Hi Stephen- While I agree that "Repressed Memory" has little (if any) scientific basis and that trying to prove the Null is problematic I would challenge your assertion that little evidence of Autism or Parkinson's exist in the historical literature. The now archaic use of the term natural (as in a Natural Childe) while generally refering to a mentally handicap would have been applied to children with Autism. The term "Palsy" (or Palsie) would have described those with Parkinson's. I think that there is some value in searching the historical record to see if we can validate "new" disorders. The lack of historical mention of Multiple Personality Disorder (or DID if you prefer) is one more reason for me to question it as a legitimate diagnosis. So while "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" it does make me want a bit more evidence before I hop on the bandwagon for the latest "Disorder of the Month".
All best, -Don. ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wednesday, March 8, 2006 9:18 pm Subject: Re: Repressed memory challenge > On 7 Mar 2006 at 12:03, Allen Esterson wrote: > > > 'Repressed Memory' Challenge > > By Harrison G. Pope, Jr. and James I. Hudson > > > $1000 reward to anyone who can produce a published case of > ?repressed memory? (in fiction or non-fiction) prior to 1800 > > > http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=177 > > While I'm partial to the proposal that repressed memory is a silly > romantic idea rather than a scienitifically valid one, I don't > think > this is the way to go about supporting it. Even beyond the appeal > to > accepting the null hypothesis (if no one can produce such a case, > then the hypothesis is confirmed), there's another problem. > Consider > the above quotation, with a single exchange of one word for another: > > "The concept of autism...might be simply a romantic notion dating > from the 1800s, rather than a scientifically valid phenomenon. To > test this hypothesis, we are offering a reward....We would argue > that > if autism were a genuine natural phenomenon that has always > affected > people, then someone, somewhere, in the thousands of years prior > to > 1800, would have witnessed it and portrayed it in a non-fictional > work or in a fictional character". > > Autism was first clearly identified by Kanner in 1943 and > independently by Asperger in 1944. Descriptions of anything > resembling autism earlier than this are scarce. The most-often > mentioned is the case of the Wild Boy of Aveyron. Even if we > accept > this as a true case of autism, which is doubtful, the published > account of Itard dates from 1801, and so falls just under the cut- > off > date. But even though diagnosable autism does not appear before > 1800, > does this mean that the condition is not a scientifically valid > phenomenon? > > Next case; Parkinson's disease. It was first described in 1817 by > James Parkinson. I'm less certain of my facts here, but I believe > that there are no diagnosable descriptions prior to this. But does > the absence of such reports mean that Parkinson's disease is > merely a > silly romantic notion? > > It will be interesting if anyone can come up with a case of > repressed > memory before 1800. But it can't have any impact in determining > the > scientific validity of the concept. > > The money would be handy, of course. > > Stephen > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. > Department of Psychology > Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 > Canada > > Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy > TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at > http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > --- > - > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-tips- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
