Reports of recovered memories of childhood abuse in therapy in France

Abstract

Recovered memories of abuse in therapy are especially controversial if the clients were not aware they were abused before therapy. In the past, such memory recovery has led to legal action, as well as a debate about whether such memories might be repressed, forgotten, or false memories. More than two decades after the height of the controversy, it is unclear to what degree such memories are still recovered today, and to what extent it occurs in France.In our French survey of 1312 participants (M age = 33; 53% female), 551 reported having done therapy at some point. Of that 551, 33 (6%) indicated they had recovered memories of abuse in therapy that they did not know about before therapy. Sexual abuse was the most commonly reported type that was recovered in therapy (79%). As in past research, discussing the possibility of repressed memories with therapists was associated with reports of recovered memories of abuse. Surprisingly, memory recovery occurred just as much in behavioural and cognitive therapies as it did in therapies focused on trauma. We found recovered memories in a proportion of clients who began therapy recently. Recovered memories in therapy appears to be an ongoing concern in France.

Recovered memories of child abuse outside of therapy

“…In keeping with previous research in France, a majority of those reported recovered memories were of sexual abuse (Dodier, Patihis et al, 2019). Also consistent with past research in both the U.S. and…”

“…In other words, the rate of reported recovered memories might be overestimated due to difficulties in accurately self-assessing in retrospect whether there was a period of time when they could not remember. To address this limit, Dodier, Patihis et al (2019) and Patihis and Pendergrast (2019) asked specifically about recovered memories of child abuse that were unknown to the person before their recall in therapy. In Briere and Conte (1993) Epstein & Bottoms, 2002, who found that 53% of the participants who reported forgetting abuse memories endorsed this explanation).…”

Teaching psychology students to change (or correct) controversial beliefs about memory works

“…The current omission in psychology curricula to educate students about repressed memory has important implications for educational policy: psychology students in general, but certainly those who might become therapists later on in their careers, should be educated about the current state of knowledge about repressed memories and ideally at multiple stages during their psychology studies. Such education can help prevent victimisation of both patients and those wrongfully accused of abuse as a result of recovering repressed memories in therapy (e.g., Dodier et al, 2019;Loftus, 2005;Loftus & Davis, 2006;McNally, 2005;Patihis & Pendergrast, 2019). To ensure the long-term effectiveness of such interventions, it is important to take into account rebound effects, the phenomenon that people initially adapt to the new information, but later fall back to their initial views (Thorson, 2016;Walter & Tukachinsky, 2020).…”

“…This is problematic, because believing in the existence of repressed memories can motivate therapists to engage in suggestive techniques in a well-meant attempt to recover such memories in their patients (cf. Dodier et al, 2019;Patihis & Pendergrast, 2019). Recovering memories of criminal acts that never occurred has serious real life consequences for the accused and their family members.…”

Tilting at Windmills: Why Attacks on Repression Are Misguided

“…of their clients (Dodier et al, 2019;Patihis & Pendergrast, 2019). The data, including those produced by skeptics themselves, show that recovered memories of traumatic events continue to be observed inside and outside clinical settings and involve a variety of events, and occur in a variety of different contexts.…”