mine
Lindner, I. Echterhoff, G. Davidson, P.S.R., Brand, M. (2010).
Psychological Science, 21 (9), 1291-1299.
Authors' Abstract:
"Imagining performing an action can induce false memories of having
actually performed it -- this is referred to as the imagination --
inflation effect. Drawing on research suggesting that action
observation-like imagination -- involves action simulation, and thus
creates matching motor representations in observers, we examined
whether false memories of self-performance can also result from merely
observing another person's actions. In three experiments, participants
observed actions, some of which they had not performed earlier, and
took a source-memory test. Action observation robustly produced false
memories of self-performance relative to control conditions. The
demonstration of this effect, which we refer to as observation
inflation, reveals a previously unknown source of false memories that
is ubiquitous in everyday life. The effect persisted despite warnings
or instructions to focus on self-performance cues given immediately
before the test, and despite elimination of sensory overlap between
performance and observation. The findings are not easily reconciled
with a source-monitoring account but appear to fit an account invoking
interpersonal motor simulation."
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "It's not over." |
| "They're at it again." |
| These were some of the headers of your emails this past month |
| calling attention to the small resurgence of activity with |
| recovered memories and MPD. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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INDIANA CLERGY RECOVERED-MEMORY CASE SETTLES
Just one year after an Indiana judge's controversial decision that
jurors would be allowed to hear testimony about "repressed memories,"
parties in the case settled for an undisclosed amount but less than
$200,000. (See box below for history of this case.)
The settlement was reached during court-mandated mediation and averts
the trial scheduled for later this year.
In January 2010, Superior Court Judge David Dreyer ruled that jurors
would be allowed to hear the testimony about the validity of repressed
memories and decide for themselves whether the late recovery of the
memories should allow [this] lawsuit to go forward decades after the
statute of limitations had expired.
The plaintiff in the case commented in an interview that he was not
certain how his case would have gone in court, and he did not want to
undercut other pending cases against the priest if he lost his. The
plaintiff's attorney Pat Noaker said that this would have been a
complex case to present to jurors. The Archdiocese attorney Jay
Mercer indicated that he believed the church would have prevailed but
that it was much less expensive to settle the case than it would have
been to go to trial.
King, R. (2010, September 3)
First suit accusing ex-priest is settled
Indianapolis Star
Retrieved on 9/3/10 from http://www.indystar.com/fdcp/?1283546361709
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Indiana Clergy Case: |
| The Ongoing Debate |
| King, R. (2009, August 21) |
| Priest abuse hearing hinges on memory, time |
| Indianapolis Star, A-1 |
| |
| The scientific status of repressed memories was the focus of a |
| hearing on August 21, 2009 in Indianapolis, Indiana at Marion |
| Super Court before Judge David Dreyer. The case is about John Doe |
| RG, a 44-year- old business man, now living in another state, who |
| claims that in therapy in 2003 he began to recover memories that |
| priest Harry Monroe had abused him when he was an altar boy. |
| |
| The facts of the case were not contested. There are 13 lawsuits |
| filed against this former priest and he has confessed that he |
| abused at least five of the people who have brought suits. John |
| Doe RG's suit, however, is the only one that involved repressed |
| memories. None of the other cases was prosecuted because the |
| statute of limitations had expired. |
| |
| Does the fact that the victim had repressed his memories change |
| the statute of limitations? The legal debate focused on whether |
| trauma victims can truly lose access to their memories of abuse |
| and later recover them. The expert for John Doe RG was James A. |
| Chu, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard |
| University. Chu stated that among clinicians there is no real |
| debate about the validity of repressed memories. He said that the |
| only doubters of repressed memory were people who work in |
| laboratories and who do not treat patients. The expert for the |
| archdiocese was Harrison Pope, M.D., professor of psychiatry at |
| Harvard University who wrote in an affidavit that there are |
| serious questions about repressed memories in the scientific |
| community and that there is a lack of consensus about them. |
| |
| Attorney Pat Noaker who represents John Doe RG argued that statute |
| does not apply if memories are repressed -- that a person has a |
| two-year window in which to file after recovering the memories. |
| Attorney Jay Mercer who represents the archdiocese argued that an |
| exception to the statute of limitations should not be granted |
| because of the lack of scientific consensus about repressed |
| memories. |
| |
| After the arguments, Judge Dreyer asked attorneys to give him more |
| information about the relationship between "dissociative amnesia" |
| and "repressed memory." The judge noted that "dissociative |
| amnesia" is listed in the DSM-IV and that "repressed memory" is |
| not listed. He said that acceptance in the desk reference would be |
| a simple way of deciding the credibility of the science and |
| whether to allow testimony. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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F R O M O U R R E A D E R S
____________________
Dear FMSF Community:
Until recently I had a blog online where I wrote about recovered-
memory and false-memory accusations, including my own personal
experiences of being falsely accused. A judge in Pennsylvania ordered
me to remove the blog, stating that it violated the confidentiality
clause in a settlement of a civil suit. I am appealing his decision
finding me in contempt of court and any assistance anyone would be
kind enough to provide toward my legal costs would be greatly
appreciated. Please write to me at the address below for more
information.
