| Corroboration and Accuracy of Recovered Memories - An
Annotated Bibliography
1. Andrews, B., Brewin, C., Ochera, J., Morton, J., Bekerian, D.,
Davies, G., and Mollon, P. (1999). Characteristics, context and
consequences of memory recovery among adults in therapy. Brit J
Psychiatry 175:141-146.
Abstract: 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. 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%. Most (78%) of the clients' initial recovered
memories either preceded therapy or preceded the use of memory
recovery
techniques used by the respondents. Techniques seemed to be used more
to help the clients to elaborate the memories than to facilitate their
initial recovery. Clients with whom techniques had been used before
the first reported memory recovery were no less likely to have found
corroborating evidence than clients with whom no techniques had been
used before memory recovery. Some of the data are consistent with
memories being of iatrogenic origin, but other data clearly point to
the need for additional explanations.
2. Bagley, C. (1995). The prevalence and mental health sequels of
child sexual abuse in community sample of women aged 18 to 27. Child
sexual abuse and mental health in adolescents and adults. Aldershot:
Avebury.
Abstract: Study of women 18-24 years who had been removed from home
10 years previously by social services due to intrafamilial sexual
abuse. Of the 19 women for whom there was evidence of serious sexual
abuse, 14 remembered events corresponding to their records. Two
remembered that abuse had taken place but could recall no specific
details, and three had no memory. Two of the last three described long
blank periods for the memory of childhood corresponding to the age
when abuse had taken place.
3. Bull, D. (1999). A verified case of recovered memories of sexual
abuse. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 53(2), 221-224.
Abstract: A case is presented that shows verifiable evidence of
repression at work. Rachel, a 40-year-old woman with no history of
mental illness and ten years of exemplary professional work, recovers
memories of childhood sexual abuse by her father through a call from
her youth pastor in whom she had confided as an adolescent.
4. Chu JA, Frey LM, Ganzel BL, Matthews JA. (1999). Memories of
childhood abuse: Dissociation, amnesia, and corroboration. Am J
Psychiatry 156(5):749-755.
OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the relationship between
self-reported childhood abuse and dissociative symptoms and amnesia.
The presence or absence of corroboration of recovered memories of
childhood abuse was also studied. METHOD: Participants were 90 female
patients admitted to a unit specializing in the treatment of
trauma-related disorders. Participants completed instruments that
measured dissociative symptoms and elicited details concerning
childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing abuse.
Participants also underwent a structured interview that asked about
amnesia for traumatic experiences, the circumstances of recovered
memory, the role of suggestion in recovered memories, and independent
corroboration of the memories. RESULTS: Participants reporting any
type of childhood abuse demonstrated elevated levels of dissociative
symptoms that were significantly higher than those in subjects not
reporting abuse. Higher dissociative symptoms were correlated with
early age at onset of physical and sexual abuse and more frequent
sexual abuse. A substantial proportion of participants with all types
of abuse reported partial or complete amnesia for abuse memories. For
physical and sexual abuse, early age at onset was correlated with
greater levels of amnesia. Participants who reported recovering
memories of abuse generally recalled these experiences while at home,
alone, or with family or friends. Although some participants were in
treatment at the time, very few were in therapy sessions during their
first memory recovery. Suggestion was generally denied as a factor in
memory recovery. A majority of participants were able to find strong
corroboration of their recovered memories. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood
abuse, particularly chronic abuse beginning at early ages, is related
to the development of high levels of dissociative symptoms including
amnesia for abuse memories. This study strongly suggests that
psychotherapy usually is not associated with memory recovery and that
independent corroboration of recovered memories of abuse is often
present.
5. Corwin, D. & Olafson, E. (1997). Videotaped discovery of a
reportedly unrecallable memory of child sexual abuse: Comparison with
a childhood interview taped 11 years before. Child Maltreatment, 2(2),
91-112.
Summary: This article presents a unique case involving the recovery
of traumatic memory by a 17-year-old victim of documented child sexual
abuse. The authors present the history, verbatim transcripts, and
behavioral observations of a child's disclosure of sexual abuse to Dr.
David Corwin in 1984 and the spontaneous return of that reportedly
unrecallable memory during an interview with Dr. Corwin 11 years
later. Both the child's disclosure at age 6 and the young woman's
sudden recall of the abuse at age 17 after several years of reported
inability to recall the experience are recorded on videotape. This
article includes transcripts of the interviews at ages 6 and 17.
