Editing False memory syndrome (section)

== Evidence for false memories ==
Human [[memory]] is created and highly [[Suggestion|suggestible]], and can create a wide variety of innocuous, embarrassing, and frightening memories through different techniques—including guided imagery, [[hypnosis]], and suggestion by others. Though not all individuals exposed to these techniques develop memories, experiments suggest a significant number of people do, and will actively defend the existence of the events, even if told they were false and deliberately implanted.{{citation needed |reason=which experiments? surely we can find secondary sources reviewing them?|date=September 2022}} Questions about the possibility of [[False memory|false memories]] created an explosion of interest in suggestibility of human memory and resulted in an enormous increase in the knowledge about how memories are [[encoding (memory)|encoded]], [[storage (memory)|stored]] and [[recall (memory)|recalled]], producing pioneering experiments such as the [[lost in the mall technique]].<ref>{{cite book | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=m8qMjPF1NYAC&pg=PA123 123–30] | last = Schacter | first = DL | title = The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers | publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-618-21919-3 | title-link = The Seven Sins of Memory }}</ref> In Roediger and McDermott's (1995) experiment, subjects were presented with a list of related items (such as candy, sugar, honey) to study. When asked to recall the list, participants were just as, if not more, likely to recall semantically related words (such as sweet) than items that were actually studied, thus creating false memories.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Roediger|first=Henry L.|author2=Kathleen B. McDermott|title=Creating False Memories: Remembering Words Not Presented in Lists|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition|date=July 1995|volume=21|issue=4|series=4|pages=803–14|doi=10.1037/0278-7393.21.4.803|citeseerx=10.1.1.495.353}}<!--|access-date=10 April 2011--></ref> This experiment, though widely replicated, remains controversial due to debate considering that people may store semantically related items from a word list [[concept]]ually rather than as [[language]], which could account for errors in recollection of [[words]] without the creation of false memories. [[Susan Clancy]] discovered that people claiming to have been victims of [[alien abduction]]s are more likely to recall semantically related words than a control group in such an experiment.<ref>{{cite news|title=Starship memories|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2002/10/starship-memories/|work=[[Harvard Gazette]]|date=October 31, 2002|access-date=2014-02-23}}</ref>

The [[lost in the mall technique]] is a research method designed to implant a false memory of being lost in a shopping mall as a child to test whether discussing a false event could produce a "memory" of an event that did not happen. In her initial study, [[Elizabeth Loftus]] found that 25% of subjects came to develop a "memory" for the event which had never actually taken place.<ref name = Wilson>{{cite news|url = http://williamcalvin.com/2002/OrangeCtyRegister.htm|title = War & remembrance: Controversy is a constant for memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus, newly installed at UCI|date = 2002-11-03|access-date = 2009-01-19|work = [[Orange County Register]]|last = Wilson|first = A }}</ref> Extensions and variations of the lost in the mall technique found that an average of one third of experimental subjects could become convinced that they experienced things in childhood that had never really occurred, even traumatic or impossible events.<ref name="chap 8 Do Justice">{{cite book | last = Strange | first = D |author2=Clifasefi S |author3=Garry M | year = 2007 | chapter = False memories |editor = Garry M |editor2=Hayne H|title = Do Justice and Let the Sky Fall: Elizabeth F. Loftus and Her Contributions to Science, Law, and Academic Freedom|pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=lVxZDB1fyqoC&pg=PA137 137–68] | isbn = 978-0-8058-5232-5 |location = Mahwah, NJ|publisher = Lawrence Erlbaum Associates }}</ref>