Many Thanks,
Michael Donnelly
2261 Market St. #258
San Francisco, CA. 94114
_____________________________
We Will All be Together Again
It will be 12 years in November since our daughter accused her
father. We will never give up hope that she will return. She was our
first child, a true gift, as is her brother.
Families need to encourage each other through the newsletter. I always
go directly to the letters written by parents or other family members.
To be honest, it's hard to watch what her brother, his wife and their
two boys have had to experience because of the accusations. Our two
grandsons have asked about their aunt. They would love to have a
relationship with their aunt, uncle and two cousins. My husband, our
daughter's brother and his wife, and I speak only positively about our
daughter. Our grandsons are told that their aunt is a beautiful
person.
My daughter is valued and some day we will all be together again.
That's the truth.
A Mom
___________________________
Message From An FMSF Member
Concerns of Newly Accused Parents
I answered a voice mail message from a couple in another state. They
had gotten my name from the Foundation in Philadelphia. Their daughter
has recently made accusations that the mother abused the daughter
between the ages of 5 and 14. They are concerned for the daughter's
welfare as well as for the fact that she is in their will and
designated as their health decider in the event of their inability to
make decisions on this. They have another daughter, who is also
designated as such in the will. This second daughter does not believe
her sister's accusations.
The accusing daughter asked her parents to come to her state to see
her therapist with her. The parents did this. That was when the mother
was accused. The mother reported that her daughter seemed quite
uncomfortable as she read the accusations. She told me that when her
daughter seemed to stop, the therapist would cough or click her
fingers and their daughter then continued. The mother said that she
and her husband were totally shocked -- they had never expected
anything like this. They left the office denying that the things they
had been accused of had ever happened. After going outside and talking
to each other for a while, they went back in the office. The mother
said that they felt that their daughter was even more confrontational
and upset when they returned. They thought that she seemed more
certain about her accusations than she had earlier.
The accusing daughter as well as the other daughter are both
therapists. The therapist who is treating the daughter is a licensed
marriage and family therapist who has a website advertising how to
make a lot of money as a therapist. She is a member of the Chamber of
Commerce and she gives speeches and presentations.
