ritual abuse, incest and trauma articles

Why Cults Terrorize and Kill Children
LLOYD DEMAUSE
The Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4) 1994
describes graphic crimes of abuse
* Introduction
* What Cults Do To Children
* The Meaning Of The Cult Abuse Ritual
* War As A Cultic Rebirth Ritual
"Cult abuse is increasing, only that-as with the increase in all childabuse reports-we have become more open to hearing them. But it seemed unlikely that the surge of cult memories could all be made up by patients or implanted by therapists. Therapists are a timid group at best, and the notion that they suddenly begin implanting false memories in tens of thousands of their clients for no apparent reason strained credulity. Certainly no one has presented a shred of evidence for massive “false memory” implantations."

http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/why-cults-terrorize-and-kill-children-lloyd-demause-the-journal-of-psychohistory/

The Dark Tunnels of McMartin
Dr. Roland C. Summit
Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4) Spring 1994
The opportunity came in April, 1990 with permission from the new owner of the preschool to search for the tunnels before he demolished the building and redeveloped the property. These soiled but solid citizens managed to find what the district attorney had disclaimed: solid, scientific evidence that someone had not only dug tunnels under the preschool, but also had taken the trouble to try to undo them. The results of this definitive excavation are described in meticulous detail in the 185 page Report of the Archaeological Excavation of the McMartin Preschool Site by E. Gary Stickel, Ph.D., the UCLA archaeologist commissioned to do the study....Dr. Stickel's report (p.95) concludes: There is no other scenario that fits all of the facts except that the feature was indeed a tunnel. The date of the construction and use of the tunnel was not absolutely established, but an assessment of seven factors of data all indicate that it was probably constructed, used and completely filled back in after 1966 (the construction date of the preschool). This age assessment has also been corroborated by the consulting Geologist for the project, Dr. Don Michael
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/the-dark-tunnels-of-mcmartin-dr-roland-c-summit-journal-of-psychohistory/

Common Programs Observed in Survivors of Satanic Ritualistic Abuse
describes crimes of abuse and programming techniques
David W. Neswald, M.A. M.F.C.C. in collaboration with Catherine Gould, Ph.D. and Vicki Graham-Costain, Ph.D. The California Therapist, Sept./Oct. 1991, 47-50
Increasingly, cases of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) and Satanic Ritualistic Abuse (SRA) are being reported in the psychotherapeutic community. Though controversy concerning authenticity remains, such cases are slowly gaining in acceptability as a genuine social and psychopathological phenomenon. Concurrently, the etiological underpinnings and treatment demands of these special patients are being unraveled and understood as never before. As a result, it is becoming increasingly clear that perhaps the most demanding treatment aspects of such cases concern the problems posed by what is known as "cult programming."
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/common-programs-observed-in-survivors-of-satanic-ritualistic-abuse/

Report of the Ritual Abuse Task Force - Los Angeles County Commission for Women
Ritual abuse is a brutal form of abuse of children, adolescents, and adults, consisting of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, and involving the use of rituals. Ritual does not necessarily mean satanic. However, most survivors state that they were ritually abused as part of satanic worship for the purpose of indoctrinating them into satanic beliefs and practices. Ritual abuse rarely consists of a single episode. It usually involves repeated abuse over an extended period of time....Mind control is the cornerstone of ritual abuse, the key element in the subjugation and silencing of its victims. Victims of ritual abuse are subjected to a rigorously applied system of mind control designed to rob them of their sense of free will and to impose upon them the will of the cult and its leaders. Most often these ritually abusive cults are motivated by a satanic belief system [only on the surface.] The mind control is achieved through an elaborate system of brainwashing, programming, indoctrination, hypnosis, and the use of various mind-altering drugs. The purpose of the mind control is to compel ritual abuse victims to keep the secret of their abuse, to conform to the beliefs and behaviors of the cult, and to become functioning members who serve the cult by carrying out the directives of its leaders without being detected within society at large.
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/report-of-the-ritual-abuse-task-force-los-angeles-county-commission-for-women/


Believing Rachel JEANNE HILL The Journal of Psychohistory 24 (2) Fall 1996
describes graphic crimes of abuse
Rachel's story is one of suffering, courage and hope. As a young child she was the victim of unspeakable crimes, but because she received therapy and the support of a loving family, she has emerged intact. I hope that parents of other abused children will be reassured by our story. When I look at the strong, confident young woman my daughter is becoming, I know that believing Rachel was the right thing to do. Believing Rachel made her whole. http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/believing-rachel-jeanne-hill-the-journal-of-psychohistory/

Denying Ritual Abuse of Children
Catherine Gould
The Journal of Psychohistory 22 (3) 1995
The evidence is rapidly accumulating that the problem of ritualabuse is considerable in scope and extremely grave in its consequences. Among 2,709 members of the American Psychological Association who responded to a poll, 2,292 cases of ritual abuse were reported (Bottoms, Shaver, & Goodman, 1993). In 1992 alone, Childhelp USA logged 1,741 calls pertaining to ritual abuse, Monarch Resources of Los Angeles logged approximately 5,000, Real Active Survivors tallied nearly 3,600, Justus Unlimited of Colorado received almost 7,000, and Looking Up of Maine handled around 6,000. Even allowing for some ofthese calls to have been made by people who assist survivors but are not themselves survivors, and for some survivors to have called more that one helpline or made multiple calls to the same helpline, these numbers suggest that at a minimum there must be tens of thousands of survivors of ritual abuse in the United States.
Evidence also continues to accumulate that the ritual abuse of children constitutes a child abuse problem of significant scope. In1988, Finkeihor, Williams and Burns published the results of a nationwide study of substantiated reports of sexual abuse in day care involving 1,639 young child victims. Thirteen percent of these cases were found to involve ritual abuse. Other studies of ritually abused children have been relatively small. Kelly (1988; 1989; 1992a; 1992b;1993) reported on 35 day care victims of ritual abuse, Waterman et al.(1993) reported on 82 children complaining of ritual abuse in preschool, Faller (1988; 1990) studied 18 children who had disclosed ritual abuse in their preschool, and Bybee and Mowbray (1993) from the Michigan State Department of Mental Health identified 62 childrenalleging ritual abuse in their preschool and 53 children who reported seeing others be ritually abused. Snow and Sorenson (1990) studied 39 children reporting ritual abuse in five neighborhoods in Utah, and Jonker and Jonker-Bakker (1991) reported on a total group of 98 children, at least 48 of whom were believed to be victims of ritual abuse.
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/denying-ritual-abuse-of-children-catherine-gould/

The History of Child Abuse
Lloyd deMause
The Journal of Psychohistory V. 25, N. 3, Winter 1998
Indeed, my conclusion from a lifetime of psychohistorical study of childhood and society is that the history of humanity is founded upon the abuse of children. Just as family therapists today find that child abuse often functions to hold families together as a way of solving their emotional problems, so, too, the routine assault of children has been society's most effective way of maintaining its collective emotional homeostasis. Most historical families once practiced infanticide, erotic beating and incest. Most states sacrificed and mutilated their children to relieve the guilt of adults. Even today, we continue to arrange the daily killing, maiming, molestation and starvation of children through our social, military and economic activities. I would like to summarize here some of the evidence I have found as to why child abuse has been humanity's most powerful and most successful ritual, why it has been the cause of war and social violence, and why the eradication of child abuse and neglect is the most important social task we face today. http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/the-history-of-child-abuse-lloyd-demause-the-journal-of-psychohistory/

The Universality of Incest
Lloyd DeMause
Journal of Psychohistory 19 (2) Winter 1991
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/the-universality-of-incest-lloyd-demause/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/the-universality-of-incest-lloyd-demause-part-two/
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/the-universality-of-incest-lloyd-demause-part-three/ http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/the-universality-of-incest-lloyd-demause-part-four/


US psychiatrist: Babies remember traumatic events for years 6/29/09 Judy Siegel-Itzkovich , THE JERUSALEM POST The prevailing view among parents, the general public and mental health professionals that infants as young as six months old "do not remember" traumatic events that happen to them or to their loved ones has recently been disproved, a professor of infant mental health said at a Jerusalem conference on Sunday. Prof. Alicia Lieberman of the psychiatry department at the University of California at San Francisco told an audience of 300 that young children, even babies, "remember traumatic events in their bodies" with increases in stress hormones such as cortisol and that the event makes a distinct impression on them. Most professionals and parents have pooh-poohed this idea because infants and young toddlers do not have the verbal ability to describe the trauma, but it nevertheless is stored in their brains, she asserted....Lieberman was speaking at the first session of the two-day International Conference on Trauma and Early Childhood, held at Truman Hall on the Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus and organized by the capital's Herzog Hospital's Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma, the HU's Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, and the Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco. It is being chaired by trauma expert and clinical psychologist Dr. Danny Brom, who heads Herzog's psychotrauma center....Among the negative behaviors caused by traumatic events in children are temper tantrums, developmental delays, regression, unsociability and violence. However, the good news is that post-traumatic stress symptoms can be treated by talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and other means with help from a trained therapist, said Lieberman, and doing so as early as possible after the child is able to speak is best. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245924952462&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

child pornography ring, child abuse cancer connection

Child abuse articles http://childabusewiki.org
http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse
ritual abuse
http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Dissociative_Identity_Disorder
DID/MPD
http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=False_Memory_Syndrome
FMS

Swiss police uncover international child pornography ring - Bern, Switzerland - 6/28/09 - Swiss police say they have uncovered a child pornography ring involving more than 2,000 people in 78 countries. Federal Police spokeswoman Eva Zwahlen says authorities were monitoring a Web site with a provider in the Swiss canton Vaud, acting on a tip from Interpol....Zwahlen confirmed a Swiss newspaper report that the investigation involves people from the U.S., Poland, Greece and other countries. Weekly SonntagsZeitung reported Sunday that 32 men are under suspicion in Switzerland.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009394373_apeuswitzerlandchildpornography.html
Swiss bust child pornography ring 6/28/09 Swiss police say they have uncovered an internet child pornography network spanning 78 countries and involving at least 2,000 IP internet addresses.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/8123450.stm