The case was originally referred to Corwin for a court-appointed
evaluation of allegations of sexual and physical abuse. The father
was accusing the mother of having sexually and physically abused their
daughter (Jane Doe). Corwin had three interviews with the child and
also met with both parents. The evaluation along with previous
documentation (Jane was seen for burns to the bottom of both feet
after her mother punished her by burning them) strongly supported the
child's allegation of both physical and sexual abuse by her mother.
Jane made consistent statements regarding the identity of her sexual
abuser and the nature of the abuse in all three forensic interviews.
Her accounts included sensory detail and she reported detailed
maternal threats not to disclose. In her first interview, her
disclosure was spontaneous and not in response to a question directed
to sexual abuse. In addition to the interviews, the records included
protective services reports, court declarations by the parents,
pleadings, court decisions, reports by prior evaluators and
therapists, letters from Jane's parents, friends, and relatives, and
Jane's medical records.
Parental behavior during the interviews was also consistent with the
mother having abused Jane. Before each parent left the room, Corwin
asked each one to tell Jane to tell him the truth about anything he
asked her. The father did so with ease. However, instead of telling
Jane to tell the truth, her mother asked her to repeat what they had
been talking about that morning. Psychological testing of the mother
was consistent with the mother having a dissociative disorder. In
addition, psychological testing on Jane's mother indicated
impulsivity, inadequate judgment, and problems with perception and
thinking. The father's psychological testing indicated emotional
constraint but found no problems with perception and thinking. Based
on the weight of the evidence the court gave Jane's father full
custody and denied visitation Jane's mother.
Jane was close to her father. However, at age 16 Jane was placed in
foster care after her father had a stroke and was moved to a nursing
home. Jane's foster mother recounts Jane's difficult and rebellious
early adolescence. Jane resumed contact with her mother during this
time. After her father's death, Jane wanted a closer relationship
with her mother. Jane no longer had any memory of the abuse but did
remember that she had alleged abuse. Her mother denied the abuse
allegations and told Jane that her allegations were based on pressure
by her father so he could get custody of her. Jane contacted Dr.
Corwin and told him that she would like to see the videotapes of
herself because she was unable to recall the actual events. Jane
said: "I've chosen to believe that my real mom didn't do anything,
even though I don't really remember if she did or not."
Before showing her the videotape, Corwin asks Jane to remember
everything that she can about her interviews with him at age 6.
Corwin asks her if she remembers "anything about the concerns about
sexual abuse." Jane says: "No. I mean, I remember that was part of
the accusation, but I don't remember anything--wait a minute, yeah, I
do." Corwin asks her what she remembers. Jane responds, "My gosh,
that's really, really weird." This is followed by tears and Jane's
speech becoming choked up. Jane remembers the pain of her mother
vaginally penetrating with her finger during bath time. Jane only
remembers only one instance of this happening and wonders if it was an
intentional act. Jane also remembers making accusations about her
mother photographing her with her older brother and selling the
pictures.
Corwin then shows Jane the videotapes of his interviews with her when
she was 6 years old. After watching the videotapes, Jane believes
that the child on the tapes was telling the truth, but still wants to
believe that maybe her mother hurt her accidentally and that she made
it out to be worse then it really was.
The authors discuss the case noting that Jane remembered the
accusation and the act of being digitally penetrated in the bathtub
accurately. However, she also remembers making an accusation that she
never in fact made-the one about her mother taking and selling
pictures of her and her brother (a search of available records located
no allegations by Jane about her mother taking pictures) It is not
known whether such an event occurred and was not recorded, or if a
memory contaminant attached itself to an otherwise accurate
recollection. After recalling her mother's abuse and viewing the
tapes, Jane states that she wishes to continue seeing her mother and
notes that she does not yet know what her feelings are about what she
has remembered.
6. Dahlenberg, C. (1996, Summer) Accuracy, timing and circumstances
of disclosure in therapy of recovered and continuous memories of
abuse. The Journal of Psychiatry and Law.
Abstract: Seventeen patients who had recovered memories of abuse in
therapy participated in a search for evidence confirming or refuting
these memories. Memories of abuse were found to be equally accurate
whether recovered or continuously remembered. Predictors of number of
memory units for which evidence was uncovered included several
measures of memory and perceptual accuracy. Recovered memories that
were later supported arose in psychotherapy more typically during
periods of positive rather than negative feelings toward the
therapist, and they were more likely to be held with confidence by the
abuse victim.