=== Sexual abuse cases ===
The question of the accuracy and dependability of a [[repressed memory]] that someone has later recalled has contributed to some investigations and court cases, including cases of alleged [[sexual abuse]] or [[child sexual abuse]] (CSA).<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.religioustolerance.org/rmt_reli.htm | title = Are Recovered Memories Reliable? | publisher = Religioustolerance.org | access-date = 2010-12-12 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604000440/http://www.religioustolerance.org/rmt_reli.htm |archive-date = 2011-06-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/loftus.htm | author = Colleen Born | title = Elizabeth Loftus | publisher = Muskingum.edu | access-date = 2010-12-12 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110108060632/http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/loftus.htm | archive-date = 2011-01-08 }}</ref>{{failed verification |reason = this is just an old copy of a uni profile page for loftus, not a suitable source for the claim|date=June 2023}}<ref>{{cite web| url = https://blogs.brown.edu/recoveredmemory/ | title = Recovered Memory Project: Case Archive, Commentary, and Scholarly Resources | publisher = Brown.edu | date = 1993-05-03 | access-date = 2010-12-12 }}</ref>  The research of Elizabeth Loftus has been used to counter claims of recovered memory in court<ref name = Wilson /> and it has resulted in stricter requirements for the use of recovered memories being used in trials, as well as a greater requirement for [[corroborating evidence]].  In addition, some U.S. states no longer allow prosecution based on recovered memory testimony.{{citation needed | reason=which states?|date=June 2023}} Insurance companies have become reluctant to insure therapists against malpractice suits relating to recovered memories.<ref name = Wilson /><ref name=Neimark>Neimark, J. (1996). The diva of disclosure, memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus. Psychology Today, 29, 48–53, 80.</ref><ref name=Saletan/>{{failed verification |reason = article never mentions anything about therapists' insurance|date=June 2023}}

Supporters of recovered memories argue that there is "overwhelming evidence that the mind is capable of repressing traumatic memories of child sexual abuse."<ref>{{Cite news| last = Murphy | first = W. | title = Debunking 'false memory'myths in sexual abuse cases | url = http://www.smith-lawfirm.com/Murphy_Memory_Article.html | access-date = 2008-01-10 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080107073650/http://www.smith-lawfirm.com/Murphy_Memory_Article.html |archive-date = 2008-01-07 }}</ref>{{failed verification |reason=this quotation is nowhere in the article, seems to combine bits from totally different sections|date=June 2023}} Whitfield states that the "false memory" defense is "seemingly sophisticated, but mostly contrived and often erroneous." He states that this defense has been created by "accused, convicted and self-confessed child molesters and their advocates" to try to "negate their abusive, criminal behavior."<ref>{{cite journal | last = Whitfield | first = C. |date=March 2002 | title = The "False Memory" Defense Using Disinformation and Junk Science In and Out of Court | journal = Journal of Child Sexual Abuse | volume = 9 | issue = 3/4 | pages = 53–78 | url = http://www.haworthpress.com/store/ArticleAbstract.asp?sid=2LCRMC1PM7DN8N8PNL9M1A42WE7UFG4B&ID=7048 | access-date = 2008-01-11  | doi = 10.1300/J070v09n03_04 | s2cid = 24310658 | url-access = subscription }}</ref> Brown states that when pro-false memory expert witnesses and attorneys state there is no causal connection between CSA and adult psychopathology, that CSA doesn't cause specific trauma-related problems like borderline and dissociative identity disorder, that other variables than CSA can explain the variance of adult psychopathology and that the long-term effects of CSA are non-specific and general, that this testimony is inaccurate and has the potential of misleading juries.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Brown | first = D. | year = 2001 | title = (Mis)representation of the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse in the Courts | journal =  Journal of Child Sexual Abuse | volume = 9 | issue = 3/4 | pages = 79–107 | url = http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ672709&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ672709 | access-date = 2008-01-28  | doi = 10.1300/J070v09n03_05 |pmid=17521992 | s2cid = 20874393 | url-access = subscription }}</ref>