Child-abuse victims more likely to develop cancer - A Canadian study finds that people who've been physically abused as children were 49 per cent more likely to develop cancer as adults - Jennifer Yang - Globe and Mail 1/27/09 Childhood physical abuse may be linked to the development of cancer later in life, a new University of Toronto study has found. The study discovered that people who've been physically abused as children were 49 per cent more likely to develop cancer as adults. It used survey results from 13,092 people living in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and will appear next month in the journal Cancer. While substantial research already links childhood abuse with mental-health problems and illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome, there is little scholarship on the connections between childhood physical abuse and cancer, says the study's lead author, Esme Fuller-Thomson, a professor with the U of T's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Department of Family and Community Medicine.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/child-abuse-victims-more-likely-to-develop-cancer/article1197315/

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Sexual abuse victim wins settlement, ritual abuse conference

Sexual abuse victim wins $1.75-million settlement By Norman MacInnes Toronto June 26 2009 Lou Ann Soontiens suffered years of abuse by the late Rev. Charles Sylvestre....A woman who as a girl endured five years of sexual abuse by a priest that ended in a botched abortion has secured a settlement of almost $1.75-million. The Roman Catholic Diocese of London, Ont. has agreed to pay Lou Ann Soontiens $1.745-million to settle her civil sexual assault suit. Costs, when settled, will likely push the total over $2-million....The Soontiens settlement is significant because "it recognizes that childhood sexual assault can carry with it lifelong impacts on an individual's ability to function in society," said Barb Legate of Legate & Associates in London, Ont. who represents 33 of Rev. Charles Sylvestre's victims. http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&volume=29&number=8&article=2


conference press release - please post and forward
A conference to help survivors of severe child abuse (ritual abuse) and torture will be held on August 14 - 16, 2009, between 8 - 5 PM Saturday and Sunday at the DoubleTree Hotel near Bradley International Airport, 16 Ella Grasso Turnpike, Windsor Locks, CT 06096 (between Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA). This conference will help educate survivors of this abuse and their helpers. Pre-registration is preferred. For information write S.M.A.R.T., P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 E-mail: smartnews@aol.com, conference information is at: http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

survivorship ritual abuse organization, fighting child abuse, FLDS

What is Survivorship? Survivorship is one of the oldest and most respected organizations supporting survivors of extreme child abuse, including sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. Survivorship provides resources, healing, and community for survivors; training and education for professionals who may serve survivors; and support for survivors' partners and other allies. The organization functions as a lifeline for survivors who may be isolated emotionally or geographically. Through community outreach and training, Survivorship also raises awareness about these difficult issues. website - http://www.survivorship.org/
wordpress blog - http://survivorshipwp.wordpress.com/


Child sex: The cruel truth by Caroline Rwenji and Fred Mukinda 6/17/09 Sexual abuse against children has been on the increase over the years, but many of the cases are never reported, police have said. Information available at police headquarters shows that 1,626 cases of attacks against children were recorded in 2007. The number rose to 1,984 in 2008, representing an increase of over 300. The Cradle, a child rights organisation, on Wednesday said that an average of 10 cases involving child abuse have been reported at its Nairobi offices every week since January....According to the Cradle, 74 per cent of all cases of violence against children involved defilement. Girls between the ages of 12 and 14 were the most vulnerable. The minors are often abused by people they know and trust, particularly in whose care they are entrusted. Eighty six per cent were defiled by someone they knew, according to a 2007 report by Cradle, which adds, 43 per cent of the children were molested repeatedly by the same abuser. http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/612244/-/ukayts/-/

FLDS warped lives, "Lost Boy" recounts By Electa Draper The Denver Post 6/14/009 Brent wants people to know that forced underage marriages were not the only horrors under Warren Jeffs. Brent years ago filed a civil lawsuit against Warren Jeffs in which he alleged that his uncle had raped him several times when he was in kindergarten and first grade. Warren Jeffs used church tenets to satisfy his own perverse sexual appetites and to control every aspect of members' lives, Brent claims. As prophet - the title the sect gave its leader - he banned almost all music and all literature except the Book of Mormon and the Bible. He even banned dogs and, most infamously, ejected many young boys from FLDS families. With Warren Jeffs now in the Utah State Prison after conviction on two counts of being an accomplice to rape, the sect's towns, such as Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, are coming back to a semblance of normal life, Brent said. http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12586013

Extreme Abuse Surveys From Child Abuse Wiki

Extreme Abuse Surveys From Child Abuse Wiki

copied with permission

http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Extreme_Abuse_Surveys

The Extreme Abuse Surveys (EAS) were created to develop a qualitative and quantitative base of data regarding the accounts of survivors of extreme abuse [1]. Four researchers from Germany and the United States, Carol Rutz, Thorsten Becker, Bettina Overcamp and Wanda Karriker worked together to develop three different surveys to develop this base of data[1].

Contents
* 1 The Trilogy
* 2 Methodology
* 3 Attacks
* 4 Results
* 5 Background
* 6 References
* 7 External links
* 8 Bibliography

The Trilogy

The international online survey was divided into three parts. The Extreme Abuse Survey for adult survivors (EAS), was conducted between January 1 and March 30, 2007. The Professional-Extreme Abuse Survey (P-EAS) was conducted between April 1 and June 30, 2007. This survey was for therapists, clergy, counselors and other persons that had worked professionally with at least one victim of extreme abuse. The Child-Extreme Abuse Survey (C-EAS) was conducted between July 8 and October 8, 2007. This survey was for caregivers of child survivors of extreme abuse and mind control.[1]
Methodology

The main objective of the surveys was gather preliminary data on the nature and extent of extreme abuse. The researchers decided that the most practical way to generate a large number of responses was to announce and conduct an online survey. Survey questions were pretested, and all survey items were confirmed to have face validity. The target population of the study was defined as all survivors of extreme abuse[2].
Attacks

On January 2, 2007, the server that had the survey faced an intense amount of port scans at low and high ports and attempts to access non-existing server pages. These were carried out on a large scale. This used an enormous amount of bandwidth. The attacks diminished and after three weeks almost ended. In early March 2007, there was an attack to hack into the server, but this failed. Several attempts were also made to obtain the private data of some technicians and surveyors. The EAS survey however was successfully completed on March 31, 2007.[2]

Results

Fourteen hundred and seventy-one participants from more than thirty countries answered at least one question of the EAS. The survey was given in both German and English. Sixty-four percent of 985 participants reported memories of incest and 48% of 977 participants reported memories of extreme abuse before they sought therapy. Sixty-nine percent of 257 respondents that reported secret mind control experiments on them when they were children also reported that they were abused in a cult.[2]

Of 1007 participants in the EAS, 65% stated that they had been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. Higher percentages were found in the C-EAS and the P-EAS. High percentages of physical abuse, sexual abuse from multiple perpetrators and child pornography were found in all three surveys. In the C-EAS, medical evidence consistent with extreme abuse was found in 53% of 80 respondents, psychological symptoms consistent with extreme abuse were found in 91% of the 88 respondents and the symptoms abated when the child was able to tell about the abuse in 78 respondents[1].

Background

Wanda Karriker is a retired psychologist in the United States. She was interviewed on Court TV as an expert in Extreme Abuse. She wrote about the after-effects of extreme abuse in her novel " Morning, Come Quickly." Carol Rutz is a healed extreme abuse/mind control survivor in the United States. She wrote "A Nation Betrayed: The Chilling True Story of Secret Cold War Experiments Performed on Our Children and Other Innocent People (2001). Thorsten Becker is a social worker and freelance supervisor in Germany. He served as a case consultant in several suspected cult-related cases in Europe. In 1994, he received the "German Child Protection Award" for his team's work with severely abused children.[1]

References

1. Becker, T; Karriker W; Overkamp B; Rutz, C (2008). "The extreme abuse surveys: Preliminary findings regarding dissociative identity disorder", Forensic aspects of dissociative identity disorder. London: Karnac Books, 32-49. ISBN 1-855-75596-3 http://books.google.com/books?id=upHtL9lual0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s
2. Rutz, C. Becker, T., Overkamp, B. & Karriker, W. (2008). Exploring Commonalities Reported by Adult Survivors of Extreme Abuse: Preliminary Empirical Findings. In Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-first Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Considerations, J.R. Noblitt & P. S. Perskin (Eds), pp. 31- 84. Bandon, Oregon: Robert D. Reed Publishers.

External links

* Extreme Abuse Survey http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/
* Karriker, Wanda (November, 2007). "Helpful healing methods: As rated by approximately 900 respondents to the "International Survey for Adult Survivors of Extreme Abuse (EAS)." http://www.endritualabuse.org/Karriker%20ISSTD%20Paper%20November%2012,%202007.pdf
* MEDIA PACKET - Torture-based, Government-sponsored Mind Control Experimentation on Children http://my.dmci.net/~casey/GovernmentSponsoredMindControlExperiments-MediaPacket.pdf
* Extreme Abuse Survey Research http://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/eas-studies/
* Preliminary data from the 2007 series of Extreme Abuse Surveys. Karriker, W. (2008, September). In Torture-based mind control: Empirical research, programmer methods, effects and treatment http://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/eas-studies/torture-based-mind-control-as-a-global-phenomenon/
* Understanding ritual trauma: A comparison of findings from three online surveys http://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/eas-studies/understanding-ritual-trauma-a-comparison-of-findings-from-three-online-surveys/

Bibliography

* Becker, T. (2008). "Organisierte und rituelle Gewalt" ("Organized and Ritual Violence"). In Fliß CM & Igney C: Handbuch Trauma & Dissoziation. Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers.
* Becker, T. (2008). Re-Searching for New Perspectives: Ritual Abuse/Ritual Violence as Ideologically Motivated Crime. In Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-first Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Considerations, J.R. Noblitt & P. S. Perskin (Eds), pp. 237-260. Bandon, Oregon: Robert D. Reed Publishers.
* Becker T. & Woywodt, U. (2007). Ritueller Mißbrauch: Auswirkungen der Arbeit auf die Beraterinnen und die Beratung. In: Wildwasser e.V.:Sexuelle Gewalt - Aktuelle Beitraege aus Theorie und Praxis. Berlin: Selbstverlag. (Ritual Abuse: Consequences of working [in this field] on cousellors and counselling)
* Becker, Thorsten (2008). Rituelle Gewalt in Deutschland. (Ritual Violence in Germany). In: Froehling Ulla: Vater unser in der Hoelle. Bergisch-Gladbach: Lübbe
* Karriker, Wanda (2003). Morning, Come Quickly. Catawba, NC: Sandime, LTD. ISBN 0-9717171-0-9.
* Rutz, Carol (2001). A Nation Betrayed. Grass Lake, MI: Fidelity Publishing. ISBN 0-9710102-0-X.

