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- LONDON (Reuters) - British
scientists say they have cast doubts on the prevalence of False Memory
Syndrome and the idea that recovered memories are often bogus ones induced
by therapists.
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- The theory that memories of events which never occurred
can be constructed by suggestion during therapy has been used successfully
as a defense by those accused of child abuse, to discredit children's testimony.
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- Researchers at University College London claim their
study of data from 236 adults with recovered memories shows many are of
true past events.
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- ``There is now consistent evidence that 'False Memory
Syndrome' cannot explain all, or even most, examples of recovered memories
of trauma,'' the British Psychological Society said in a statement.
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- ``There is increasing evidence that many recovered memories
cannot be explained by so-called False Memory Syndrome. To date there is
no convincing evidence for a specific False Memory Syndrome,'' Dr. Bernice
Andrews, who conducted the study, told Reuters.
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- ``What we've shown is that a substantial proportion of
these memories have been corroborated,'' she said in a telephone interview.
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- Contrary to common belief, she added, not all repressed
memories are about childhood sexual abuse. They can result from many types
of trauma and not all are recovered during therapy.
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- ``People often come into therapy because they have started
to remember things that have happened in the past. In our study around
a third of cases were people who came into therapy after recovering memories,''
said Andrews.
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- She and her colleagues interviewed 108 qualified therapists
about the 236 patients. They said the most common triggers for recovering
memories were events concerning patients' own children that they associated
with violence or fear that they felt themselves.
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- Less often books, videos and memory recovery techniques
were used to help patients recall the events.
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- ``Therapists in the majority of cases do not use aggressive,
suggestive techniques to get their clients to remember things. They (memories)
come up just as a matter of course during therapy and are often accompanied
by a lot of emotion as though the person is reliving the event in the present,''
Andrews explained.
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- The researchers said their study cannot prove that all
recovered memories are true.
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- ``You certainly can't explain all instances of people
recovering memories in therapy in terms of so-called False Memory Syndrome,''
Andrews added.
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