The parents are concerned that their daughter might file a lawsuit
against them. They did not know in which state she could file a
suit. When I suggested to them that they file a complaint with the
Department of Professional Regulation, they said that they were afraid
that might turn the daughter against them even more. They were
wondering about whether or not the daughter's insurance should cover
this type of therapy. I told them that as soon as her insurance ran
out, the therapist would probably dump her like a hot potato.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| The Invisible Gorilla |
| |
| "Take memory. It fades over time and is distorted by our beliefs, |
| desires and interests. Events that occur long after the original |
| experience can distort your recall. Simply talking about something |
| that happened distorts your memory; you come to remember not the |
| event itself, but the story you told." |
| |
| "[A]nyone's memory of an event that happened 12 years ago is |
| likely to be profoundly distorted. It is only in rare cases that |
| others are motivated enough to seek out objective confirmation for |
| our reports of our pasts, and only then that we learn how bad our |
| memories really are." |
| Bloom, P. (2010, June 6) |
| What we miss...We tend to believe what we see, |
| and what we remember, even if it never happened. |
| The New York Times Book Review, 30 |
| Review of The Invisible Gorilla |
| by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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* N O T I C E S *
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* *
* THE RUTHERFORD FAMILY SPEAKS TO FMS FAMILIES *
* *
* The video made by the Rutherford family is the most popular video *
* of FMSF families. It covers the complete story from accusation, to *
* retraction and reconciliation. Family members describe the things *
* they did to cope and to help reunite. Of particular interest are *
* Beth Rutherford's comments about what her family did that helped *
* her to retract and return. *
* Available in DVD format only: *
* To order send request to *
* FMSF Video, 1955 Locust St. *
* Philadelphia, PA 19103 *
* $10.00 per DVD; Canada add $4.00; other countries add $10.00 *
* Make checks payable to FMS Foundation *
* *
**********************************************************************
* S O M E B O O K S O F I N T E R E S T *
* *
* THE TRAUMA MYTH: *
* The Truth About the Sexual Abuse of Children and its Aftermath *
* Susan A. Clancy *
* *
* REMEMBERING TRAUMA *
* by Richard McNally *
* Harvard University Press *
* *
* SCIENCE and PSEUDOSCIENCE in CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY *
* S. O. Lilienfeld, S.J. Lynn and J.M. Lohr (eds.) *
* New York: Guilford Press (2003) *
* *
* PSYCHOLOGY ASTRAY: *
* Fallacies in Studies of "Repressed Memory" and Childhood Trauma *
* by Harrison G. Pope, Jr., M.D. *
* Upton Books *
* *
* REMEMBERING OUR CHILDHOOD: HOW MEMORY BETRAYS US *
* Karl Sabbagh *
* Oxford University Press (2009) *
* *
* MAKING MIND and MADNESS *
* From Hysteria to Depression *
* Chapter 3: "A Black Box Named Sybil" *
* Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen *
* Cambridge University Press *
* 2009 *
* *
* TRY TO REMEMBER: PSYCHIATRY'S CLASH *
* OVER MEANING, MEMORY, AND MIND *
* Paul McHugh, M.D. *
* Washington, DC: Dana Press *
**********************************************************************
* *
* WEB SITES of INTEREST *
* *
* http:/www.seweb.uci.edu/faculty/loftus/ *
* Elizabeth Loftus *
* *
* http://www.theisticsatanism.com/asp/ *
* Against Satanic Panics *
* *
* http://comp.uark.edu/~lampinen/lab.html *
* The Lampinen Lab False Memory Reading Group *
* University of Arkansas *
* *
* http:/www.exploratorium.edu/memory *
* The Exploratorium Memory Exhibit *
* *
* http://theretractor.angelfire.com/ *
* Site for retractors run by Laura Pasley *
* *
* http://www.process.org/ *
* Site of Investigative Journalist *
* *
* http://www.psyfmfrance.fr *
* French False Memory Group *
* *
* http:/www.psychoheresy-aware.org/ministry.html *
* The Bobgans question Christian counseling *
* *
* http:/www.IllinoisFMS.org *
* Illinois-Wisconsin FMS Society *
* *
* http:/www.ltech.net/OHIOarmhp *
* Ohio Group *
* *
* recoveredmemorytherapy.blogspot.com *
* Matt Stone's updates on Australia FMS *
* *
* http:/www.bfms.org.uk *
* British False Memory Society *
* *
* http:/www.religioustolerance.org/sra.htm *
* Information about Satanic Ritual Abuse *
* *
* http:/www.angryparents.net *
* Parents Against Cruel Therapy *
* *
* http:/www.peterellis.org.nz *
* Site run by Brian Robinson *
* contains information about *