Ritual Abuse from the Child Abuse Wiki

Ritual Abuse from the Child Abuse Wiki

copied with permission

http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse

Ritual abuse exists all over the world. There have been reports, journal articles[1][2][3], web pages[4][5][6][7][8][9] and criminal convictions of crimes against children and adults [10][11][12].

Contents
* 1 Definition
* 2 Origins of the term
* 3 Evidence
* 4 References
* 5 Bibliography
* 6 External Links

Definition

Ritual abuse has been defined as:

a brutal form of abuse of children, adolescents, and adults, consisting of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, and involving the use of rituals. Ritual does not necessarily mean satanic. However, most survivors state that they were ritually abused as part of satanic worship for the purpose of indoctrinating them into satanic beliefs and practices. Ritual abuse rarely consists of a single episode. It usually involves repeated abuse over an extended period of time. The physical abuse is severe, sometimes including torture and killing. The sexual abuse is usually painful, sadistic, and humiliating, intended as means of gaining dominance over the victim. The psychological abuse is devastating and involves the use of ritual/indoctrination, which includes mind control techniques and mind altering drugs, and ritual/intimidation which conveys to the victim a profound terror of the cult members and of the evil spirits they believe cult members can command. Both during and after the abuse, most victims are in a state of terror, mind control, and dissociation in which disclosure is exceedingly difficult.[13]

and as

WHAT IS RITUAL ABUSE? (BROAD DEFINITION) Ritual abuse is the abuse of a child, weaker adult, or animal in a ritual setting or manner. In a broad sense, many of our overtly or covertly socially sanctioned actions can be seen as ritual abuse, such as military basic training, hazing, racism, spanking children, and partner-battering. Some abuse is private...some public. Public ritual abuse may be either open or secret. WHAT IS RITUAL ABUSE? (NARROW DEFINITION) The term ritual abuse is generally used to mean prolonged, extreme, sadistic abuse, especially of children, within a group setting. The group's ideology is used to justify the abuse, and abuse is used to teach the group's ideology. The activities are kept secret from society at large, as they violate norms and laws.[14]

Origins of the term

Pazder introduced the term "ritualized abuse" in 1980, describing the experiences of an adult survivor that was disclosing satanic abuse memories. He defined the phenomenon as "repeated physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual assaults combined with a systematic use of symbols, ceremonies, and machinations designed and orchestrated to attain malevolent effects." Later definitions came mostly from professionals addressing ritual abuse in child care settings. Finkelhor, Williams, Burns, and Kalinowski elaborated on Pazder's definition, defining ritual abuse as "abuse that occurs in a context linked to some symbols or group activity that have a religious, magical or supernatural connotation, and where the invocation of these symbols or activities are repeated over time and used to frighten and intimidate the children." Kelley referred to ritual abuse as the "repetitive and systematic sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of children by adults as part of cult or satanic worship"[15].

Evidence

There is a great deal of evidence supporting the existence of ritual abuse crimes as a worldwide phenomenon. Bottoms, Shaver and Goodman found in their 1993 study evaluating ritual abuse claims that in 2,292 alleged ritual abuse cases, 15% of the perpetrators in adult cases and 30% of the perpetrators in child cases confessed to the abuse[16]. "In a survey of 2,709 members of the American Psychological Association, it was found that 30 percent of these professionals had seen cases of ritual or religion-related abuse (Bottoms, Shaver & Goodman, 1991). Of those psychologists who have seen cases of ritual abuse, 93 percent believed that the reported harm took place and 93 percent believed that the alleged ritualism occurred....The similar research of Nancy Perry (1992) which further supports (the previous findings)…Perry also conducted a national survey of therapists who work with clients with dissociative disorders and she found that 88 percent of the 1,185 respondents indicated "belief in ritual abuse, involving mind control and programming"[17].

Recently an online survey[18] of over one thousand people answered questions about ritual abuse and extreme abuse crimes. In a summary of the survey [19], it was found that ritual abuse/mind control is a global phenomenon. Fifty-five percent stated they were abuse in a Satanic cult. Seventy-seven percent of the adult survivors that responded "had been threatened with death if they ever talked about the abuse." Also, "257 respondents reported that secret mind control experiments were used on them as children." Eighty-two percent reported being sexually abused by multiple perpetrators.

Anne Johnson Davis in her book Hell Minus One reported that her parents confessed to her abuse in writing and verbally to clergymen, and to the detectives from the Utah Attorney General's Office. Her suppressed memories started when she was in her mid-30s, which were fully substantiated by her mother and stepfather[20][21].
Many scientific journals articles have discussed the reality of ritual abuse and its effect on its victims. Some of these articles have discussed the extreme nature of these crimes[22], proof of the reality of the ritual abuse phenomenon and victims' symptoms[23], the connection between ritual abuse, multiple personality disorder and mind control[24] and the connections between ritual abuse reports and the higher levels of symptoms of childhood sexual and physical abuse[25]. Several additional studies and organizations have compiled research on the reality of ritual abuse crimes[26][27][28].

Ritual abuse and mind control crimes have also been confirmed in other books[29][30].

A study which identified 270 cases of sexual abuse in day care settings found that allegations of ritual abuse occurred in thirteen percent of the cases[31]. Additional evidence of ritual abuse in day care and child abuse cases has been found in news reports, journal articles and legal transcripts[32][33][34][35][36][37].

Ritual abuse occurrences have also been found in the Netherlands[38]and England[39]. Reports of ritual abuse have also been found in multiple personality disorder sufferers[15]. Kent believes that intergenerational satanic accounts are possible and that rituals related to them may come from a deviant interpretation of religious texts[40][41].

