Return of the Furies An Investigation Into Recovered Memory Therapy

Hollida Wakefield

ISBN 10: 0812692721 / ISBN 13: 9780812692723

Published by Open Court, Chicago, 1994

About this Item

Suitable as a gift.

Seller Inventory # WG11sh059

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Return of the Furies An Investigation Into Recovered Memory Therapy
• Publisher: Open Court, Chicago
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0812692721
• ISBN 13: 9780812692723
• Binding: paperback
• Edition: First printing.
• Condition: As New
• Book Type: Book
• Seller catalogs:
  • 5

About this title

Synopsis

Recovered memory therapy, which has become a rapidly-growing industry in the past ten years, is based on the controversial theory that adults often suffer emotional problems because of forgotten childhood traumas. People who experience everyday difficulties like anxiety of overeating are now often told by therapists that the root of their trouble is a 'repressed memory' of abuse in childhood. The cure is to bring back the memory - a process that usually takes many months - and then publicly humiliate the alleged perpetrators of the abuse, most often the victim's parents. But are the supposed memories recovered in therapy genuine? Or are they concocted by therapists and clients in the course of therapy? Attempts to find independent corroboration of recovered memories have drawn a blank. Contrary to folklore, there is not a shred of scientific evidence for the notion that a memory can be repressed, and there is plenty of evidence that false memories can be created.

From Booklist

Pointing out that they "became actively involved in defending victims of child abuse long before it had become fashionable or lucrative," Wakefield and Underwager thoroughly investigate the practitioners, patients, and literature in this exploding field. Drawing heavily upon the cases of more than 200 retractions of child abuse charges, they show that thousands have been falsely accused. They look closely at the claims that "therapeutic truth" is more important than "research" and put their fingers on the logical and practical errors of such an approach. The theory of repression has no scientific supporting evidence, they contend, and they tell the story of the division in the American Psychological Association over this question, the breakaway of the more scientifically oriented psychologists, and the remaining group's failure to discipline nonscientific practitioners. Although most therapists believe they are doing good, Wakefield and Underwager argue that science and practice show that much of their work is not only harmful but destructive to accuser, accused, and society as a whole. William Beatty