7. Duggal S, Stroufe LA. (1998). Recovered memory of childhood
sexual trauma: A documented case from a longitudinal study. Journal
of Traumatic Stress 11(2): 301-21.
Summary: A child with documented history of sexual abuse, who had no
recall of this event in extensive interviews as a teenager, recalls
memories outside of therapy at age 19. Includes prospective and
retrospective data, multiple corroboration of sexual trauma in early
childhood, prospective evidence of memory loss in oral and written
measures in consecutive assessments, and evidence of spontaneous
recovery of memory.
8. Duggal, S., & Sroufe, L. A. (1998). Recovered memory of childhood
sexual trauma: A documented case from a longitudinal study. Journal of
Trauma Stress,11(2), 301-321.
This account contains the first available prospective report of
memory loss in a case in which there is both documented evidence of
trauma and evidence of recovery of memory. The subject "Laura"
participated in a prospective longitudinal large-scale study of
children followed closely from birth to adulthood which was not
focused on memory for trauma. Laura spontaneously reported a recovered
memory during a routine interview. The memory was corroborated by
historical records of a therapist who worked with the family when the
subject was 4 years old. There was abundant evidence suggesting that
Laura was being abused by her father during visitations. However,
there was no report of penetration, only fondling. Without physical
evidence, CPS did not feel there was enough evidence to prosecute the
father. However, because the father was a drug addict and alcoholic,
it was decided that Laura would only see her father during supervised
visitations. As a young child, Laura entered short-term therapy to
deal with her anxiety and anger towards her father along with her
sexualized and regressive behaviors. Evidence in the historical
records shows that Laura's memory for the abuse persisted until she
was at least age 8. The last clear evidence of memory of trauma is in
the therapy records from third grade. Her mother did not discuss the
abuse unless Laura brought up the subject. As a result, the subject
was not discussed again.
At age 16, Laura filled out a questionnaire which asked if she had
ever been sexually abused. At this time, Laura indicated in writing
that she had never been sexually abused. It is noted that her denial
does not appear related to poor rapport with the interviewer or
embarrassment, as she was open and answered multiple questions about
drug/alcohol abuse, family relationships, and dating relationships
which contained sensitive questions without any apparent discomfort.
At 17, Laura again denied any terrible or unusual experiences
including sexual abuse. Visitation had been increased with her father
as Laura indicated that she felt good about spending time with her
father.
At age 18, Laura had a conversation with boyfriend in which they
discussed their earliest memories. Her boyfriend asked her about her
earliest memory with her father. Laura reported that this question
elicited a strange reaction: "I told him and then all of sudden I got
this really overwhelming feeling, like that was, that was really weird
and like, and I just shut up and didn't say anything more…"
Partial recall of the memory returned in the school office while
talking with a trusted teacher about her father's drinking. Her recall
consisted largely of her father kissing her along with a compelling
sense that there was a sexual component to the interaction with her
father. At the same time, she felt a fear of her father that she
didn't ever remember feeling before.
The memory was not suggested by a therapist and there were no
apparent rewards for remembering the abuse which created a great deal
of pain and confusion for Laura, especially concerning her feelings
about her father.
9. 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.
Abstract: A national sample of psychologists were asked whether they
had been abused as children and, if so, whether they had ever
forgotten some or all of the abuse. Almost a quarter of the sample
(23.9%) reported childhood abuse, and of those, approximately 40%
reported a period of forgetting some or all of the abuse. The major
findings were that (a) both sexual and nonsexual abuse were subject to
periods of forgetting; (b) the most frequently reported factor related
to recall was being in therapy; (c) approximately one half of those
who reported forgetting also reported corroboration of the abuse; and
(d) reported forgetting was not related to gender or age of the
respondent but was related to severity of the abuse.
Summary: 330 psychologists. 24% physical and 22% sexual abuse. Of
those abused, 40% did not remember at some time. 47% had
corroboration. 56% said psychotherapy aided in recall. Differences
between those who first recalled abuse in therapy and those who
recalled it elsewhere were not significant.
10. Herman, J. L., & Harvey, M. R. (1997). Adult memories of
childhood trauma: A naturalistic clinical study. Journal of Traumatic
Stress, 10, 557-571.
The clinical evaluations of 77 adult outpatients reporting memories
of childhood trauma were reviewed. A majority of patients reported
some degree of continuous recall. Roughly half (53%) said they had
never forgotten the traumatic events. Two smaller groups described a
mixture of continuous and delayed recall (17%) or a period of complete
amnesia followed by delayed recall (16%). Patients with and without
delayed recall did not differ significantly in the proportions
reporting corroboration of their memories from other sources.
