Recovered Memories of Trauma

1. Recovered Memories of Trauma Psychology 355: Cognitive PsychologyInstructor: John Miyamoto05/15/2014: Lecture 07-4 This Powerpoint presentation may contain macros that were used to create the slides. The macros aren’t needed to view the slides. If necessary, you can disable the macros without any change to the presentation.

2. Outline • Brief review • Creating false memories of the first few days after being born • Creating false memories of childhood experiences • Evidence that some recovered memories are veridical,i.e., the abuse did occur and it was subsequently forgotten. • Conclusion What Are Recovered Memories? Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

3. What Are Recovered Memories? • Definition: A recovered memory is a memory that has two characteristics: • The experiences that are remembered are shocking or traumatic. • There was an extended period in the individual's life when he or she did not remember the experiences that are eventually "recovered." recoveredmemory Now abuse no memory Time Spanos – People Can Be Persuaded To Believe False Memories Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

4. Creating Impossible Memories from Infancy • True memories during the 1st year of life are extremely unlikely. • Nicholas Spanos & colleagues have created false memories of early infancy: Subjects are told .... • ... that they have been selected because they have exceptionally coordinated eye movements and visual exploration skills. • ... that this is probably due to highly colored mobiles that were placed over their cribs in the hospital where they were born. • To test this hypothesis, • half the subjects were hypnotized, age-regressed to the day after birth, and asked what they remembered. • half the subjects participated in a “guided mnemonic restructuring” procedure that encouraged mentally recreating the infant experience. Would Subjects Have Memories of the Hospital and Mobiles Over the Crib? Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

5. Would the subjects “remember” the hospital & mobiles? • 49% of the subjects agreed that these were very sure that these were real memories. • 16% of the subjects thought that these memories were fantasies. • Susceptibility to hyponosis was not related to belief in the infant memories. Thomas & Pickrell: Creating False Memories of Childhood Experiences Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

6. Imagining Can Produce False Memories Loftus, E.F. & Pickrell, J.E. (1995). The formation of false memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25, 720-725. • Subjects recruited in pairs: UW student + parent or sibling. • Working with parent or sibling, the experimenters prepare a booklet containing 3 true events and 1 plausible fabricated event. • E.g., fabricated event = subject got lost in a shopping mall, crying, aid and comfort by an elderly woman and, finally, reunion with the family. Results of Loftus & Pickrell Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

7. Imagining Can Produce False Memories Loftus, E.F. & Pickrell, J.E. (1995). The formation of false memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25, 720-725. Fabricated event: Lost in a shopping mall at age 3. Procedure: • Subject reads the description of each event. • Subject asked to remember the event including details in the description. • Subject writes "I do not remember this" if they do not recall the event. • Subjects are repeatedly encouraged to "remember" the fabricated event. • Two follow up interviews: Subjects are asked questions about the event. • Cued recall, e.g., Who found you? What do you remember about the woman who found you? Results of Loftus & Pickrell Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

8. Result for Loftus & Pickrell (1995) • About 25% of subjects “remember” fabricated event after 2 sessions of trying to recall the event. • Conclusion: It is possible to convince people that fabricated childhood events did occur. • Notice analogy to therapist attempts to "recover" memories of childhood abuse. • Note that the anti-recovered memory advocates do not claim that everyone can be made to believe in false memories. They only claim that it can sometimes occur. Bass & Davis List Symptoms of Forgotten Abuse Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

9. Bass & Davis: Symptoms of Forgotten Abuse Bass, E., & Davis, L. (1988). The courage to heal: A guide for women survivors of child sexual abuse. New York: Perennial Library. (Currently in its 2008 4th edition.) Neither author has a degree or licensing as a psychologist, but they conduct therapy-like group sessions. Bass & Davis assert that affirmative answers to the following questions are suggestive of victims of abuse: Do you feel different from other people? ... Do you have trouble feeling motivated? ... Do you feel you have to be perfect? ... Do you have trouble expressing your feelings? ... Do you find that your relationships just don't work out? ... (p. 35). Quotations from "Courage to Heal" Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

10. Bass & Davis, (The Courage to Heal; 1988) • "If you are unable to remember any specific instances ... but still have a feeling that something abusive happened to you, it probably did ... If you think you were abused, and your life shows the symptoms, then you were." (p. 21). • "If you don't remember what happened to you, write about what you do remember. Re-create the context in which the abuse happened even if you don't remember the specifics of the abuse yet ... Often when women think they don't remember, they actually remember quite a lot." (p. 83). What is the Recipe for Creating False Traumatic Memories? Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

11. What Is the Recipe for Creating a False Autobiographical Memory? • Repeatedly retrieve a specific memory. • At each retrieval, encourage the subject to modify the memory in some way, i.e., ask leading questions or suggest abusive possibilities may have occurred. • Encourage the subject to imagine the context of the abuse and the occurrence of abuse. • Provide positive feedback whenever the subject makes a statement that suggests that abuse has occurred. • Remember: Memories are malleable at the time of retrieval. Are There Verifiable Examples of Recovered Memories? Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

12. Are There Verified Examples of Recovered Traumatic Memories? Schooler, J. W., Bendiksen, M., & Ambadar, Z. (1997). Taking the middle line: Can we accommodate both fabricated and recovered memories of sexual abuse? In M. A. Conway (Ed.), Recovered memories and false memories, (pp. 251-292). Ox­ford, England UK: Oxford University Press. What is needed to prove that a traumatic memory has been recovered? • Establish that the abuse actually occurred. • Establish that the abuse was forgotten for a substantial period of time. • Document the circumstances of the memory recovery. Public Cases of Recovered Memory Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

