On the nature, reliability and abuses of memory.

[Whateverist]

Not sure how many here know about or know someone who was affected by the "recovered memories" movement in psychotherapy.  One of my wife's younger sisters attended a recovered memories group in researching a book she wanted to write.  In the course of doing so she became convinced she'd been the victim of sexual abuse.  At first she didn't know by whom but over time she decided it had been her father and that her mother was an "enabler".  My wife Lia and I responded at first believing there must be something to it.  But when Lia would not concede that she too had been a victim the sister cut us and her parents out of her and her family's lives.  When Lia's mother died she sent a card to her father expressing the wish that this be a time of remembering.  Both of their parents died being shunned by this daughter and Lia's younger sister (who also underwent recovered memories therapy at the urging of the middle sister).  This has happened in many families.

I find it remarkable that the psychotherapy community allows such practices to continue when they are so destructive and have no therapeutic value.  A person with real symptoms comes in and essentially loses part of their familial support system.  No study has ever shown that hypnosis or guided imagining to probe traumatic memories has any therapeutic value.  More often 'patients' become worse and become angry, withdrawn and ever more drawn to the therapist.  It is a pretty stunningly horrible phenomenon to discover when it does strike someone you know.

This Ted talk video by a respected psychological researcher investigates the nature of memory, specifically the conditions under which false memories can be planted.  I think it is useful for those of us skeptically inclined to know to how fragile memory really is.  We all know that theist testimonials aren't worth a lot.  Turns out that all first hand witnesses should be looked at with equal skepticism.  It always requires corroborating evidence to be of any value.


https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_loft...=tedspread

[ScienceAf]

Not sure how many here know about or know someone who was affected by the "recovered memories" movement in psychotherapy.  One of my wife's younger sisters attended a recovered memories group in researching a book she wanted to write.  In the course of doing so she became convinced she'd been the victim of sexual abuse.  At first she didn't know by whom but over time she decided it had been her father and that her mother was an "enabler".  My wife Lia and I responded at first believing there must be something to it.  But when Lia would not concede that she too had been a victim the sister cut us and her parents out of her and her family's lives.  When Lia's mother died she sent a card to her father expressing the wish that this be a time of remembering.  Both of their parents died being shunned by this daughter and Lia's younger sister (who also underwent recovered memories therapy at the urging of the middle sister).  This has happened in many families.

I find it remarkable that the psychotherapy community allows such practices to continue when they are so destructive and have no therapeutic value.  A person with real symptoms comes in and essentially loses part of their familial support system.  No study has ever shown that hypnosis or guided imagining to probe traumatic memories has any therapeutic value.  More often 'patients' become worse and become angry, withdrawn and ever more drawn to the therapist.  It is a pretty stunningly horrible phenomenon to discover when it does strike someone you know.

This Ted talk video by a respected psychological researcher investigates the nature of memory, specifically the conditions under which false memories can be planted.  I think it is useful for those of us skeptically inclined to know to how fragile memory really is.  We all know that theist testimonials aren't worth a lot.  Turns out that all first hand witnesses should be looked at with equal skepticism.  It always requires corroborating evidence to be of any value.


https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_loft...=tedspread

Fuckin'... God.
Jesuusssss!
Praise the Lord as these fools throw their bodies on the floor!

I honestly don't know what to say but I think people like this just want pure attention to boost their ego.

[Whateverist]

Fuckin'... God.
Jesuusssss!
Praise the Lord as these fools throw their bodies on the floor!

I honestly don't know what to say but I think people like this just want pure attention to boost their ego.

That probably does feed into it. This middle sister has always told stories in which she is the hero saving someone from something. Now she is trying to save the future from satanic rituals. So very weird.

[ScienceAf]

Fuckin'... God.
Jesuusssss!
Praise the Lord as these fools throw their bodies on the floor!

I honestly don't know what to say but I think people like this just want pure attention to boost their ego.

That probably does feed into it.  This middle sister has always told stories in which she is the hero saving someone from something.  Now she is trying to save the future from satanic rituals.  So very weird.

People also make themselves victims to get appraised and noticed.

[Jackalope]

If I recall correctly, my own memory is quite faulty. Or is it?

[Whateverist]

It is the people who believe memory is infallible you've got to watch out for.

[Thumpalumpacus]

What was the OP about, again?

[Whateverist]

What was the OP about, again?

This lady and others have done some well respected research into the way false memories can be implanted.  When you combine that with people's naive assumption that memory is like a video recording, in there somewhere recorded with perfect fidelity, you can get bad results if those assumptions are reflected in the legal system.