* Christchurch Creche and other cases. *
* *
* http:/www.falseallegation.org *
* National Child Abuse *
* Defense & Resource Center *
* *
* http:/www.markpendergrast.com *
* Excerpts from Victims of Memory *
* *
* http:/www.rickross.com/groups/fsm.html *
* Ross Institute *
* *
* http:/www.enigma.se/info/FFI.htm *
* FMS in Scandanavia -- Janet Hagbom *
* *
* http:/www.ncrj.org/ *
* National Center for Reason & Justice *
* *
q* http:/www.traumaversterking.nl *
* English language web site of Dutch retractor *
* *
* http:/www.quackwatch.org *
* This site is run by Stephen Barrett, M.D. *
* *
* http:/www.stopbadtherapy.com *
* Contains information about filing complaints. *
**********************************************************************
_____________________________________
F M S B U L L E T I N B O A R D
Contacts & Meetings :
_____________
UNITED STATES
ALABAMA
See Georgia
ALASKA
Kathleen 907-333-5248
ARIZONA
Phoenix
Pat 480-396-9420
ARKANSAS
Little Rock
Al & Lela 870-363-4368
CALIFORNIA
Sacramento
Jocelyn 530-570-1862
San Francisco & North Bay
Charles 415-435-9618
San Francisco & South Bay
Eric 408-738-0469
East Bay Area
Judy 925-952-4853
Covina Area
Floyd & Libby 626-357-2750
COLORADO
Colorado Springs
Doris 719-488-9738
FLORIDA
Central Florida - Please call for mtg. time
John & Nancy 352-750-5446
GEORGIA
Atlanta
Wallie & Jill 770-971-8917
ILLINOIS
Chicago & Suburbs - 1st Sun. (MO)
Eileen 847-985-7693 or Liz 847-827-1056
INDIANA
Indiana Assn. for Responsible Mental Health Practices
Pat 317-865-8913 & Helen 574-753-2779
KANSAS
Wichita -- Meeting as called
Pat 785-762-2825
LOUISIANA
Sarah 337-235-7656
MAINE
Portland -- 4th Sun. (MO)
Bobby 207-878-9812
MARYLAND
Carol 410-465-6555
MASSACHUSETTS/NEW ENGLAND
Andover -- 2nd Sun. (MO) @ 1pm
Frank 978-263-9795
MICHIGAN
Greater Detroit Area
Nancy 248-642-8077
MINNESOTA
Terry & Collette 507-642-3630
Dan & Joan 651-631-2247
MISSOURI
Springfield -- Quarterly (4th Sat. of Apr.,
Jul., Oct., Jan.) @12:30pm
Tom 417-753-4878 & Roxie 417-781-2058
MONTANA
Lee & Avone 406-443-3189
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Jean 603-772-2269 & Mark 802-872-0847
NEW JERSEY
Sally 609-927-4147 (Southern)
NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque -- 2nd Sat. (BI-MO) @1 pm
Southwest Room -Presbyterian Hospital
Maggie 505-662-7521(after 6:30pm) or Sy 505-758-0726
NEW YORK
Upstate/Albany Area
Elaine 518-399-5749
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan 704-538-7202
OHIO
Cleveland
Bob & Carole 440-356-4544
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma City
Dee 405-942-0531
OREGON
Portland area
Kathy 503-655-1587
PENNSYLVANIA
Wayne (includes S. NJ)
Jim & Jo 610-783-0396
TEXAS
Houston
Jo or Beverly 713-464-8970
UTAH
Keith 801-467-0669
WASHINGTON
See Oregon
WISCONSIN
Katie & Leo 414-476-0285 or
Susanne & John 608-427-3686
_____________
INTERNATIONAL
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
Vancouver & Mainland
Lloyd 250-741-8941
Victoria & Vancouver Island
John 250-721-3219
MANITOBA CANADA
Roma 204-275-5723
ONTARIO, CANADA
London
Adriaan 519-471-6338
OTTAWA
Eileen 613-836-3294
Burlington
Ken & Marina 905-637-6030
Waubaushene
Paula 705-543-0318
QUEBEC
Claudine: Claudisyl@hotmail.com
514-620-6397 French and English
AUSTRALIA
Evelyn everei@adam.com.au
BELGIUM
werkgr.fict.herinneringen@altavista.net
FRANCE
afsi.fauxsouvenirs@wabadii,fr
ISRAEL
FMS Association fax-972-2-625-9282
NEW ZEALAND
Colleen 09-416-7443
SWEDEN
Ake Moller FAX 48-431-217-90
UNITED KINGDOM
The British False Memory Society
Madeline 44-1225 868-682
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Do you have access to e-mail? Send a message to |
| pjf@cis.upenn.edu |
| if you wish to receive electronic versions of this newsletter and |
| notices of radio and television broadcasts about FMS. All the |
| message need say is "add to the FMS-News". It would be useful, but |
| not necessary, if you add your full name (all addresses and names |
| will remain strictly confidential). |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
**********************************************************************
The False Memory Syndrome Foundation is a qualified 501(c)3 corpora-
tion with its principal offices in Philadelphia and governed by its
Board of Directors. While it encourages participation by its members
in its activities, it must be understood that the Foundation has no
affiliates and that no other organization or person is authorized to
speak for the Foundation without the prior written approval of the Ex-
ecutive Director. All membership dues and contributions to the Founda-
tion must be forwarded to the Foundation for its disposition.