=== Malpractice cases ===
During the late 1990s, there were multiple lawsuits in the United States in which psychiatrists and psychologists were successfully sued, or settled out of court, on the charge of propagating [[iatrogenic]] memories of [[childhood sexual abuse]], [[incest]], and [[satanic ritual abuse]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/dissociative-identity-disorder/recovered-memory-lawsuit-sparks-litigation | title = Recovered Memory Lawsuit Sparks Litigation | publisher = Psychiatrictimes.com | access-date = 2010-12-12 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180507091240/https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/dissociative-identity-disorder/recovered-memory-lawsuit-sparks-litigation |archive-date = 2018-05-07}}</ref>

Some of these suits were brought by individuals who later declared that their [[recovered memories]] of incest or satanic ritual abuse had been false. The [[False Memory Syndrome Foundation]] uses the term ''retractors'' to describe these individuals, and has shared their stories publicly.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Macdonald |first1=Gail |title=Making of an Illness: My Experience With Multiple Personality Disorder |access-date=31 July 2013 |year=1999 |publisher=Laurentian University Press |location=Sudbury, Ontario  |isbn=978-0-88667-045-0  |chapter=Women Against Women |page=111 |chapter-url= http://www.stopbadtherapy.com/retracts/macdonald.shtml }}</ref> There is debate regarding the total number of retractions as compared to the total number of allegations,<ref name="Whitfield1995">{{cite book | last = Whitfield M.D. | first = Charles L. | title = Memory and Abuse&nbsp;– Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma | publisher = Health Communications, Inc | year = 1995 |location=Deerfield Beach, FL | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=z1LW3u1e04YC&pg=PA83 83] | isbn = 978-1-55874-320-5 }}</ref> and the reasons for retractions.<ref name="Summit">{{cite journal | last = Summit | first = R. | year = 1983 | title = The child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome | journal = Child Abuse & Neglect | volume = 7 | issue = 2 | pages = 177–93  | doi =  10.1016/0145-2134(83)90070-4 | pmid=6605796}}</ref>

==== Injuries resulting from malpractice ====
Sexual abuse of children and adolescents can lead to severe negative consequences. Child sexual abuse is a risk factor for many classes of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, affective disorders, dissociative disorders and personality disorders.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fmsfonline.org/?ginterest=ProfessionalStatements|title=False Memory Syndrome Foundation|website=www.fmsfonline.org|language=en|access-date=2018-11-20}}</ref>{{failed verification |reason = links to a list of proffessional org statements, unclear how it has anything to do with preceding sentence|date=June 2023}} Failure to meet recognized medical standards by psychiatrists causes injury to patients and the accused. Ramona v. Isabella was a prominent case of malpractice in 1994. A California jury awarded $500,000 to Gary Ramona, whose daughter Holly had falsely accused him of sexual abuse as a child, based on false memories retrieved by therapists during treatment for bulimia. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Burton Bach dismissed Holly Ramona's civil case against her father, holding that the outcome of her father's malpractice suit had resolved the issue of whether any abuse took place. The Washington Post titled the article ''Sex Abuse Suit Dismissed in False-Memory Case'' on December 14, 1994.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|title=The Clinical Corner: Third-Party Liability in Repressed Memory Cases: Recent Legal Developments|last1=Mertz|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Bowman|first2=Cynthia|date=1998|doi = 10.1037/e300392004-003}}</ref> There were numerous cases brought to trial in the 1990s. Most included combinations of the misuse of hypnosis, guided imagery, [[sodium amytal]], and anti-depressants.

The term "false memory syndrome" describes the phenomenon in which a mental therapy patient "remembers" an event such as childhood sexual abuse, that never occurred.<ref name=":0" /> The link between certain therapy practices and the development of psychological disorders such as [[dissociative identity disorder]] comes from malpractice suits and state licensure actions against therapists. These cases demonstrate the ease with which an individual can be led to exhibit dissociative symptoms, especially when hypnosis, sodium amytal, strong medications, or readings involving traumatic imagery magnify the effect of therapist suggestions or expectations.{{Medical citation needed|date=December 2018}} These cases also show that once the symptoms become established, the standard treatment modality often leads to a deterioration of the mental and emotional well-being of the patient.{{Medical citation needed|date=December 2018}}