On 13 September 2008 David Epstein wrote: >I'm still more than a bit skeptical about making the leap from >"memories of something awful seen on TV are frequently false" to >"memories of a childhood full of sexual abuse are frequently false."
>It's possible. But it's a heck of an extrapolation. I agree that there's an extrapolation here, so I want to stick to David's reference to "memories of childhood full of sexual abuse". Well, that may be how it is in some cases, but with very many in regard to which there have been concerns about false memories it is a very different story. More typically such cases have involved someone who has no memory of childhood sexual abuse starting some kind of therapy (and in the UK this has happened in the NHS system as well as with private psychotherapists) and then gradually having supposed recollections of sexual abuse situations from childhood. The circumstances in which such 'recovering' of early memories occurs are varied, but have been widely discussed, and closely examined, in the past couple of decades. References: Loftus E. & Ketcham K. (1994). The Myth of Repressed Memory. St. Martin's Press. Pendergrast M. (1995). Victims of Memory: Incest Accusations and Shattered Lives. Upper Access Books. McNally, R. J. (2003). Remembering Trauma. Harvard University Press, pp. 159-259. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