References

1. Satanic Ritual Abuse evidence http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
2. 2008 Publications on Ritual Abuse and Mind Control http://www.endritualabuse.org/citation%202.htm
3. Lacter, E (2008-02-11). "Brief Synopsis of the Literature on the Existence of Ritualistic Abuse". http://endritualabuse.org/Brief%20Synopsis.htm
4. http://ritualabuse.us
5. http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/
6. http://www.ra-info.org
7. http://www.survivorship.org
8. http://theawarenesscenter.org/ritualabuse.html
9. http://www.endritualabuse.org/
10. Believe the children (1997). "Conviction List: Ritual Child Abuse". http://www.ra-info.org/resources/ra_cases.shtml
11. The Satanism and Ritual Abuse Archive http://www.endritualabuse.org/ritualabusearchive.htm
12. Noblitt, PhD, J. R. - An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy (2007) http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/an-empirical-look-at-the-ritual-abuse-controversy-randy-noblitt-phd/
13. Report of the Ritual Abuse Task Force - Los Angeles County Commission for Women http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/ra.htm
14. Survivorship - Frequently Asked Questions http://www.survivorship.org/faq.html
15. a b Van Benschoten, Susan C. (1990). Multiple Personality Disorder and Satanic Ritual Abuse: the Issue Of Credibility Dissociation Vol. III, No. 1 "A large number of adult MPD patients in psychotherapy are reporting memories of explicitly satanic ritual abuse beginning in childhood. The authors of two limited surveys, conducted with a select group of MPD therapists, suggest the percentage of reported satanic ritual abuse in the MPD population to be 20% (Braun & Gray, 1986) and 28% (Braun & Gray, 1987). A survey by Kaye and Klein (1987) reveals that 20 of the 42 MPD patients in treatment with seven Ohio therapists describe a history of satanic ritual abuse. Ilopponen (1987) states that 38 of the more than 70 MPD patients she has treated report memories of "satanic-type ritualized abuse " (p. 11). Two inpatient facilities specializing in the treatment of MPD report that approximately 50% of their patients disclose memories of satanic ritual abuse (Braun, 1989a; Ganaway, 1989). Similar accounts of satanic ritual abuse are being reported by personally unrelated MPD patients from across the United States (Braun, 1989b; Braun & Sachs, 1988; Kahaner, 1988; Sachs & Braun, 1987). In addition, according to Braun (1989b), the reports of patients in this country are similar to data collected from adult survivors in England, Holland, Germany, France, Canada, and Mexico...Brown (1986), noting many similar allegations in child and adult satanic ritual abuse accounts, suggests that reports are not only comparable across geographical and personal boundaries, but across generations as well."
http://www.empty-memories.nl/dis_90/vanbenschoten_sra.pdf
16. Data from Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998)."Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law" (W. W. Norton) ISBN 0-393-70254-5 (p.62) Bottoms, B. Shaver, P. & Goodman, G. (1993) Profile of ritual abuse and religion related abuse allegations in the United States. Updated findings provided via personal communication from B. Bottoms. Cited in K.C. Faller (1994), Ritual Abuse; A Review of the research. The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children Advisor , 7, 1, 19-27
17. Noblitt, J.R.; Perskin, P. (2000). Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America p. 269, Greenwood Publishing Group. http://books.google.com/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C
18. Extreme Abuse Survey http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/
19. Understanding ritual trauma: A comparison of findings from three online surveys http://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/eas-studies/understanding-ritual-trauma-a-comparison-of-findings-from-three-online-surveys/
20. Johnson Davis, Anne Hell Minus One: My Story of Deliverance From Satanic Ritual Abuse and My Journey to Freedom Transcript Bulletin Publishing - ISBN 978-0-9788348-0-7 - 2008 http://www.hellminusone.com/
21. Hell Minus One - signed verified confessions of satanic ritual abuse
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/survivor-stories/hell-minus-one-signed-verified-confessions-of-satanic-ritual-abuse/
22. Cozolino, L.J. (1990). "Ritual child abuse, psychopathology, and evil". Journal of Psychology and Theology, 18(3):218-227 "Ritualistic abuse is an extreme form of psychological, physical, and sexual maltreatment of children in the context of "religious" ceremony. The clinical presentation of the victims of such abuse is complex and raises many issues related in the diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology as well as the importance of spiritual counseling" https://wisdom.biola.edu/jpt
23. Cozolino, L.J.; Shaffer, R.E (Fall 1992) "Adults who report childhood ritualistic abuse." Special Issue: Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge. Journal of Psychology and Theology 20(3) "Skeptics question the legitimacy of these reports, but many factors point to the reality of the phenomenon of ritualistic abuse. First of all, the degree of consistency between reports of individuals from different parts of the country is very high. The fact that children as young as 2 and 3 report ritualistic abuse experiences that mirror those reported by adult victims is especially striking in light of the fact that young children do not have access to the kind of printed information that might conceivably allow an older person to fabricate such experiences (Gould, 1987). Second, experiences of ritualistic abuse reported by victims of all ages are virtually identical to written historical accounts of Satan worship and the like (Hill & Goodwin, 1989; Russell, 1972), findings that substantiate our present-day understanding of Satanism and ritualistic abuse as intragenerational phenomenon. Third, the symptoms from which individuals reporting histories of ritualistic abuse tend to suffer are consistent with our current understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder and the dissociative disorders. The progression in which ritualistic abuse survivors respond to psychotherapy places these victims squarely within the category of individual who have suffered real-not imagined-trauma." https://wisdom.biola.edu/jpt
24. Gould, C., & Cozolino, L. (1992) "Ritual abuse, multiplicity, and mind-control." Special Issue: Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge. Journal of Psychology and Theology 20(3):194-6 "As a result of the psychologically intolerable nature of their early childhood experiences, victims of ritual abuse frequently develop multiple personality disorder (MPD)....Ritual abuse is conducted on behalf of a cult whose purpose is to establish mind control over the victims. Thus, these perpetrators have a conscious motive for the abuse beyond compulsively repeating their own childhood abuse in an effort to gain mastery over the original trauma. Most victims state that they were ritually abused as part of satanic worship, for the purpose of indoctrinating them into satanic beliefs (Los Angeles County Commission for Women, 1989). Mind control is originally established when the victim is a child under 6 years old." https://wisdom.biola.edu/jpt
25. Lawrence, K.J.; Cozolino, L.; Foy, D.W. (1995). Psychological sequelae in adult females reporting childhood ritualistic abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect 19 (8): 975-984. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(95)00059-H. "Women reporting ritualistic features scored significantly higher on measures of childhood sexual and physical abuse. Neither PTSD diagnostic status nor severity for PTSD nor dissociative experiences were significantly different between the groups." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7N-3YB56DX-1X&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b9a75a7e349d4efe5a11ed205f736cf5
26. Gould, C. (1995). Denying ritual abuse of children. Journal of Psychohistory, 22(3), 329-339. "The evidence is rapidly accumulating that the problem of ritual abuse is considerable in scope and extremely grave in its consequences Among 2,709 members of the American Psychological Association who responded to a poll, 2,292 cases of ritual abuse were reported (Bottoms, Shaver, & Goodman, 1993). In 1992 alone, Childhelp USA logged 1,741 calls pertaining to ritual abuse, Monarch Resources of Los Angeles logged approximately 5,000, Real Active Survivors tallied nearly 3,600, Justus Unlimited of Colorado received almost 7,000, and Looking Up of Maine handled around 6,000. Even allowing for some of these calls to have been made by people who assist survivors but arc not themselves survivors, and for some survivors to have called more that one helpline or made multiple calls to the same helpline, these numbers suggest that at a minimum there must be tens of thousands of survivors of ritual abuse in the United States. Evidence also continues to accumulate that the ritual abuse of children constitutes a child abuse problem of significant scope. In 1988, Finkelhor, Williams and Burns published the results of a nationwide study of substantiated reports of sexual abuse in day care involving 1,639 young child victims. Thirteen percent of these cases were found to involve ritual abuse. Other studies of ritually abused children have been relatively small. Kelly (1988; 1989; 1992a; 1992b; 1993) reported on 35 day care victims of ritual abuse, Waterman et al. (1993) reported on 82 children complaining of ritual abuse in preschool, Faller (1988; 1990) studied 18 children who had disclosed ritual abuse in their preschool, and Bybee and Mowbray (1993) from the Michigan State Department of Mental Health identified 62 children alleging ritual abuse in their preschool and 53 children who reported seeing others be ritually abused. Snow and Sorenson (1990) studied 39 children reporting ritual abuse in five neighborhoods in Utah, and Jonker and Jonker-Bakker (1991) reported on a total group of 98 children, at least 48 of whom were believed to be victims of ritual abuse. The latter case is the only one cited here which was conducted outside of the United States." http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/denyra.htm
27. Paley, K. (June 1992). Dream wars: a case study of a woman with multiple personality disorder(PDF). Dissociation 5 (2): 111-116. "Apologists believe that reports of satanic cult abuse either must or could be true. There is some evidence to support the apologists. In 1986, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in Commonwealth v. Drew (397 Mass. 65) upheld the conviction of Carl H. Drew for the murder of Karen Marsden. There was evidence that Drew conducted satanic ritual meetings and that he had killed Marsden "because she wanted to leave the cult " (Commonworth v. Drew, 1986, p. 66). Marsden had gone to the police and reported a human sacrifice. Scott Waterhouse was convicted of the murder of a twelve year-old girl, and the conviction was upheld in the State of Maine v. Scott Waterhouse (513 A. 2d 862, Me. 1986). It was ruled that the trial court's introduction of the defendant's satanic beliefs was relevant in establishing motive and intent. In a study of hundreds of day care centers, Finkelhor and Williams found that "... [c] lear-cut corroboration of ritualistic practices was available in a few cases, such as Country Walk [in Miami], where ritual objects were found by police and where the female perpetrators did admit to some of the sadistic practices alleged in the children's stories" (1988, pp. 59-60). Greaves (1992) describes a video made by the Chicago Police Department of two sites allegedly used for satanic ceremonies. He was struck by the similarity of the material to descriptions he had heard from many of his clients.
28. Report of Utah State Task Force on Ritual Abuse Utah Governor's Commission for Women and Families (1992) https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1646/1/Diss_5_2_9_OCR.pdf
29. Secret Weapons - Two Sisters' Terrifying True Story of Sex, Spies and Sabotage by Cheryl and Lynn Hersha with Dale Griffis, Ph D. and Ted Schwartz. New Horizon Press, P O Box 669 Far Hills, NJ 07931 - ISBN0-88282-196-2 ""By the time Cheryl Hersha came to the facility, knowledge of multiple personality was so complete that doctors understood how the mind separated into distinct ego states,each unaware of the other. First, the person traumatized had to be both extremely intelligent and under the age of seven, two conditions not yet understood though remaining consistent as factors. The trauma was almost always of a sexual nature…" p. 52 "The government researchers,aware of the information in the professional journals, decided to reverse the process (of healing from hysteric dissociation). They decided to use selective trauma on healthy children to create personalities capable of committing acts desired for national security and defense." p. 53 - 54
30. Rutz, Carol (2001). A Nation Betrayed. Grass Lake, MI: Fidelity Publishing. ISBN 0-9710102-0-X. http://my.dmci.net/~casey/
31. Sexual Abuse in Day Care: A National Study - Executive Summary - March 1988 - Finklehor, Williams, Burns, Kalinowski http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1c/82/61.pdf ""The study identified 270 "cases" of sexual abuse in day care meaning 270 facilities where substantiated abuse had occurred involving a total of 1639 victimized children….This yielded an estimate of 500 to 550 reported and substantiated cases and 2500 victims for the three-year period. Although this is a large number, it must be put in the context of 229,000 day care facilities nationwide service seven million children…allegations of ritual abuse ("the invocation of religious, magical or supernatural symbols of activities") occurred in 13% of the cases."
32. Day Care and Child Abuse Cases Information on the McMartin Preschool Case, Michelle Remembers, the Fells Acres - Amirault Case, the Wenatchee, Washington Case, the Dale Akiki Case, the Glendale Montessori - Toward case, the Little Rascals Day Care Center case, Fran's Day Care case, the Baran case and the Halsey case http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
33. McMartin Preschool Case - What Really Happened and the Coverup http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/mcmartin-preschool-case-what-really-happened-and-the-coverup/
34. Archaeological Investigations of the McMartin Preschool Site http://www.scribd.com/doc/10252626/Archaeological-Investigations-of-the-McMartin-Preschool-Site-by-E-Gary-Stickel-PhD
35. deMause, Lloyd, Why Cults Terrorize and Kill Children The Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4) 1994 [4]" http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/whycult.htm
36. Summit, R.C. (1994). The Dark Tunnels of McMartin Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4): 397-416. http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/mcmartin.htm
37. Tamarkin, C. (1994a). Investigative Issues in Ritual Abuse Cases, Part I. Treating Abuse Today, 4 (4): 14-23. Tamarkin, C. (1994b). Investigative Issues in Ritual Abuse Cases, Part II. Treating Abuse Today, 4 (5): 5-9. http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/investigative-issues-in-ritual-abuse-cases-part-1-and-2-1994/
38. Jonker, F.; Jonker-bakker, P. (1991). "Experiences with ritualist child sexual abuse: a case study from the Netherlands". Child Abuse and Neglect 15: 191-196. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(91)90064-K. PMID 2043971 "The case of apparent ritual sexual abuse of children in a community in the Netherlands is described in terms of the children's stories, behaviors, and physical symptoms and the community's reaction to reactions of police and other professionals." http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ429991&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ429991
39. Sinason, V (1994). Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10543-9. Major publications by Valerie Sinason http://www.valeriesinason.com/PublicationsVSinason.htm
40. Kent, Stephen. (1993). "Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences". Religion 23(23):229-241.
41. Kent, Stephen. (1993). "Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse. II: Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan influences". Religion 23(4):355-367

