Van Til describes his horrid tale first. His daughter takes radical feminist classes at college and begins therapy and recovers "memories" of incest by Van Til. During this same period of time the mother, in the process of finding herself divergent from her husband, divorces him and believes the daughter. Then then another daughter and a son, after being helped to "recover memories" by this sister comes up with stories of abuse as well. After a year and a half and more "recovery" the children then accuse the Mom. The Mom now decides she no longer believes her daughter. The mother, once fully in the camp that "all repressed memories are real" can't bring herself to renounce what she once defended and supported. Van Til, to his credit, clearly sees who the villains are and never focuses on the intent of his daughter, son or even his wife. His wife and his son come to recognize what happened and eventually resume communication with him. The ex-wife comes home from vacation, at one point, to find her home emptied of pictures and mementos of her daughters. The daughters entered the home and took them while she was gone. This appeared to confirm for the wife and son that "things are not right" with the daughters. Van Til recognizes early on the therapeutic money making industry that encourages and empowers accusation and hysteria. He follows up his personal story with the other stories well.
In our family the accusations and techniques were similar but things diverged from Van Til's experience quickly. His daughter was able to gain the sympathy and then, with "counseling" and "recovered memories", supporting accusations from the accuser's sister and brother were generated. These accusations initially had the support of a divorcing mother. In our family all were aware that the many accusations could not be real and that her efforts to recruit sympathy and accusers from all five of the siblings failed. Then my adult child attempted to seek additional accusers from my younger sister and her children. These efforts also failed to produce any collaborating accusations. Everyone who failed to take part in "accusing" was "cut off". I realize now (after reading many of these "recovered memory" stories) how lucky I was to have many around me loved one's who were stable and mature enough to endure and cling to the truth in spite of the pressure from that adult child. The entire nuclear family, after refusing to join in the accusations were "cut off". A sister and a brother were then accused (initially) when they did not "join in" the accusations. Finally my wife and I had a relationship that allowed us to quickly recognize the incredulity of the accusations. While both of us knew that we had imperfections as parents we were BOTH certain that the accusations made were not factually true.
While our experience was shocking it was nothing like what I read of Van Til's experience. I admire greatly his ability to retain his emotional sanity and clarity of intellect. His composure and focus speak volumes about his character. I came to admire him as a person greatly no matter the socio-political differences we might have.
While our experience was shocking it was nothing like what I read of Van Til's experience. I admire greatly his ability to retain his emotional sanity and clarity of intellect. His composure and focus speak volumes about his character. I came to admire him as a person greatly no matter the socio-political differences we might have.
Van Till recognizes (pg xi) the impact of a Catholic cleric that was caught up in the "childhood sexual abuse hysteria":
"Most often an incident serves as a catalyst. Historians will certainly record such a moment in the case of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernadin. He was subjected to horrific embarrassment, predispositions to find him guilty, attacks by victims rights groups, analysis by therapists, and exposure by the media in a certainly groundless case. His forgiving and confessing and repentant maker-up-of-stories exemplified the nobility in a trashy culture and serves as a model."
I particularly think the book does a very good job at explaining the reversal Sigmund Freud had with childhood fantasies which he initially thought were actual memories (pages 30-32.) Later Dr. Freud came to realize that many, if not all of the recollections related during his early therapy sessions were not memories at all. In fact his reversal took months (not years as I had previously assumed) and Freud himself concludes that his reversal of his initial belief in these recollections was critical to the future successes that he had with his therapies
The book also details the insurance money that fueled the accusations (pg 265). Therapists with patients who were insured were SIGNIFICANTLY more likely to identify patients as having disorders associated with accusations of child sexual abuse. While the text does not develop this theme fully it is quite compatible with the stories of retractors (in other texts on the same subject) who come to realize that the memories were not "right" after the "insurance money ran out" and the accusers ceased therapy.