Idiosyncratic, trauma-specific reminders and recent life crises were
most commonly cited as precipitants to delayed recall. A previous
psychotherapy was cited as a factor in a minority (28%) of cases. By
contrast, intrusion of memories after a period of amnesia was
frequently cited as a factor leading to the decision to seek
psychotherapy. The implications of these findings are discussed with
respect to the role of psychotherapy in the process of recovering
traumatic memories.
11. Herman, J. L., & Schatzow, E. (1987). Recovery and verification
of memories of childhood sexual trauma. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 4,
1-14.
Abstract: Fifty-three women outpatients participated in short-term
therapy groups for incest survivors. This treatment modality proved to
be a powerful stimulus for recovery of previously repressed traumatic
memories. A relationship was observed between the age of onset,
duration, and degree of violence of the abuse and the extent to which
the memory of the abuse had been repressed. Three out of four patients
were able to validate their memories by obtaining corroborating
evidence from other sources. The therapeutic function of recovering
and validating traumatic memories is explored.
12. Kluft, R. (1995). The confirmation and disconfirmation of
memories of abuse in DID patients: A naturalistic clinical study.
Dissociation: Progress in the Dissociative Disorders, 8(4), 253-258.
Abstract: Reviewed the charts of 34 dissociative identity disorder
(DID) patients in treatment for instances of the confirmation or
disconfirmation of recalled episodes of abuse occurring
naturalistically in the course of their psychotherapies. 19 Ss had
instances of the confirmation of recalled abuses. 10 of the 19 had
always recalled the abuses that were confirmed. However, 13 of the 19
obtained documentation of events that were recovered in the course of
therapy, usually with the use of hypnosis. Three patients had
instances
in which the inaccuracy of their recollection could be demonstrated.
Results suggest that stances that are either extremely credulous of
retrieved recollections or extremely skeptical of retrieved
recollections are
inconsistent with clinical data.
13. Lewis, D., Yeager, C., Swica, Y., Pincus, J. and Lewis, M.
(1997). Objective documentation of child abuse and dissociation in 12
murderers with dissociative identity disorder. Am J Psychiatry,
154(12):1703-10.
OBJECTIVE: The skepticism regarding the existence of dissociative
identity disorder as well as the abuse that engenders it persists for
lack of objective documentation. This is doubly so for the disorder in
murderers because of issues of suspected malingering. This article
presents objective verification of both dissociative symptoms and
severe abuse during childhood in a series of adult murderers with
dissociative
identity disorder. METHOD: This study consisted of a review of the
clinical records of 11 men and one woman with DSM-IV-defined
dissociative identity disorder who had committed murder. Data were
gathered from medical, psychiatric, social service, school, military,
and prison records and from records of interviews with subjects'
family members and others. Handwriting samples were also examined.
Data were
analyzed qualitatively. RESULTS: Signs and symptoms of dissociative
identity disorder in childhood and adulthood were corroborated
independently and from several sources in all 12 cases; objective
evidence of severe abuse was obtained in 11 cases. The subjects had
amnesia for most of the abuse and underreported it. Marked changes in
writing style and/or signatures were documented in 10 cases.
CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes, once and for all, the linkage
between early severe abuse and dissociative identity disorder.
Further, the data demonstrate that the disorder can be distinguished
from malingering and from other disorders. The study shows that it is
possible, with great effort, to obtain objective evidence of both the
symptoms of dissociative identity disorder and the abuse that
engenders it.
14. Martinez-Taboas, A. (1996). Repressed memories: Some clinical
data contributing toward its elucidation. American Journal of
Psychotherapy, 50(2), 217-30.
Abstract: Recently there has been considerable controversy about the
validity of memories recovered during psychotherapy. In the last two
decades, a plethora of studies have been published that leave no
reasonable doubt that many children are victimized and abused.
Proponents of false memory syndrome have taken the position that
"memories" that surface in the course of psychotherapy are not the
product of real traumas, but are instead, "pseudomemories" implanted
by therapists through techniques such as hypnosis and abreactions. In
response to these claims, the author presents two well documented and
corroborated cases of dissociated or delayed memories of child sexual
abuse in patients with a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder
(DID). The patients had absolutely no conscious memory of their
childhood abusive experiences and in both cases the author obtained
definite and clear cut independent corroboration of the realities of
the abuse. The amnesia was documented and memories were recovered in
the course of treatment. Only through the publication of clear cut
cases can the debate about repressed memories be settled in an
empirical way.