Bibliography

* Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998)."Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law" (W. W. Norton) ISBN 0-393-70254-5
* Cook, C. (1991). Understanding ritual abuse: A study of thirty-three ritual abuse survivors. Treating Abuse Today, 1(4), 14-19.
* Gould, Catherine. (1992) "Ritual abuse, multiplicity, and mind-control." Special Issue: Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge. Journal of Psychology and Theology 20(3):194-6
* Hersha, C.; Hersha, L.; Griffis, D.; Schwarz, T (2001). Secret Weapons. Far Hills, NJ: New Horizon Press. ISBN 0-88282-196-2.
* Johnston, Jerry (1989). The Edge of Evil - The Rise of Satanism in North America. Dallas: Word Publishing. ISBN 0-8499-0668-7.
* Jonker, F and Jonker-Bakker, I. (1997). "Effects of Ritual Abuse: The results of three surveys in the Netherlands." Child Abuse & Neglect 21(6):541-556
* Kent, Stephen. (1994). "Diabolic Debates: A Reply to David Frankfurter and J. S. La Fontaine," Religion 24: 135-188.
* Kent, Stephen. (1993). "Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences". Religion 23(23):229-241.
* Kent, Stephen. (1993). "Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse. II: Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan influences". Religion 23(4):355-367
* Leavitt, Frank. Measuring the impact of media exposure and hospital treatment on patients alleging satanic ritual abuse. Treating Abuse Today 8(4) 1998 pp. 7-13 "This study provides evidence that clients who report SRA exhibit a set of associations to SRA-related words that cannot be explained by exposure to the popular media or from inpatient treatment." http://web.archive.org/web/20000306224228/http://idealist.com/tat/leavitt.shtml
* Neswald, D., Gould, C., & Graham-Costain, V. (1991). Common programs observed in survivors of Satanic ritual abuse. The California Therapist, 3 (5), 47 50. http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/sracp.htm
* Noblitt, J.R.; Perskin, P. (2000). Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America p. 269, Greenwood Publishing Group. http://books.google.com/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C
* Noblitt, R.; Perskin, P. (2008). Ritual abuse in the 21st century p. 552, Bandon, OR: Reed Publishers. http://www.rdrpublishers.com/catalog/item/6339393/5820690.htm
* Sachs, A. & Galton, G. (Eds) (2008). Forensic Aspects of Dissociative Identity Disorder London: Karnac. Chapters include discussions on ritual abuse, dissociative identity disorder, mind control, extreme abuse, survivor accounts and criminal convictions http://www.karnacbooks.com/product.php?PID=25876
http://books.google.com/books?id=upHtL9lual0C&dq=Forensic+aspects+of+dissociative+identity+disorder+|&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=caNy__6-zt&sig=VwIOryBkcSN0nh24CJR3aJkS_gs&hl=en&ei=702fSbmpOo_ftgfe5eSVDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA142,M1
* Scott, S. (2001). The politics and experience of ritual abuse: beyond disbelief. Open University Press. ISBN 0335204198. http://www.amazon.com/Politics-Experience-Ritual-Abuse/dp/0335204198
* Smith, Margaret. (1993). Ritual Abuse: What it Is, why it Happens, and how to Help by Margaret - HarperCollins
* Waterman, Jill; Kelly, Robert J.;Oliveri, M. K.;and McCord, Jane (1993). Behind the Playground Walls - Sexual Abuse in Preschools. New York, London: The Guilford Press, 284-8. ISBN 0-89862-523-8.
* Young, Walter C., Sachs, Roberta G., Braun, Bennett G., and Watkins, R. T. (1993) "Patients reporting ritual abuse in childhood: A clinical syndrome. Report of 37 cases." Child Abuse and Neglect 15(3):181-9

External Links

* An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/an-empirical-look-at-the-ritual-abuse-controversy-randy-noblitt-phd/
* Ritual Abuse articles http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
* Ritual Abuse Cases http://www.ra-info.org/resources/ra_cases.shtml
* Extreme Abuse Survey http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/
* http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/
* http://www.ra-info.org
* http://www.survivorship.org
* http://theawarenesscenter.org/ritualabuse.html
* Ritual Abuse Statistics & Research http://web.archive.org/web/20071210161357/http://home.mchsi.com/~ftio/ra-stats.htm

False Memory Syndrome From Child Abuse Wiki

False Memory Syndrome From Child Abuse Wiki

copied with permission

http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=False_Memory_Syndrome

The term False Memory Syndrome was created in 1992 by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF)[1]. It has been called "a pseudoscientific syndrome that was developed to defend against claims of child abuse."[1] The FMSF was created by parents who claimed to be falsely accused of child sexual abuse.[1] The False Memory Syndrome was described as "a widespread social phenomenon where misguided therapists cause patients to invent memories of sexual abuse."[1] Research has shown that most delayed memories of childhood abuse are true[2]. In general, it has been shown that false allegations of childhood sexual abuse are rare, with some studies showing rates as low as one percent[3][4] and some studies showing slightly higher rates[3]. It has been found that children tend to understate rather than overstate the extent of any abuse experienced[3]. It has been stated that misinformation on the topic of child sexual abuse is widespread and that the media have contributed to this problem by reporting favorably on unproven and controversial claims like the False Memory Syndrome[5].

Contents

* 1 Research on False Memory
* 2 Critiques of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation and its theories
* 3 References
* 4 Bibliography
* 5 External Links

Research on False Memory

There is a great deal of evidence showing the existence of the phenomenon of recovered memory and the fairly high corroboration rates of these memories[6]. The base rates for memory commission errors have been shown to be quite low, at least in professional trauma treatment. The base rates in adult misinformation studies run between zero and 5 percent for adults and between 3 - 5 percent for children[7]. It has been shown that people who recover memories are a lot less suggestible than clinicians have been led to believe by false memory advocates[8]. It has been stated that false memories are rare[9] One research study showed the unlikelihood of being able to plant a false memory of a traumatic event[10]. Some have stated that the False Memory Syndrome is not a scientific syndrome[11].

Brown, Sheflin and Hammond stated "The hypothesis that false memories can easily be implanted in psychotherapy (Lindsay & Read, 1994; Loftus 1993; Loftus & Ketcham, 1994; Ofshe and Watters, 1993, 1994; Yapko, 1994a) seriously overstates the available data. Since no studies have been conducted on suggested effects in psychotherapy per se, the idea of iatrogenic suggestion of false memories remains an untested hypothesis.[12]

Elizabeth Loftus, a proponent of the theory of false memory, has been critiqued in several studies and papers[13][14][15][16].

Critiques of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation and its theories

Members of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation have been critiqued for misrepresenting data and for their possible reasons for having created the idea of the syndrome.

In reply to a TV documentary about FMS, William Freyd, (Pamela Freyd's (one of the founders of the FMSF) step brother and sister-in-law) wrote "There is no doubt in my mind that there was severe abuse in the home of Peter and Pam. . . . The False Memory Syndrome Foundation is a fraud designed to deny a reality that Peter and Pam have spent most of their lives trying to escape. There is no such things as a False Memory Syndrome."[2] "In addition, Peter Freyd's own mother (who is also Pamela's step-mother) and his only sibling, a brother, were also estranged from Pamela and Peter. It should be noted that these family members support Jennifer's side of the story."[1]

A co-founder of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, Ralph Underwager, has also had several critiques written about him[17]. In an interview in Amsterdam in June 1991 by "Paidika," Editor-in-Chief, Joseph Geraci, Underwager replied to the question "Is choosing paedophilia for you a responsible choice for the individuals?" with "Certainly it is responsible. What I have been struck by as I have come to know more about and understand people who choose paedophilia is that they let themselves be too much defined by other people. That is usually an essentially negative definition. Paedophiles spend a lot of time and energy defending their choice. I don't think that a paedophile needs to do that. Paedophiles can boldly and courageously affirm what they choose. They can say that what they want is to find the best way to love. I am also a theologian and as a theologian, I believe it is God's will that there be closeness and intimacy, unity of the flesh, between people. A paedophile can say: "This closeness is possible for me within the choices that I've made."[18]

In a transcription of the TV show Witness for Mr. Bubbles from "Australia 60 Minutes," Channel Nine Network (Aired on August 5, 1990 in Australia), researcher Anna Salter stated that Underwager "isn't accurate. That what he says in court does not necessarily fairly represent the literature." That he frequently distorts facts and he sometimes he quotes specific studies, and he's frequently wrong about what the studies say."[19]

It was stated in a court document that the two books that he and his wife Hollida Wakefield, wrote "Accusations of Child Sexual Abuse" (1988), and The Real World of Child Interrogations (1990) were not "well received in the medical and scientific press." It was also stated that "when they cannot use a quotation out of context from an article, they make unsupported statements, some of which are palpably untrue and others simply unprovable." David L. Chadwick, Book Review, in 261 JAMA 3035 (May 26, 1989)." In the same document it was stated that "Both Salter and Toth came to believe that Underwager is a hired gun who makes a living by deceiving judges about the state of medical knowledge and thus assisting child molesters to evade punishment."[20]

Those that have examined or written about the False Memory Syndrome theories or foundation or its members have been subjected to harassment. This includes Anna Salter's analysis of her harassment by Ralph Underwager[21], David Calof, the former editor of Treating Abuse Today [22] and Jennifer Hoult [23].