13. Examples of Recovered Traumatic Memories Schooler, J. W., Bendiksen, M., & Ambadar, Z. (1997). • Documenting cases of recovered traumatic memories • Establish that the abuse actually occurred. • Establish that the abuse was forgotten for a substantial period of time. • Document the circumstances of the memory recovery. • Public Cases: • RC felt great anguish when he learned that his nephew had joined a boys’ choir. • During subsequent days he began to remember being sexually abused at a choir camp by a former choir directory. • Communicated his story to reporters at U.S. News and World Report.Reporters found multiple other victims, both before and after the period of RC’s abuse. • Comment: Evidence doesn’t prove (1) that RC was abused; nor (2) that the abuse was completely forgotten; but Schooler et al. judge the story to be very likely to be true. Case: JR, 39 Year-Old Male Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

14. Examples of Recovered Traumatic Memories Schooler, J. W., Bendiksen, M., & Ambadar, Z. (1997). • Documenting cases of recovered traumatic memories • Establish that the abuse actually occurred. • Establish that the abuse was forgotten for a substantial period of time. • Document the circumstances of the memory recovery. • JR: 39 year-old male (referred to Schooler by a psychologist colleague) • At age 30, JR was watching a movie about a character who is struggling with memories of being sexually molested. JR becomes very emotionally agitated without knowing why. Hours later he begins to recall being sexually abused by a parish priest during a camping trip at age 12. JR: "I was stunned, I was somewhat confused you know, the memory was very vivid and yet ... I didn't know one word about repressed memory." • Over the next year JR remembers at least 10 other occasions of abuse that occurred over a period of several years. • Corroboration of abuse: (a) JR confronted the priest who admitted the abuse while trying to argue for mitigating circumstances; (b) several other men testified that the priest made sexual advances towards them; they had never forgotten these experiences. DN: 39 Year-Old Female, Nurse Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

15. Examples of Recovered Traumatic Memories Schooler, J. W., Bendiksen, M., & Ambadar, Z. (1997). • Documenting cases of recovered traumatic memories • Establish that the abuse actually occurred. • Establish that the abuse was forgotten for a substantial period of time. • Document the circumstances of the memory recovery. • DN, 41 year old female (DN introduced herself to Schooler at a colloquiem).DN was in group therapy for childhood sexual abuse which she had never forgotten. • Prompted by a discussion in her group therapy at age 35, she suddenly remembered being raped by a stranger at age 22. DN: "... all at once I remembered being a victim when I was like in my early twenties, when I was a nurse at a hospital. ... [it] freaked me out because I remembered that not only had I been a victim but I had to go to court and prosecute the person who had attacked me. And he had been found guilty. An yet I had forgotten all of that. " Continue With Details About DN Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

16. Examples of Recovered Traumatic Memories Schooler, J. W., Bendiksen, M., & Ambadar, Z. (1997). • Documenting cases of recovered traumatic memories • Establish that the abuse actually occurred. • Establish that the abuse was forgotten for a substantial period of time. • Document the circumstances of the memory recovery. • DN, 41 year old female (DN introduced herself to Schooler at a colloquiem).DN was in group therapy for childhood sexual abuse which she had never forgotten. • Prompted by a discussion in her group therapy at age 35, she suddenly remembered being raped by a stranger at age 22. • Proof of abuse: Corroborating memories of her lawyer at the time, and court records of the trial that lead the conviction of the rapist. • Proof of forgetting: (a) DN believes she remembered the rape during the two years following the rape; (b) DN believes she forgot the rape and trial some time after she started working at a different hospital; (c) when DN started therapy in her thirties, she had an initial interview about her history of abuse – she made no mention of the rape and trial. Summary re Schooler et al.’s Documentation of Recovered Memory Cases Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

17. Summary of Schooler et al.’s Attempt to DocumentCases of Recovered Memory • In almost all of Schooler et al’s examples, the memory was recovered without the “help” of a psychologist or therapist. • After the abuse, the victim may remember the abuse for several years before forgetting. • In many of Schooler et al.’s cases, ... • the evidence for the abuse is very strong; • the evidence for the period of forgetting is, in my opinion, also strong but it depends on believing that one or more people who were involved in the story are credible. • Is “forgetting” just ordinary forgetting? • Maybe, but many of these people report great shock, surprise, and incredulity at the time that the memory is first recovered. Conclusions re Recovered Memory Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

18. Conclusions Regarding Recovered Memories • There is reason to believe that recovery of true traumatic memories has sometimes occurred. • There is evidence that false memories can be created. • There is evidence that some therapists have unintentionally “helped” patients create false memories of traumatic events. • It remains unclear whether forgetting of traumatic events is due to a special mechanism (repression) or processes that produce ordinary forgetting. APA Recommendations re Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse - END Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14

19. APA Panel RecommendationsAPA = American Psychological Association Two-Handed Academic • The controversy over adult recollections should not obscure the fact that child sexual abuse is a complex and pervasive problem. • Most people who were sexually abused as children remember all or part of what happened to them. • It is possible for memories of abuse that have been forgotten for a long time to be remembered. • It is possible to construct convincing pseudomemories(false memories) for events that never occurred. END Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '14