Making monsters : false memories, psychotherapy, and sexual hysteria PDF
Preview Making monsters : false memories, psychotherapy, and sexual hysteria
Copyrightedm,s:rrial MAKING MONSTERS This One MAKING MONSTERS False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watters UNIVERSITYOFCALIFORNIAPRESS Berkeley • LosAngeles UniversityofCaliforniaPress BerkeleyandLosAngeles,California Copyright©1994byRichardOfsheandEthanWatters Allrightsreserved,includingtherighttoreproducethisbookorportionsthereof inanyformwhatsoever. FirstPaperbackPrinting1996 PublishedbyarrangementwithScribner,animprintofSimon&SchusterInc. DESIGNEDBYERICHHOBBING ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Ofshe,Richard. Makingmonsters:falsememories,psychotherapy,andsexual hysteria/RichardOfsheandEthanWatters. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-520-20583-9(pbk.:alk.paper) 1. Falsememorysyndrome. 2. Recoveredmemory. I. Watters, Ethan. II. Title. RC455.2.F35037 1996 616.85'822390651-dc20 95-49014 CIP Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsof AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—Permanenceof PaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48-1984.© Copyrigritedmalerial Forourparents, with whom wesharecherishedmemories Copyrightedmaterial Contents Preface ix Introduction l1 1. The Myths ofMemory 11c? 2. EffortAfter Meaning t!> 3. Symptoms ofPseudoscience AS 4. Creation ofthe Abuse Narrative 02 5. Investmentin Belief 1IV0/7/ 6. Life with Father 173 7. Hypnosis and theCreation ofPseudomemories 11J7 8. TwoCases ofHypnotic StoryCreation 155 9. Reason and Darkness:The Strange Stories ofSatanicAbuse 117/7/ 10. Multiple Personality Disorder:The Creation ofa Sickness 205 11. Therapyofa High Priestess 225 12. The Murder, theWitness, andthe Psychiatrist 253 13. Deaths in the Family 273 Conclusion:TheEtiologyofRecoveredMemoryTherapy 289 Afterword:RecoveredMemoryTherapyinPerspective 305 Appendix:ThreePapers 325 Notes 333 Bibliography 343 Index 353 Preface Wehavewritten thisbookasabitterdebatehas ragedoverthepractices ofrecovered memory therapy and the treatmentofmultiple personality disorder. Accordingly, this work is part applied social science and part dispatches from the front lines ofa growing controversy. Ourgoal is to prove beyond doubt that devastating mistakes are being made within certain therapy settings. By relyingon thepublished works ofrecovered memorycliniciansforthebulkofourevidence, we intendtoshowthat these mistakes are notbeing made by aberrant clinicians but by a sub- stantial group oftherapists who have created a movement replete with scholarly and how-to books, conferences for clinicians, journals, news- letters,andaraftofprominentexperts.Thisworkisintendedasanexpose ofa pseudoscientific enterprise that is damaging the lives ofpeople in need. While we have tried, for the most part, to evaluate the recov—ered memory mov—ement dispassionately, we make no attempt to hide or apologizefor theangerthatexistsbetweenthelinesofthisbook. Over thelastseveralyears, aswehaveconductedresearchandwrittentogether and separately aboutrecovered memory therapy, we have witnessed the damage this therapeutic enthusiasm has caused to patients and their families. Theanguishandsadnesswehaveseenhasmotivatedourwork. WewouldliketothankDr. FrankWattersforhistirelessresearchwork overthecourseofthisproject. OureditoratScribners, HamiltonCain, deservesrecognitionforhisguidance, commitment, and vision, asdoes Bonnie Nadell ofFrederickHillandAssociatesforhersupportthrough- out. WewouldalsoliketothankMichelle Cottle, ScottJohnson,Laura Martin, Jenia Walter, Fred Sawyer, and AndrewAttaway for their con- tributions. PoBronsonandHilaryFoxwerekindandthoughtfulreaders ofspecial note. We gratefully acknowledge Society magazine for pub- lishingourarticle, "MakingMonsters" (March-April 1993). EthanWattersgratefull—yacknowledgesseveralpastandpresenteditors atMotherJonesm—agazine DougFoster, JeffreyKlein, PeggyOrenstein, and DavidWeir fortheirunflinchingsupportofhisearlyworkonthis ix Copylightedmatrial X PREFACE controversial topic. In addition, he would like to recognize the encour- agement of others over the years, including Ashley Craddock, Charis Conn, Jim Conklin, Jeff Davis, Sarah Donohoe, Rebecca Ferrini, Lawrence Gallagher, Jody Hood, Jim Humes, David Robertson, Paul Tough,SeanWagstaff,andMarkWarren. RichardOfshewouldlike torecognizeMartinOrne, MargaretSinger, ElizabethLoftus,and UlricNeisser,whoseworkhasinfluencedhisown researchandhashadamajorimpactonthedebateoverrecoveredmem- orytherapy. HealsowouldliketoexpresshisappreciationtotheThurston CountyProsecutor's Office for retaininghim to analyze the allegations againstPaul Ingramandtherebygivinghimtheopportunitytostudythe effects ofrecovered memorytechniques ina unique fashion. He would alsoliketothankLarryWrightforbringinginternationalattentiontothe plight ofPaul Ingram. In particular he would like to acknowledge the patience,understanding,andsupportofBonnieBlairOfshe. Copyrightedmalarial MAKING MONSTERS Copyrightedmaterial Introduction For nearly a decade a segment of the psychotherapy community has offered recovered memory therapy to women and a few men suffering from disorders ranging from depression and headachestoschizophrenia andarthritis. These recovered memoryspecialists maintain thatpatients often carryburied memories ofhavingbeen sexuallyabusedaschildren orinfantsandthatthoseabuses,whilehidden,aretheroottotheircurrent troubles. Further, these therapists believe that helping their clients unearth these repressed memoriescan curethedisorderthepatientpre- sents. This treatment is not specific to one branch of psychotherapy. Recovered memoryspecialistscomefromthe ranksofpsychiatrists, psy- chologists, social workers, new-age gurus, marriageand familycounsel- ors, and those who, without a degree, simply proclaim themselves "therapists."Becausetherapistsfrommanyschoolsoftherapysharefun- damentally similarbeliefs in the powerofthe unconscious and in their ability to retrieve long-banished knowledge, recovered memory therapy can be found in psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy, gestalt, new-age coun- seling, and many other ofthe two hundred talk therapies thatpopulate our social landscape. Unliketreatments intendedtoaid patientssufferingfromtheshockof rapeorgrapplingwith lifelongmemories ofchildhoodsexualabuse, the axiom of recovered memory therapy is that the patient will have no knowledgeofthesexualtraumabeforetreatment. Patientscanbeginthe therapy with no memories ofabuse and finish—with the beliefthat they suffered endless horrible molestations or rapes often by their parents. Recovered memory therapists expect that patients will not only be am- nesiac forthe trauma in theirpastbutthatthey will alsodisbelieve the therapist'sinitialsuggestionthattheysufferedsexualassaultsaschildren. Ingeneral,patientswhocometobelievetheyhaverecoveredmemories ofchild abuse fall into three categories. The mostcommon example of 1 Copyrightedmaterial
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