**********************************************************************
PAMELA FREYD, Ph.D., Executive Director
FMSF Scientific and Professional Advisory Board, October 1, 2010
AARON T. BECK, M.D., D.M.S., U of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
TERENCE W. CAMPBELL, Ph.D., Clinical and Forensic Psychology,
Sterling Heights, MI;
ROSALIND CARTWRIGHT, Ph.D., Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's 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, Berkeley, CA;
ROBYN M. DAWES, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA;
DAVID F. DINGES, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
HENRY C. ELLIS, Ph.D., University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM;
FRED H. FRANKEL, MBChB, DPM, Harvard University Medical School;
GEORGE K. GANAWAY, M.D., Emory University of Medicine, Atlanta, GA;
ROCHEL GELMAN, Ph.D., Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ;
HENRY GLEITMAN, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
LILA GLEITMAN, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
RICHARD GREEN, M.D., J.D., Charing Cross Hospital, London;
JOHN HOCHMAN, M.D., UCLA Medical School, Los Angeles, CA;
DAVID S. HOLMES, Ph.D., University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS;
ROBERT A. KARLIN, Ph.D. , Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ;
ELIZABETH LOFTUS, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, CA;
SUSAN L. McELROY, M.D., University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH;
PAUL McHUGH, M.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD;
HAROLD MERSKEY, D.M., University of Western Ontario, London, Canada;
SPENCER HARRIS MORFIT, Author, Westford, MA;
ULRIC NEISSER, Ph.D., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY;
RICHARD OFSHE, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, CA;
EMILY CAROTA ORNE, B.A., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
LOREN PANKRATZ, Ph.D., Oregon Health Sciences Univ., Portland, OR;
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, Boston, MA;
JAMES RANDI, Author and Magician, Plantation, FL;
HENRY L. ROEDIGER, III, Ph.D. ,Washington University, St. Louis, MO;
CAROLYN SAARI, Ph.D., Loyola University, Chicago, IL;
MICHAEL A. SIMPSON, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., M.R.C, D.O.M., Center for
Psychosocial & Traumatic Stress, Pretoria, South Africa;
RALPH SLOVENKO, J.D., Ph.D., Wayne State University Law School,
Detroit, MI;
JEFFREY VICTOR, Ph.D., Jamestown Community College, Jamestown, NY;
HOLLIDA WAKEFIELD, M.A., Institute of Psychological Therapies,
Northfield, MN;
CHARLES A. WEAVER, III, Ph.D. Baylor University, Waco, TX
Advisors to whom we are grateful who are now deceased:
MARTIN GARDNER, Author, Hendersonville, NC;
DAVID A. HALPERIN, M.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine,
New York, NY;
ERNEST HILGARD, Ph.D., Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA;
PHILIP S. HOLZMAN, Ph.D., Harvard University, Cambridge;
HAROLD LIEF, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
MARTIN ORNE, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA;
CAMPBELL PERRY, Ph.D., Concordia University, Montreal, Canada;
THEODORE SARBIN, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, CA;
THOMAS A. SEBEOK, Ph.D., Indiana University, Bloomington, IN;
MARGARET SINGER, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, CA;
DONALD SPENCE, Ph.D., Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center,
Piscataway, NJ.
**********************************************************************
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**********************************************************************