The author categorizes the famous Salem witch hunts, 1950's commie hunters and repressed memory accusations of childhood sexual abuse as all in the same category. There is a huge difference though. The state of Massachusetts only took 5 years to realize the injustice of "witch hunting" and it was stopped. The "communist hunting frenzy" was isolated to the 1950's and was completely over by 1959 and accusations on the floor of the senate was ceased by all political parties since (both Democrats and Republicans have accusations on record). In contrast the laws, the policies, the "self help therapy books" and the minority of uninformed professionals and well meaning friends continue to cling to "Recovered Memory Therapy" approaches 2 decades after overwhelming data has discredited the approach is shocking to those who are informed. The parallels are drawn but the end game is very different. This "national frenzy" still lingers and still does significant and lasting damage while witch and commie hunting have long died out. Even with parallels to national frenzies are not accurately depicted the book is incredibly rich in stories, facts and details about "repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse". This is a must read for those who have a hazy understanding of the issues and just know that "something is wrong with some of these memories" by a family member who seems to be making incredible accusations 20 or 30 years later.
The author points out that the "Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act" (CAPTA) of 1974 that required persons, teachers, clergy and social workers to report evidence of child abuse also granted such persons blanket immunity from any kind of legal action should they be wrong. Policies of medical insurance companies who allied their payment practices with diagnoses made from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders then added more fuel to the raging victim hood fire. Since CAPTA the instance of "mental disorders" has grown exponentially. Therapists can find out if a client has insurance, find a disorder in the manual, and then treat that disorder as long as possible. Due to CAPTA the therapist assumes immunity from those hurt by the false charges. In the long run (since this book was written) the courts have eroded this view of CAPTA.
The author states, "While there is virtually no support for the existence of massive repression outside the RMT [Recovered Memory Therapy] community...some RMT proponents further claim that as many as 70 percent of those who have been abused have no conscious awareness of their childhood abuse." (Pg. 24)
He observes, "We have seen how proponents of RMT (Recovered Memory Therapy) identify large numbers of people as possible victims of childhood abuse by drawing up long lists of symptoms that effectively apply to just about everyone in our culture. We have seen how RMT therapists have a tendency to confirm their initial diagnosis by misusing established therapeutic techniques and misinterpreting their results. The question remains, though, how they manage to be so effective in convincing clients that they were abused as children... There is no single explanation for this phenomenon, but one factor that is clearly important is the power of suggestion, to which we are all susceptible." (Pg. 43)
He notes near the conclusion, "I believe it is possible for clients and therapists to engage in RMT in the sincere belief that they are doing the right thing. That is one sort of tragedy. But there is also evidence of another sort of tragedy, evidence that some therapists are cynically taking advantage of vulnerable clients for profit." (Pg. 263)
I especially took heart from the sharing by a "retractor". A retractor is a person of rare courage who admits to providing false accusations (pg 218):
"Coming to this realization did not herald my immediate and joyous return to the bosom of my family. I was humiliated by what I had seen of myself. Thoroughly sickened, I anticipated compete rejection by everyone: husband, daughter, mother, friends, therapists, I prepared myself as best I could to hear the words I was certain I'd hear- "You're not worth it, Stay away from us." One at a time, over the course of a couple of months, I told my family members, friends and therapists the truth: I was not an incest survivor. Every person I told was a new ordeal as I resigned myself to the contempt I expected from each. I was astounded when no one responded with the expected contempt. Instead, I was welcomed with such an outpouring of love and support that the self-disgust I felt began to fade, and I began to grow once again."
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*** WARNING ***
If you are seeking help for personal struggles and a therapist, counselor or friend says that "recovering childhood memories can help you get better" then IMMEDIATELY get up from your chair (or off the couch), run to the door, open it and flee. Hundreds of thousands have lost families, years of productive living and squandered immense wealth with tragedy inducing therapy that produces horrid false memories, splinters families, isolates the client and is documented to cause decline in mental health.
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This is an effort to Break the Cycle of Shame
and Save Others from Similar Tragedy!
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