Editing Repressed memory (section)

=== Case studies ===
Psychiatrist [[David Corwin]] has claimed that one of his cases provides evidence for the reality of repressed memories. This case involved a patient (the [[Jane Doe case]]) who, according to Corwin, had been seriously abused by her mother, had recalled the abuse at age six during therapy with Corwin, then eleven years later was unable to recall the abuse before memories of the abuse returned to her mind again during therapy.<ref name="RecalledCSA">{{cite journal | vauthors = Corwin D, Olafson E |year=1997 |title=Videotaped Discovery of a Reportedly Unrecallable Memory of Child Sexual Abuse: Comparison with a Childhood Interview Videotaped 11 Years Before |journal=[[Child Maltreatment (journal)|Child Maltreatment]] |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=91–112 | doi= 10.1177/1077559597002002001 |s2cid=143444117 }}</ref> An investigation of the case by [[Elizabeth Loftus]] and Melvin Guyer, however, raised serious questions about many of the central details of the case as reported by Corwin, including whether or not Jane Doe was abused by her mother at all, suggesting that this may be a case of false memory for childhood abuse with the memory "created" during suggestive therapy at the time that Doe was six. Loftus and Guyer also found evidence that, following her initial "recall" of the abuse during therapy at age six, Doe had talked about the abuse during the eleven years in between the sessions of therapy, indicating that even if abuse had really occurred, memory for the abuse had not been repressed.<ref>{{cite journal | journal = [[Skeptical Inquirer]] | title = Who Abused Jane Doe? The Hazards of the Single Case History Part 1 | year = 2002 | vauthors = Loftus EF, Guyer MJ |author-link1 = Elizabeth Loftus | url = http://www.csicop.org/si/show/who_abused_jane_doe_the_hazards_of_the_single_case_history_part_1/ | volume = 26 | issue = 3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | journal = [[Skeptical Inquirer]] | title = Who Abused Jane Doe? The Hazards of the Single Case History Part 2 | year = 2002 | vauthors = Loftus EF, Guyer MJ |author-link1 =Elizabeth Loftus | url = http://www.csicop.org/si/show/who_abused_jane_doe_the_hazards_of_the_single_case_history_part_2/ | volume = 26 | issue = 4 }}</ref> More generally, in addition to the problem of false memories, this case highlights the critical dependence of repression-claims cases on the ability of individuals to recall whether or not they had previously been able to recall a traumatic event; as McNally has noted, people are notoriously poor at making that kind of judgment.<ref name="pmid17803876" />

An argument that has been made against the validity of the phenomenon of repressed memories is that there is little (if any) discussion in the historical literature prior to the 19th century of phenomena that would qualify as examples of memory repression or dissociative amnesia.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Pope HG, Poliakoff MB, Parker MP, Boynes M, Hudson JI | title = Is dissociative amnesia a culture-bound syndrome? Findings from a survey of historical literature | journal = Psychological Medicine | volume = 37 | issue = 2 | pages = 225–33 | date = February 2007 | pmid = 17156503 | doi = 10.1017/S0033291706009500 | s2cid = 27520532 }}</ref> In response to [[Harrison Pope]]'s 2006 claim that no such examples exist, [[Ross E. Cheit|Ross Cheit]], a political scientist at [[Brown University]], cited the case of [[Nina (Dalayrac)|Nina]], a 1786 opera by the French composer [[Nicolas Dalayrac]], in which the heroine, having forgotten that she saw her lover apparently killed in a duel, waits for him daily.<ref name="brown1">{{cite web | last = Baum | first = Deborah | name-list-style = vanc | date = July 7, 2009 | url = https://news.brown.edu/articles/2009/07/memory | title = Brown Professor Continues Debate Over Recovered Memory | work = Brown University News }}</ref> Pope claims that even this single fictional description does not clearly meet all criteria for evidence of memory repression, as opposed to other phenomena of normal memory.<ref name="Pope2">{{cite journal |last1=Pope |first1=Harrison |last2=Poliakoff |first2=Michael |last3=Parker |first3=Michael |last4=Boynes |first4=Matthew |last5=Hudson |first5=James | name-list-style = vanc |title=Response to R. E. Goldsmith, R. E. Cheit, & M. E. Wood, "Evidence of Dissociative Amnesia in Science and Literature: Culture-Bound Approaches to Trauma in Pope et al. (2007) |journal=Journal of Trauma & Dissociation |date=2009 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=254–207 |doi=10.1080/15299730902956754|s2cid=144668245 }}</ref>