Accusations have also been made about the accuracy of the False Memory Syndromes' proponents data and research. Salter has critiqued some of those that defend those accused of child sexual abuse. "The people who support and defend those accused of child sexual abuse indiscriminately, those who join organizations dedicated to defending people who are accused of child sexual abuse with no screening whatsoever to keep out those who are guilty as charged, are…not necessarily people engaged in an objective search for the truth. Some of them can and do use deceit, trickery, misstated research, harassment, intimidation, and charges of laundering federal money to silence their opponents."[21]. Whitfield stated "Since at least 95 percent of child molesters initially deny their abusive behaviors, how can untrained lay people like Pamela Freyd and her staff "document" a real or "unreal" case of "FMS," as appears to be the case with most of their communications, which usually occur over the telephone or by letter (p. 76)."[2]. Jennifer Freyd stated "Despite this documentation for both traumatic amnesia and essentially accurate delayed recall, memory science is often presented as if it supports the view that traumatic amnesia is very unlikely or perhaps impossible and that a great many, perhaps a majority, maybe even all, recovered memories of abuse are false…Yet no research supports such an implication…and a great deal of research supports the premise that forgetting sexual abuse is fairly common and that recovered memories are sometimes essentially true." (p. 107) [24]

Proponents of false memory theories have also been accused of manipulating the media[25][26]. The theory of false memory has been used as a defense in court to try and negate "abusive, criminal behavior" and this defense is fraught with disinformation, smoke screens, and other untruths that are a distortion of what the available science of the psychology of trauma and memory shows.[27].

References

1. Dallam, S. (2002). "Crisis or Creation: A systematic examination of false memory claims". Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 9 (3/4): 9–36. doi:10.1300/J070v09n03_02. PMID 17521989. "A review of the relevant literature demonstrates that the existence of such a syndrome lacks general acceptance in the mental health field, and that the construct is based on a series of faulty assumptions, many of which have been scientifically disproven. There is a similar lack of empirical validation for claims of a "false memory" epidemic. It is concluded that in the absence of any substantive scientific support, "False Memory Syndrome" is best characterized as a pseudoscientific syndrome that was developed to defend against claims of child abuse." http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/res/dallam/6.html


2. Whitfield M.D., Charles L. (1995). Memory and Abuse - Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc. ISBN 1-55874-320-0.
http://books.google.com/books?id=z1LW3u1e04YC

3. Leadership Council - How often do children's reports of abuse turn out to be false? "Jones and McGraw examined 576 consecutive referrals of child sexual abuse to the Denver Department of Social Services, and categorized the reports as either reliable or fictitious. In only 1% of the total cases were children judged to have advanced a fictitious allegation. Jones, D. P. H., and J. M. McGraw: Reliable and Fictitious Accounts of Sexual Abuse to Children.Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2, 27-45, 1987.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/res/csa-acc.html

4. False allegations of child sexual abuse by children are rare
http://ritualabuse.us/research/false-allegations-of-child-sexual-abuse-by-children-are-rare/

5. Whitfield, Charles L.; Joyanna L. Silberg, Paul Jay Fink (2001). Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors. Haworth Press. ISBN 0789019019.

6. Recovered Memories - Child Abuse Wiki http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Recovered_Memories

7. Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998)."Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law" (W. W. Norton) ISBN 0-393-70254-5

8. Leavitt, F. (March 1997) False attribution of suggestibility to explain recovered memory of childhood sexual abuse following extended amnesia Child Abuse & Neglect - 21, 3, P. 265-272 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7N-3SWV6NV-7&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=bae98194eeabcbfb8a5dcaa602d5cc0b

9. Hall, J., Kondora, L. (2005) "True" and "False" Child Sexual Abuse Memories and Casey's Phenomenological View of Remembering American Behavioral Scientist, 48, 10 p. 1339-1359 DOI: 10.1177/0002764205277012 "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....Most scientists investigating traumatic memory doubt that memories of abuse could be planted."
http://abs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/48/10/1339?ijkey=ciZjJlFifgYIY&keytype=ref&siteid=spabs

10. Pezdek, Hodge, D. (1999) July-August Planting false childhood memories: The role of event plausibility Child Development 70(4) p.887-895 "One false event described the child lost in a mall while shopping (the plausible false event); the other false event described the child receiving a rectal enema (the implausible false event). The majority of the 39 children (54%) did not remember either false event. However, whereas 14 children recalled the plausible but not the implausible false event, only one child recalled the implausible but not the plausible false event; this difference was statistically significant." http://www.jstor.org/pss/1132249

11. Friesen, J. (1995) "The Truth About False Memory Syndrome, Huntington House Publisher ISBN: 1-56384-111-8 "The number of studies which have subjected false memory syndrome to scientific inquiry is zero. There is nothing scientific about it. There is nothing which defines it. There is no list of symptoms which describes it, nor is there anything which helps us distinguish it from other syndromes."

12. Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998)."Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law" (W. W. Norton) ISBN 0-393-70254-5

13. Crook, L. (1999) "Lost in a Shopping Mall"—a Breach of Professional Ethics Ethics & Behavior, (9, 1) P. 39-50 "An analysis of the mall study shows that beyond the external misrepresentations, internal scientific methodological errors cast doubt on the validity of the claims that have been attributed to the mall study within scholarly and legal arenas. The minimal involvement or, in some cases, negative impact of collegial consultation, academic supervision, and peer review throughout the evolution of the mall study are reviewed."
http://users.owt.com/crook/memory/

14. Hopper, J. Elizabeth Loftus "Loftus is aware that those who study traumatic memory have for several years, based on a great deal of research and clinical experience, used the construct of dissociation to account for the majority of recovered memories. However, she continues to focus on and attack "repression" and "repressed memories," which has the effect of confusing and misleading many people." http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/#el

15. Pope, K. (1996) Memory, Abuse, and Science: Questioning Claims About the False Memory Syndrome Epidemic American Psychologist 51: 957. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.51.9.957 "Does the trauma specified in the lost-in-the-mall experiment seem comparable to the trauma forming the basis of false memory syndrome? Loftus (1993) described the implanted traumatic event in the shopping-mall experiment as follows: "Chris was convinced by his older brother Jim, that he had been lost in a shopping mall when he was five years old" (p. 532). Does this seem, for example, a reasonable analogy for a five-year-old girl being repeatedly raped by her father?....Is it possible that the findings are an artifact of this particular design, for example, that the older family member claims to have been present when the event occurred and to have witnessed it, a claim the therapist can never make? To date, replications and extensions of this study have tended to use a similar methodology; that is, either the older family member makes the suggestions in his or her role as the experimenter's confederate, or the experimenter presents the suggestion as being the report of an older family member, thus creating a surrogate confederate."
http://www.kspope.com/memory/memory.php

16. Hoult, J. (2005)"Remembering Dangerously" & Hoult v. Hoult: The Myth of Repressed Memory that Elizabeth Loftus
http://www.rememberingdangerously.com/

17. Information on Ralph Underwager
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/ralph-underwager/

18. PAIDIKA INTERVIEW:HOLLIDA WAKEFIELD AND RALPH UNDERWAGER Part I http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/NudistHallofShame/Underwager2.html

19. Witness for Mr. Bubbles Transcribed from "Australia 60 Minutes," Channel Nine Network (Aired on August 5, 1990 in Australia) Produced by Anthony Mcclellan; Reported by Mike Munro
http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/NudistHallofShame/MrBubbles.html

20. Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Anna Salter, Et Al., Defendants-Appellees. 22 F.3d 730 (7th Cir. 1994) Federal Circuits, 7th Cir. (April 25, 1994) Docket number: 93-2422
http://vlex.com/vid/36092881

21. Salter, A. (June 1998) Confessions of a Whistle-Blower: Lessons Learned Ethics & Behavior 8(2) p.115 - 124 DOI: 10.1207/s15327019eb0802_2 Abstract - In 1988 I began a report on the accuracy of expert testimony in child sexual abuse cases utilizing Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield as a case study (Wakefield & Underwager, 1988). In response, Underwager and Wakefield began a campaign of harassment and intimidation, which included multiple lawsuits; an ethics charge; phony (and secretly taped) phone calls; and ad hominem attacks, including one that I was laundering federal grant monies. The harassment and intimidation failed as the author refused demands to retract. In addition, the lawsuits and ethics charges were dismissed. Lessons learned from the experience are discussed.
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/confessions-of-a-whistle-blower-lessons-learned/

22. Calof, D.L. (1998). Notes from a practice under siege: Harassment, defamation, and intimidation in the name of science Ethics and Behavior, 8(2) p. 161-187. "For over three years, however, a group of proponents of the false memory syndrome (FMS) hypothesis, including members, officials, and supporters of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, Inc., have waged a multi-modal campaign of harassment and defamation directed against me, my clinical clients, my staff, my family, and others connected to me. I have neither treated these harassers or their families, nor had any professional or personal dealings with any of them; I am not related in any way to the disclosures of memories of sexual abuse in these families. Nonetheless, this group disrupts my professional and personal life and threatens to drive me out of business. In this article, I describe practicing psychotherapy under a state of siege and places the campaign against me in the context of a much broader effort in the FMS movement to denigrate, defame, and harass clinicians, lecturers, writers, and researchers identified with the abuse and trauma treatment communities.
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/notes-from-a-practice-under-siege/

