True and False Child Sexual Abuse Memories

"True" and "False" Child Sexual Abuse Memories and Casey's Phenomenological View of Remembering - Joanne M. Hall, Lori L. Kondora - American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 48, No. 10, 1339-1359 (2005) DOI: 10.1177/0002764205277012

This analysis provides a historical context for the debate about "true" and "false" childhood sexual abuse memories; discusses selected literature about conventional understandings of memory and their relevance to this debate; presents an integrative, phenomenological approach to memory in the recovery and rehabilitation of women child sexual abuse survivors; and uses the insights gained to draw conclusions about the authenticity of delayed childhood sexual abuse memories. Edward Casey's phenomenological concepts of reminding, reminiscing, recognition, body memory, place memory, and commemoration are used to illuminate the complexity of traumatic memories and recovery and rehabilitation needs of the survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
http://abs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/48/10/1339

Article excerpts: The notion of false accusation is often raised in cases where physical evidence is not available and a period of time has passed or when there has been a delay in recall of the events by a survivor of child sexual abuse. This is not to imply that false memories are not possible. This article outlines how rare they must be, however, based on historical factors and a phenomenological analysis of memory itself....During periods of increased visibility of sexual abuse of children, society tends to deny it because its existence fractures cultural values about family (Summit, 1988). From a historical perspective, the current controversy about the truth or falsehood of childhood sexual abuse memories is one in a series of societal repudiations of the existence and extent of childhood sexual abuse, especially incest (Herman, 1992; Olafson, Corwin, & Summit, 1993; van der Kolk et al., 1996).

In the majority of publicized discussions of false memory syndrome, it is the delayed memories of women that are being challenged, suggesting that at the heart of this controversy, there are also gender conflicts. Specifically, this controversy reinforces an image of women as not to be trusted or believed....Most scientists investigating traumatic memory doubt that memories of abuse could be planted. In fact, childhood sexual abuse survivors would rather not believe that they had been so betrayed and violated by a trusted adult. Recent research shows many false negatives and few false positives in terms of memories of abuse (Hardt & Rutter, 2004). Furthermore, caregivers who work closely with traumatized individuals battle the temptation to suppress survivors' stories of abuse because such material tends to exhaust their own sense of efficacy, creativity, and hope (Herman, 1992).

Research shows that 64% of adult women childhood sexual abuse survivors had some degree of amnesia regarding the trauma; but in the majority of cases, corroboration was available to verify that abuse had occurred (Herman & Schatzow, 1987). Of 129 women with recorded histories of childhood sexual abuse, 38% did not recall the abuse that had been clearly verified and documented decades earlier. This lack of recall was especially likely among those abused at younger ages and among those whose perpetrators were known by them at the time of the abuse (L.Williams, 1994). In fact, a body of empirical evidence indicates that it is common for abused children to reach adulthood without conscious awareness of the trauma (Briere, 1992; Herman, 1992; Schetky, 1990; van der Kolk et al., 1996). http://abs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/48/10/1339?ijkey=ciZjJlFifgYIY&keytype=ref&siteid=spabs