15. Van der Kolk, BA, & Fisler, R. (1995). Dissociation and the
fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory
study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8, 505-525.
Summary: 46 adults with in depth interviews. Of the 36 with childhood
trauma, 42% suffered significant or total amnesia at some time.
Corroborative evidence was available for 75%.
16. Viederman M. (1995). The reconstruction of a repressed sexual
molestation fifty years later. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association, 43(4): 1169-1219.
Summary: Reconstruction of a previously completely repressed memory
of sexual molestation. Six years following termination of analysis,
the patient wrote a letter describing a confirmation of the event, now
sixty years past, from the sole other survivor of the period who had
knowledge of what had happened.
17. Westerhof, Y., Woertman, L. Van der Hart, O., & Nijenhuis, E.R.S.
(2000). Forgetting child abuse: Feldman-Summers and Pope's (1994)
study replicated among Dutch psychologists. Clinical Psychology and
Psychotherapy, 7, 220-229.
Abstract: In a replication of Feldman-Summers and Pope's (1994)
national survey of American psychologists on 'forgetting' childhood
abuse, a Dutch sample of 500 members of the Netherlands Institute of
Psychologists (NIP) were asked if they had been abused as children
and, if so, whether they had ever forgotten some or all of the abuse
for some significant period of time. As compared to the 23.9% in the
original study, 13.3% reported childhood abuse. Of that subgroup, 39%
(as compared to 40% in the original study) reported a period of
forgetting some or all of the abuse for a period of time. Both sexual
and non-sexual physical abuse were subject to forgetting, which in 70%
of cases was reversed while being in therapy. Almost 70% of those who
reported forgetting also reported corroboration of the abuse. The
forgetting was not related to gender or age, but was associated with
the reported early abuse onset. These results were remarkably similar
to the results of the Feldman-Summers and Pope's original study.
18. Widom, C. and Shepard, R. (1996). Accuracy of adult recollections
of childhood victimization: Part 1. Psychological Assessment, 8(4),
412-421.
Abstract: Using data from a study with prospective-cohorts design in
which children who were physically abused, sexually abused, or
neglected about 20 years ago were followed up along with a matched
control group, accuracy of adult recollections of childhood physical
abuse was assessed. Two hour in-person interviews were conducted in
young adulthood with 1,196 of the original 1,575 participants. Two
measures (including the Conflict Tactics Scale) were used to assess
histories of childhood physical abuse. Results indicate good
discriminant validity and predictive efficiency of the self-report
measures, despite substantial underreporting by physically abused
respondents. Tests of construct validity reveal shared method
variance, with self-report measures predicting self-reported violence
and official reports of physical abuse predicting arrests for
violence. Findings are discussed in the context of other research on
the accuracy of adult recollections of childhood experiences.
19. Widom, C. and Shepard, R. (1997). Accuracy of adult
recollections of childhood victimization. Part 2. Childhood sexual
abuse. Psychological Assessment 9: 34-46.
Summary: A prospective study in which abused and neglected children
(court substantiated) [N=1,114] were matched with non-abused and
neglected children and followed into adulthood. There was substantial
underreporting of sexual abuse, when compared to court and medical
records. Victimization recall was checked by comparing crimes
disclosed in victimization surveys found in police records. The
question should be not whether reports of childhood sexual abuse are
valid or not, but what is the best way to ask questions to make
answers more valid.
20. Williams, L. M. (1995, October). Recovered memories of abuse in
women with documented child sexual victimization histories. Journal
of Traumatic Stress, 8(4).
Abstract: This study provides evidence that some adults who claim to
have recovered memories of sexual abuse recall actual events that
occurred in childhood. One hundred twenty-nine women with documented
histories of sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and
asked about abuse history. Seventeen years following the initial
report of the abuse, 80 of the women recalled the victimization. One
in 10 women (16% of those who recalled the abuse) reported that at
some time in the past they had forgotten about the abuse. Those with a
prior period of forgetting - the women with "recovered memories" -
were younger at the time of abuse and were less likely to have
received support from their mothers than the women who reported that
they had always remembered their victimization. The women who had
recovered memories and those who had always remembered had the same
number of discrepancies when their accounts of the abuse were compared
to the reports from the early 1970's.
REFERENCE
Brown, D., Scheflin, A., and Whitfield, C. (1999). Recovered
memories: the current weight of the evidence in science and in the
courts. The Journal of Psychiatry & Law 27/Spring 1999 |