23. Hoult, J. (June 1998) The Politics of Discrediting Child Abuse Survivors Ethics & Behavior, 8(2), p. 125 - 140 "As a victim of child abuse who proved my claims in a landmark civil suit, there have been many attempts to silence and discredit me. This article provides an overview of my court case and its effects....I believe that published documents demonstrate how some members and supporters of false memory groups publish false statements that defame and intimidate victims of proven violence and their supporters. Such altered accounts are used to discredit others in court and in the press."
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a784402312~db

24. Freyd, J. (June 1998) Science in the Memory Debate Ethics & Behavior, 8(2), p. 101 - 113 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a784402310~db

25. Stanton, M. (July/August 1997) U-Turn on Memory Lane Columbia Journalism Review "Rarely has such a strange and little-understood organization had such a profound effect on media coverage of such a controversial matter. The foundation is an aggressive, well-financed p.r. machine adept at manipulating the press, harassing its critics, and mobilizing a diverse army of psychiatrists, outspoken academics, expert defense witnesses, litigious lawyers, Freud bashers, critics of psychotherapy, and devastated parents. With a budget of $750,000 a year from members and outside supporters, the foundation's reach far exceeds its actual membership of about 3,000." "As controversial memory cases arose around the country, FMSF boosters contacted journalists to pitch the false-memory argument, more and more reporters picked up on the issue, and the foundation became an overnight media darling. The story line that had dominated the press since the 1980s — an underreported toll of sexual abuse, including sympathetic stories of adult survivors resurrecting long-lost memories of it — was quickly turned around. The focus shifted to new tearful victims — respectable, elderly parents who could no longer see their children and grandchildren because of bad therapists who implanted memories."
http://web.archive.org/web/20071216011151/http://backissues.cjrarchives.org/year/97/4/memory.asp

26. Packard, N. (April, 2004) Battle Tactics of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation New School for Social Research, N.Y. History Matters Conference "Kondora's and Beckett's studies indicate that the Foundation has been successful in many of its efforts to manage public perception of child abuse victims, therapists and the people accused of child abuse. Kondora and Beckett show that not only has public perception of victimized children become skeptical, but in fact, the press often goes beyond the Victorian custom of neutrality on all fronts of the issue, to out-right sympathy for accused molesters."
http://www.newschool.edu/nssr/historymatters/papers/NoelPackard.pdf

27. Whitfield, C. L. (2001). The "false memory" defense: Using disinformation and junk science in and out of court. In Whitfield, C. L., Silberg, J. Fink, P. J. Eds. (2001). Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors New York: Hawthorn Press, Inc. (pp. 53 - 78) also in Haworth Press, Special Issue on Disinformation, Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 9(3 & 4) "Attorneys for accused, convicted or found-responsible child molesters tend to use a superficially sophisticated argument, which can be described as the "false memory defense." This defense is fraught with disinformation, smoke screens, and other untruths that are a distortion of what the available science of the psychology of trauma and memory shows. In this article, this seemingly sophisticated, but actually mostly contrived and often erroneous defense, is described and it is compared in a brief review to what the science says about the effect of trauma on memory." "Abstract: This article describes a seemingly sophisticated, but mostly contrived and often erroneous "false memory" defense, and compares it in a brief review to what the science says about the effect of trauma on memory. Child sexual abuse is widespread and dissociative/traumatic amnesia for it is common. Accused, convicted and self-confessed child molesters and their advocates have crafted a strategy that tries to negate their abusive, criminal behavior, which we can call a "false memory" defense. Each of 22 of the more commonly used components of this defense is described and discussed with respect to what the science says about them. Armed with this knowledge, survivors, their clinicians, and their attorneys will be better able to refute this defense of disinformation."
http://childabuse.georgiacenter.uga.edu/both/whitfield/whitfield1.phtml

Bibliography

* Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998)."Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law" (W. W. Norton) ISBN 0-393-70254-5

* Freyd, Jennifer J. (1996). Betrayal Trauma - The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-06805-x.

* Knopp, Fay Honey (1996). A Primer on the Complexities of Traumatic Memory of Childhood Sexual Abuse - A Psychobiological Approach. Brandon, VT: Safer Society Press. ISBN 1-884444-20-2.

* Whitfield M.D., Charles L. (1995). Memory and Abuse - Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc. ISBN 1-55874-320-0.

* Whitfield, Charles L.; Joyanna L. Silberg, Paul Jay Fink (2001). Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors. Haworth Press. ISBN 0789019019.

External Links

* Memory, Abuse, and Science: Questioning Claims about the False Memory Syndrome Epidemic http://www.kspope.com/memory/memory.php

* False Memory Syndrome A False Construct Feminista! v2, n10
http://web.archive.org/web/20030608221633/http://www.feminista.com/v1n9/false-memory.html

* False memory syndrome proponents tactics "False memory syndrome proponents have done the following to try and ensure that only their point of view is in the public view." http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/false-memory-syndrome-proponents-tactics/

Recovered Memories From Child Abuse Wiki

Recovered Memories From Child Abuse Wiki

http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Recovered_Memories

copied with permission

Recovered memories have been defined as the phenomenon of partially or fully losing parts of memories of traumatic events, and then later recovering part or all of the memories into conscious awareness. They have also been defined as the recollections of memories that are believed to have been unavailable for a certain period of time[1]. There is very strong scientific evidence that recovered memories exist.[2] This has been shown in many scientific studies. The content of recovered memories have fairly high corroboration rates.

Contents
* 1 Scientific evidence
* 2 Corroboration rates
* 3 References
* 4 Bibliography
* 5 External Links

Scientific evidence

There are many studies that have proven that the recovered memories of traumatic events exist. Brown, Scheflin and Hammond found 43 studies that showed recovered memories for traumatic events[3]. The Recovered Memory Project has collected 101 corroborated cases of recovered memories[4]. Hopper's research shows that amnesia for childhood sexual abuse is "beyond dispute." He states that "at least 10% of people sexually abused in childhood will have periods of complete amnesia for their abuse, followed by experiences of delayed recall" [5] In one study of women with previously documented histories of sexual abuse, 38% of the women did not remember the abuse that had happened 17 years before.[6] Most recovered memories either precede therapy or the use of memory recovery techniques[7]. One studied showed that five out of 19 women with histories of familial sexual abuse either forgot specific details or had "blank periods" for these memories[8]. Another study showed that "40% reported a period of forgetting some or all of the abuse"[9]. Herman and Harvey's study showed that 16% of abuse survivors had "complete amnesia followed by delayed recall"[10]. Corwin's individual case study provides evidence of the existence of recovered memories on videotape[11].

Other researchers state:

Research has shown that traumatized individuals respond by using a variety of psychological mechanisms. One of the most common means of dealing with the pain is to try and push it out of awareness. Some label the phenomenon of the process whereby the mind avoids conscious acknowledgment of traumatic experiences as dissociative amnesia. Others use terms such as repression, dissociative state, traumatic amnesia, psychogenic shock, or motivated forgetting. Semantics aside, there is near-universal scientific acceptance of the fact that the mind is capable of avoiding conscious recall of traumatic experiences.[12]

A body of empirical evidence indicates that it is common for abused children to reach adulthood without conscious awareness of the trauma[13]
Corroboration rates

Many studies show high corroboration rates for recovered memories of traumatic events. These rates vary from 50 - 75%[14], 64%[13], 77%[15], 50%[16], 75%[17] 68%[18] 47%[9], and 70% [19]. One study showed amnesia in 12 murderers, with "objective evidence of severe abuse...obtained in 11 cases"[20]. There are also additional studies showing the corroboration of recovered memories[21][22][23][24].

