A founding principle statement by the founder of Theophostic Prayer Ministry:
"What convinces me more than anything else of the reality of repressed memory is the people I see whose lives have been transformed through healing in the context of these same memories."
by Ed Smith,
Founder of Theophostic Prayer Ministry and author of
"What convinces me more than anything else of the reality of repressed memory is the people I see whose lives have been transformed through healing in the context of these same memories."
by Ed Smith,
Founder of Theophostic Prayer Ministry and author of
HEALING LIFE'S HURTS THROUGH THEOPHOSTIC PRAYER pg 142
This quote displays bizarrely errant reasoning based on a faulty assumption. The author is convinced of the reality of repressed memories by the"transformation and healing" of the client. What if the "memory" is factually false? What if the event recalled never happened? What if the "repressed memory" is created through fabrication, guided imagery, suggestion, confabulation, fantasy, source confusion (with horror film depictions or images painted in a book, etc.), medication, sleep deprivation, a peer pressured environment or hypnotic suggestion? Many factors such as those mentioned are well documented to "create" memories, of events that never occurred, intentionally or unintentionally.
None of the possible factors matter to the author because IF there is "healing" and "transformation" then the "memory" must be "true"? The fact that the event never occurred is not a considered plausible if there is healing. Using this reasoning truth can be "created" to explain how the client is not responsible for having a life in shambles through some misfortune or bad decision making. Freed of responsibility, and convinced that the "repressed memory" is true (even not true),the client can be now be fully transformed and healed? Is it possible that this is a form of self delusion promoted as "healing"?
Memory researchers have found that they can change eating preferences by "planting" memories (Loftus et al.). The diets of the participants in the study then changed to include more fruits and vegetables! It is well known, and replicated in studies, that false memories DO change behavior as if they actually happened!
Falsely accused innocents are not mentioned in the book. These new victims may be forced to live with destruction to their reputation, loss of career, may face charges and experience jail time. Many innocents have been quickly convicted in emotional trials and then imprisoned for decades. Others, not accused, live broken and shamed by the accusations against friend or family. Loving parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are arbitrarily "cut off" and shunned. These new victims do not matter to the author because the "repressed memory" must be true if the client believes them to be true. The client is "healed" and "transformed". The new victims, multiplied many times, are not even mentioned by the author. It appears that the Theophostic creator does not think that these newly created victims exist. Spreading tragedy, of course, is much easier when you are blind to it.
It is also very profitable.
Facts about Repressed Memories
It is important to note that there has never been a verified repressed memory recovered in over a hundred years since being speculated and then rejected by Sigmund Freud. Informed psychologists, counselors and mental health professionals have recognized that "repressed memory" is most likely a cultural myth (claimed in the west but not in other cultures). Researchers have uncovered claims of repressed memories to be false publicly and repeatedly despite attempts of the "recovered memory community" to suppress the findings. Experimental psychologists have never been able to create a "repressed memory" in controlled experiments despite years of efforts. Soldiers, in highly abusive and emotional events, are now known to have inaccurate memories when traumatized and are most often unable to identify perpetrators of violence correctly. This directly contradicts expectations that trauma enhances accuracy of memory details. The science that discounts repressed memory was recently replicated again when a large study in England found no case of a "repressed memory" in a long term study that tracked 200 abused children over 20 years. Thousands of living holocaust victims who survived concentration camps recalled activity at the camps for the courts following World War II and no repression was ever documented. Those freed from the camps always remembered the torment despite their wish to disassociate or repress. The science that debunks "repressed memories" has been replicated consistently.
Starting in the 1990's "repressed memories" resulted in repeated and large settlements for clients. The clients claimed "repressed memories", nurtured by counselors and therapists were often false. Families were destroyed, careers ended and thousands of innocent people imprisoned. The lawsuits challenged the assertion of "repressed memory truth". Beth Rutherford, with Christian counseling, accused her father of rape and forced abortions. Later she won a seven figure lawsuit after she retracted her accusations and was medically verified to still be a virgin. Many lawsuits and settlements followed and firms using "repressed memories" shut down and moved assets to protect them from seizure.
Criminally and civilly the use of "repressed memories" now weakens the case. In 2010 the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and (the Supreme Court upheld) overturned a prominent case that relied on "repressed memories". Any method for "recovering memories" that science and study deemed unreliable or unverifiable could no longer be admitted as evidence. In that decision not only was the case overturned but the court ordered ALL cases involving "repressed" and unreliable memory recovery techniques to be reviewed. Using "repressed memories" now causes the case to be thrown off the docket arbitrarily. If the case using "repressed memory" has been previously judged it now MUST be carefully reviewed and retried.
There are many recognized experts, who have studied and researched "repressed memories"and have shared their insights publicly. Here are a few of the most widely recognized experts:
Dr. Richard J. McNally is a Professor and Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University (world’s leading expert with 250 publications to his credit). In a 2005 letter to the California Supreme Court, Dr. McNally asserted: “The notion that traumatic events can be repressed and later recovered is the most pernicious bit of folklore ever to infect psychology and psychiatry. It has provided the theoretical basis for ‘recovered memory therapy’ — the worst catastrophe to befall the mental health field since the lobotomy era.”
Dr. Grant Devilly, from the Psychological Health research unit at Griffith University (an expert in trauma and memory) says that "Memories of terrifying experiences work in the opposite manner of repressed memory theory. People rather wish they could forget their traumatic experiences. It’s the opposite. They wish they couldn’t think about it,” says Devilly.
Dr. James McGaugh from the University of California, Irvine. His
expertise in the area of memory was once profiled on CBS’ 60 Minutes program. Dr. McGaugh said in a 2010 book, “I do not believe there’s such a thing as repressed memory. I haven’t seen a single instance in which a memory was completely repressed and popped up again." In a conversation he was quoted as saying “I go on science, not fads. And there’s absolutely no proof that it can happen. Zero. None. Niente. Nada. All my research says that strong emotional experiences leave emotionally strong memories. Being sexually molested would certainly qualify.”
Dr. Richard Ofshe, a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley who has extensively researched and written numerous books, articles and peer reviewed studies on the subject of "repressed memory" states "Recovered memory therapy will come to be recognized as the quackery of the 20th century."
Dr. Elizabeth Loftus (University of California Irvine) has done hundreds of peer reviewed memory studies over the last 30 years, is a highly recognized court expert in memory and author of numerous books and articles often cited in courts at the highest state and national levels and has won numerous awards for her courage and integrity. Dr. Loftus says "You can’t be raped for 10 years and not remember it. Yet, according to the repression aficionados, anything's possible."
The quotes above are gleaned from respected researchers who have done in excess of a thousand peer reviewed studies at accredited institutions. They are true experts.
I do wish to clarify. A “Repressed memory” is not an instance where an abused individual minimizes the awful harm being done by not confronting the perpetrator. This is an example of the typical actual abuse that is often revealed later. That abuse is, sadly, always remembered.
So how is this "myth" still harming? Many uninformed are sought out by competitors. There still remains money making books, training programs and texts assuming repressed memory to be true. The idea that we have repressed memories of such things as alien abductions, or past lives as eagles, or once being a roman soldier or having been brutally raped by a relative are still with us despite the science, the data or the law. Two factors feed this beast that destroys families: (1) there is still money to be made using the myth of "repressed memories" (2) false memories are so easily nurtured in so many different ways even without explicit intention.
The saddest thing is that the "healing" or "cure" means many new innocent victims.