Despite the claims by proponents of the reality of memory repression that any evidence of the forgetting of a seemingly traumatic event qualifies as evidence of repression, research indicates that memories of [[child sexual abuse]] and other traumatic incidents may sometimes be forgotten through normal mechanisms of memory.<ref name="Mcnally1">{{cite journal | vauthors = McNally RJ, Geraerts E | title = A New Solution to the Recovered Memory Debate | journal = Perspectives on Psychological Science | volume = 4 | issue = 2 | pages = 126–34 | date = March 2009 | pmid = 26158939 | doi = 10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01112.x | s2cid = 16462600 }}</ref><ref name=JournalClinPsy>{{cite journal | vauthors = Williams LM | title = Recall of childhood trauma: a prospective study of women's memories of child sexual abuse | journal = Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology | volume = 62 | issue = 6 | pages = 1167–76 | date = December 1994 | pmid = 7860814 | doi = 10.1037/0022-006X.62.6.1167 }}</ref> Evidence of the spontaneous recovery of [[traumatic memories]] has been shown,<ref name="chu">{{cite journal | vauthors = Chu JA, Frey LM, Ganzel BL, Matthews JA | title = Memories of childhood abuse: dissociation, amnesia, and corroboration | journal = The American Journal of Psychiatry | volume = 156 | issue = 5 | pages = 749–55 | date = May 1999 | pmid = 10327909 | doi = 10.1176/ajp.156.5.749 | s2cid = 24262943 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Duggal S, Sroufe LA | title = Recovered memory of childhood sexual trauma: a documented case from a longitudinal study | journal = Journal of Traumatic Stress | volume = 11 | issue = 2 | pages = 301–21 | date = April 1998 | pmid = 9565917 | doi = 10.1023/A:1024403220769 | s2cid = 38808998 }}</ref><ref name=Freyd>{{cite book |last= Freyd |first= Jennifer J. | name-list-style = vanc |title= Betrayal Trauma – The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse |year= 1996 |publisher= Harvard University Press |location= Cambridge, MA |isbn= 978-0-674-06805-6 }}</ref> and recovered memories of traumatic childhood abuse have been corroborated;<ref name=Skeptics>{{cite journal |last= Cheit |first= Ross E. | name-list-style = vanc |year= 1998 |title= Consider This, Skeptics of Recovered Memory |journal= Ethics & Behavior|volume= 8 |issue= 2 |pages= 141–160 |doi= 10.1207/s15327019eb0802_4 }}</ref> however, forgetting trauma does not necessarily imply that the trauma was repressed.<ref name="Mcnally1" /> One situation in which the seeming forgetting, and later recovery, of a "traumatic" experience is particularly likely to occur is when the experience was not interpreted as traumatic when it first occurred, but then, later in life, was reinterpreted as an instance of early trauma.<ref name="Mcnally1" />

A review by [[Alan Sheflin]] and Daniel Brown in 1996 found 25 previous studies of the subject of amnesia of childhood sexual abuse. All 25 "demonstrated amnesia in a subpopulation", including more recent studies with random sampling and prospective designs.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Alan W. Sheflin, Daniel Brown |year=1996 | title = Repressed memory or dissociative amnesia: what the science says | journal = J Psychiat Law | volume = 24 | issue = 2 | pages = 143–88| doi = 10.1177/009318539602400203|s2cid=149648250 }}</ref> On the other hand, in a 1998 editorial in the ''[[British Medical Journal]]'' [[Harrison Pope]] wrote that "on critical examination, the scientific evidence for repression crumbles." He continued, "asking individuals if they 'remember whether they forgot' is of dubious validity. Furthermore, in most retrospective studies corroboration of the traumatic event was either absent or fell below reasonable scientific standards."<ref>{{cite journal | author = [[Harrison Pope]] | title = Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse | journal = BMJ | volume = 316 | issue = 7130 | pages = 488–9 | date = February 1998 | pmid = 9501699 | pmc = 2665644 | doi = 10.1136/bmj.316.7130.488}}</ref>

A meta-analysis was conducted by McNally in 2005 to disprove misconceptions about repression, trauma, and memory. The analysis found that a significant misunderstanding with repression is that many individuals who have experienced abuse or a traumatic event often fail to recall these events because they don't recognize the events as traumatic or as an instance of abuse. This issue could arise for several reasons, one being a lack of understanding of what abuse entails, particularly in cases where the individual is a child. Because many of these traumatic events occur during childhood, the victim may not have the emotional or cognitive development to process the event as abuse or trauma. In some cases, the person may not have the language or tools to understand that their experience was harmful. Consequently, the individual may not recognize the event as something to be distressed about at the time. This lack of recognition does not mean the event did not occur, but rather that the victim may not realize the event was abuse until later in life. As they mature and gain a better understanding of abusive characteristics or trauma, victims may eventually come to the realization that their past experience was indeed abuse, prompting them to come forward years later to speak out. <ref>McNally R.J. (2005). Debunking Myths about Trauma and Memory. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 50(13). https://doi.org/10.1177/070674370505001302</ref><ref>Clancy SA, McNally RJ. Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse:
forgetting as a consequence of voluntary suppression. Scientific Review of
Mental Health Practice. Forthcoming.</ref><ref>McNally RJ, Perlman CA, Ristuccia CS, Clancy SA. Clinical characteristics of
adults reporting repressed, recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. J Consult Clin Psychol. Forthcoming.</ref>

Furthermore, research done by Deferme et al. (2024) on repressed memories emphasized that another reason individuals who experience abuse or a traumatic event don't report their recollections of abuse is due to social stigma. According to Deferme et al. (2024), victims of abuse seldom forget their recollections of a traumatic event completely and they often delay telling others about the event due to shame or fear. They may fear the stigma of being a victim of abuse, whose reports are often denied or criticized, especially if they are accusing a high profile individual. Victims of abuse may also avoid coming forward due to threats from their abuser. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Deferme |first=Driek |last2=Otgaar |first2=Henry |last3=Dodier |first3=Olivier |last4=Körner |first4=André |last5=Mangiulli |first5=Ivan |last6=Merckelbach |first6=Harald |last7=Sauerland |first7=Melanie |last8=Panzavolta |first8=Michele |last9=Loftus |first9=Elizabeth F. |date=October 2024 |title=Repressed Memories (of Sexual Abuse Against Minors) and Statutes of Limitations in Europe: Status Quo and Possible Alternatives |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tops.12715 |journal=Topics in Cognitive Science |language=en |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=630–643 |doi=10.1111/tops.12715 |issn=1756-8757|hdl=11586/472963 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>