References

1. What about Recovered Memories? Jennifer J. Freyd, University of Oregon http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/whatabout.html
2. Research discussing corroboration and accuracy of recovered memories: An Annotated Bibliography by Lynn Crook http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/suggestedrefs.html
3. Brown, Scheflin, & Whitfield. (1999). Recovered Memories: The Current Weight of the Evidence in Science and in the Courts Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 27, 5-156. "Brown, Scheflin and Hammond reviewed 43 studies relevant to the subject of traumatic memory and found that every study that examined the question of dissociative amnesia in traumatized populations demonstrated that a substantial minority partially or completely forget the traumatic event experienced, and later recover memories of the event. By 1999, over 68 studies had been published that document dissociative amnesia after childhood sexual abuse. In fact, no study that has looked for evidence of traumatic or dissociative amnesia after child sexual abuse has failed to find it." http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/prev.html
4. The Recovered Memory Project http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/index.html
5. Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse - Scientific Research & Scholarly Resources by Jim Hopper "Amnesia for childhood sexual abuse is a condition. The existence of this condition is beyond dispute. Repression is merely one explanation - often a confusing and misleading one - for what causes the condition of amnesia. At least 10% of people sexually abused in childhood will have periods of complete amnesia for their abuse, followed by experiences of delayed recall." http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/
6. Williams LM (1994). Recall of childhood trauma: a prospective study of women's memories of child sexual abuse. J Consult Clin Psychol 62: 1167–76. PMID 7860814. "One hundred twenty-nine women with previously documented histories of sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked detailed questions about their abuse histories to answer the question "Do people actually forget traumatic events such as child sexual abuse, and if so, how common is such forgetting?" A large proportion of the women (38%) did not recall the abuse that had been reported 17 years earlier." http://www.hss.caltech.edu/courses/2004-05/winter/psy130/Debate2Williams1.pdf
7. Andrews, B., Brewin, C., Ochera, J., Morton, J., Bekerian, D., Davies, G., and Mollon, P. (1999). Characteristics, context and consequences of memory recovery among adults in therapy. Brit J Psychiatry 175:141-146. "Of a total of 690 clients, therapists reported that 65% recalled child sexual abuse and 35% recalled other traumas, 32% started recovering memories before entering therapy. According to therapists' accounts, among the 236 detailed client cases, very few appeared improbable and corroboration was reported in 41%. Most (78%) of the clients' initial recovered memories either preceded therapy or preceded the use of memory recovery techniques used by the respondents. Techniques seemed to be used more to help the clients to elaborate the memories than to facilitate their initial recovery. Clients with whom techniques had been used before the first reported memory recovery were no less likely to have found corroborating evidence than clients with whom no techniques had been used before memory recovery."
8. Bagley, C. (1995). The prevalence and mental health sequels of child sexual abuse in community sample of women aged 18 to 27. Child sexual abuse and mental health in adolescents and adults. Aldershot: Avebury. "Study of women 18-24 years who had been removed from home 10 years previously by social services due to intrafamilial sexual abuse. Of the 19 women for whom there was evidence of serious sexual abuse, 14 remembered events corresponding to their records. Two remembered that abuse had taken place but could recall no specific details, and three had no memory. Two of the last three described long blank periods for the memory of childhood corresponding to the age when abuse had taken place.
9. Feldman-Summers, S., & Pope, K. S. (1994). The experience of forgetting childhood abuse: A national survey of psychologists. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 636-639. "A national sample of psychologists were asked whether they had been abused as children and, if so, whether they had ever forgotten some or all of the abuse. Almost a quarter of the sample (23.9%) reported childhood abuse, and of those, approximately 40% reported a period of forgetting some or all of the abuse....Of those abused, 40% did not remember at some time. 47% had corroboration. 56% said psychotherapy aided in recall. Differences between those who first recalled abuse in therapy and those who recalled it elsewhere were not significant.
10. Herman, J. L., & Harvey, M. R. (1997). Adult memories of childhood trauma: A naturalistic clinical study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10, 557-571. "Roughly half (53%) said they had never forgotten the traumatic events. Two smaller groups described a mixture of continuous and delayed recall (17%) or a period of complete amnesia followed by delayed recall (16%). Patients with and without delayed recall did not differ significantly in the proportions reporting corroboration of their memories from other sources."
11. Corwin, D.; Olafson E. (1997). Videotaped Discovery of a Reportedly Unrecallable Memory of Child Sexual Abuse:Comparison with a Childhood Interview Videotaped 11 Years Before Child Maltreatment 2 (2): 91–112. doi:10.1177/1077559597002002001 http://cmx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/2/91
12. The Leadership Council - Trauma and Memory http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/tm.html
13. "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 "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
14. Corroboration of Child Abuse Memories "Studies vary in frequency. Between 31 and 64 percent of abuse survivors in six major studies reported that they forgot "some of the abuse." Numbers reporting severe amnesia ranged from under 12% to 59%....Studies report 50-75% of abuse survivors corroborating the facts of their abuse through an outside source." http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/abuse/a/cooroborate.htm
15. van der Kolk, BA & R Fisler (1995), "Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study", J Traumatic Stress 8: 505–25 "a systematic exploratory study of 46 subjects with PTSD which indicates that traumatic memories are retrieved, at least initially, in the form of dissociated mental imprints of sensory and affective elements of the traumatic experience: as visual, olfactory, affective, auditory and kinesthetic experiences. Over time, subjects reported the gradual emergence of a personal narrative that some believe can be properly referred to as "explicit memory"....Of the 35 subjects with childhood trauma, 15 (43%) had suffered significant, or total amnesia for their trauma at some time of their lives. Twenty seven of the 35 subjects with childhood trauma (77%) reported confirmation of their childhood trauma." http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk2.php
16. "Recovered memories of abuse among therapy patients: A national survey." Pope, Kenneth S.; Tabachnick, Barbara G. Independent practice, Norwalk, CT, US Ethics & Behavior 1995 Vol 5(3) 237-248 "about 50% of the patients who claimed to have recovered the memories had found external validation, a percentage that coincides with that obtained in the Feldman-Summers & Pope, 1994 study"
17. Herman, J L.; Schatzow E (1987). Recovery and verification of memories of childhood sexual trauma. Psychoanalytic Psychol 4. "Three out of four patients were able to validate their memories by obtaining corroborating evidence from other sources" http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ppsy.004.0001a
18. Kluft, RP (1995). The confirmation and disconfirmation of memories of abuse in Dissociative Identity Disorder patients: A naturalistic study. Dissociation 8: 253-8. "Nineteen, or 56%, had instances of the confirmation of recalled abuses. Ten of the 19, or 53%, had always recalled the abuses that were confirmed. However, 13 of the 19, or 68%, obtained documentation of events that were recovered in the course of therapy, usually with the use of hypnosis. Three patients, or 9%, had instances in which the inaccuracy of their recollection could be demonstrated." https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/1155/Dis_8_4_9_ocr.pdf?sequence=1
19. Westerhof, Y., Woertman, L. Van der Hart, O., & Nijenhuis, E.R.S. (2000). Forgetting child abuse: Feldman-Summers and Pope's (1994) study replicated among Dutch psychologists. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 7, 220-229. "In a replication of Feldman-Summers and Pope's (1994) national survey of American psychologists on ‘forgetting' childhood abuse, a Dutch sample of 500 members of the Netherlands Institute of Psychologists (NIP) were asked if they had been abused as children and, if so, whether they had ever forgotten some or all of the abuse for some significant period of time. As compared to the 23.9% in the original study, 13.3% reported childhood abuse. Of that subgroup, 39% (as compared to 40% in the original study) reported a period of forgetting some or all of the abuse for a period of time. Both sexual and non-sexual physical abuse were subject to forgetting, which in 70% of cases was reversed while being in therapy. Almost 70% of those who reported forgetting also reported corroboration of the abuse."
20. Lewis, D., Yeager, C., Swica, Y., Pincus, J. and Lewis, M. (1997). Objective documentation of child abuse and dissociation in 12 murderers with dissociative identity disorder. Am J Psychiatry, 154(12):1703-10. "Signs and symptoms of dissociative identity disorder in childhood and adulthood were corroborated independently and from several sources in all 12 cases; objective evidence of severe abuse was obtained in 11 cases. The subjects had amnesia for most of the abuse and underreported it. Marked changes in writing style and/or signatures were documented in 10 cases. CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes, once and for all, the linkage between early severe abuse and dissociative identity disorder."
21. Martinez-Taboas, A. (1996). Repressed memories: Some clinical data contributing toward its elucidation. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 50(2), 217-30. "the author presents two well documented and corroborated cases of dissociated or delayed memories of child sexual abuse in patients with a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). The patients had absolutely no conscious memory of their childhood abusive experiences and in both cases the author obtained definite and clear cut independent corroboration of the realities of the abuse. The amnesia was documented and memories were recovered in the course of treatment."
22. Viederman M. (1995). The reconstruction of a repressed sexual molestation fifty years later. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 43(4): 1169-1219. Reconstruction of a previously completely repressed memory of sexual molestation. Six years following termination of analysis, the patient wrote a letter describing a confirmation of the event, now sixty years past, from the sole other survivor of the period who had knowledge of what had happened.
23. Bull, D. (1999). A verified case of recovered memories of sexual abuse. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 53(2), 221-224. "a 40-year-old woman with no history of mental illness and ten years of exemplary professional work, recovers memories of childhood sexual abuse by her father through a call from her youth pastor in whom she had confided as an adolescent."
24. Dahlenberg, C. (1996, Summer) Accuracy, timing and circumstances of disclosure in therapy of recovered and continuous memories of abuse. The Journal of Psychiatry and Law. "Seventeen patients who had recovered memories of abuse in therapy participated in a search for evidence confirming or refuting these memories. Memories of abuse were found to be equally accurate whether recovered or continuously remembered."

Bibliography

1. Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (D. Corydon), 1998, "Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law" W. W. Norton (0-393-70254-5)
2. Knopp, F. H. & Benson, A. R. (1996) A primer on the complexities of traumatic memory childhood sexual abuse; a psychobiological approach. Brandon, VT : Safer Society Press
3. Leavitt, Ph.D., F. Manufactured Memory, Altered Belief and Self Report Mirage: The Alleged False Memory of Jean Piaget. Child Abuse & Neglect, 1999, 23, No. 12, pp. 1221-1224. [1]
4. van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the score: Memory and the evolving psychobiology of post traumatic stress. http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk4.php
5. van der Kolk, B. A. & Fisler, R. (1995) Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study. http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk2.php
6. Whitfield M.D.,C. Memory and Abuse - Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma Health Communications, Inc 3201 SW 15th St, Deerfield Beach, FL.33442-8190.
7. Whitfield M.D.,C. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 4, 2, 1997, Brunner/Mazel.Inc. c 1997, Traumatic Amnesia: The Evolution of Our Understanding From a Clinical and Legal Perspective
8. Whitfield M.D., C. Traumatic Amnesia: The Evolution of Our Understanding From A Clinical and Legal Perspective(Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity, 4(2), 3-34, 1997)
9. Whitfield M.D., C. Trauma and Memory: Clinical & legal understanding of traumatic amnesia (Chapter 12) in Burgess, Ann W. (ed): Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nursing. Appleton & Lange, Stamford, Ct., 1998, pp 171-186.
10. Widom, C. and Shepard, R. (1996). Accuracy of adult recollections of childhood victimization: Part 1. Psychological Assessment, 8(4), 412-421. "accuracy of adult recollections of childhood physical abuse was assessed. Two hour in-person interviews were conducted in young adulthood with 1,196 of the original 1,575 participants. Two measures (including the Conflict Tactics Scale) were used to assess histories of childhood physical abuse. Results indicate good discriminant validity and predictive efficiency of the self-report measures, despite substantial underreporting by physically abused respondents."
11. Widom, C. and Shepard, R. (1997). Accuracy of adult recollections of childhood victimization. Part 2. Childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Assessment 9: 34-46. "A prospective study in which abused and neglected children (court substantiated) [N=1,114] were matched with non-abused and neglected children and followed into adulthood. There was substantial underreporting of sexual abuse, when compared to court and medical records. Victimization recall was checked by comparing crimes disclosed in victimization surveys found in police records."

External Links

1. Recovered Memory Data http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/
2. Recovered memory corroboration rates http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-corroboration-rates/