False Memory Syndrome Foundation
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The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) is an organization that advocates on behalf of individuals who claim they have been falsely accused of child sexual abuse.[1] The FSMF was formed in 1992 by Pamela and Peter Freyd after they became aware that their adult daughter Jennifer Freyd, Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, believed that Peter Freyd had sexually abused her as a child. [2][3] Ralph Underwager, a defense expert witness in child sexual abuse cases, and his wife Hollida Wakefield, assisted in the founding of the FSMF. and in gathering an advisory board and a membership consisting mainly of parents who had been accused in a similar fashion, after the adult children had undergone some forms of therapy[1][4]
The FMSF originated the term false memory syndrome to describe their belief that adults who belatedly remember instances of sexual abuse from their childhood may be mistaken about the accuracy of their memory. From this, the Foundation hypothesized that these apparent memories may have been the artifacts of recovered memory therapy, another term introduced by the FSMF in the early 1990s.[5]
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[edit] Background
The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) was formed in 1992 by Pamela and Peter Freyd, with the support and encouragement of therapists Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager.[2][6] The Freyds were rapidly joined by a professionals with expertise in this area and by of parents who had been accused of child abuse by adult children who had expressed no memory of abuse before entering therapy. [1]
The founders of the FMS Foundation were concerned that the adult offsprings' devastating new beliefs about their childhoods developed because of therapy experiences that almost always included one of the following techniques used to "excavate hidden memories": hypnosis, relaxation exercises, guided imagery, drug-mediated interviews, body memories, literal dream interpretation, and journaling. It is the position of the FMSF that there is no scientific evidence that the use of consciousness-altering techniques such as these can reveal or accurately elaborate factual information about any past experiences, including sexual abuse. [7]
According to the FMS Foundation, "The controversy is not about whether children are abused. Child abuse is a serious social problem that requires our attention. Neither is the controversy about whether people may not remember past abuse. There are many reasons why people may not remember something: childhood amnesia, physical trauma, drugs or the natural decay of stored information. The controversy is about the accuracy of claims of recovered "repressed" memories of abuse. The consequences profoundly affect the law, the way therapy is practiced, families and people's lives." [8]
Members of the FMS Foundation Scientific Advisory Board now include a number of members of the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine: Aaron T. Beck, M.D., Rochel Gelman, Ph.D., Leila Gleitman, Ph.D., Ernest Hilgard, Ph.D. (deceased), Philip S. Holzman, Ph.D., Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D., Paul McHugh, M.D., and Ulric Neisser, Ph.D. The Scientific Advisory Board includes both clinicians and researchers. The FMS Foundation has no affiliations with any other organizations. It is funded by contributions and has no ties to any commercial ventures.
Writing under the pseudonym "Jane Doe", one year before she established the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, Pamela Freyd wrote a first-person account of her daughter's accusations of sexual misconduct against her husband, Peter Freyd, that appeared in a non-peer-reviewed journal published by co-founder of the FMSF, Ralph Underwager, and his wife Hollida Wakefield. [9][10]
The FMSF had over 2000 members in 1993. [11]
[edit] Ralph Underwager Controversy
In 1991, the FMS Foundation was the subject of a controversy concerning one member of the advisory board, Ralph Underwager, who made statements in a history that were interpreted as supportive of paedophiles. [10] In the controversy that followed, he resigned from the FMS Foundation Scientific Advisory Board. Underwager stated that the quotations in the Paidika article were taken out of context.[12]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Dallam, Stephanie J. (2001). "Crisis or Creation: A Systematic Examination of 'False Memory Syndrome'". Journal of Child Sexual Abuse (Haworth Press) Vol 9; No. 3/4, pp. 9-36. http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/res/dallam/6.html.
- ^ a b Freyd, J. (1996) Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Child Abuse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. The history of the confrontations between the Freyds and their daughter Jennifer is recounted in the Afterword, pages 197-199.
- ^ Hart, Anne (1995) "The Great Debate," MindNet Journal, vol. 1, #54.
- ^ False Memory Syndrome Foundation official website advisory board page
- ^ Whitfield, Charles L.; Joyanna L. Silberg, Paul Jay Fink (2001). Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors. Haworth Press. p. 56. ISBN 0789019019.
- ^ Hart, Anne (1995) "The Great Debate," MindNet Journal, vol. 1, #54.
- ^ Royal College of Physicians, 1997, quoted by FMSF.
- ^ FMS Foundation website.
- ^ Doe, Jane (1991), "How could this happen? Coping with a false accusation of incest and rape", Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, vol. 3, 154-165.
- ^ a b "Paidika Interview: Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager", Paidikia: The Journal of Pædophilia", Winter 1993.
- ^ Calof, DL (1993). "A Conversation With Pamela Freyd, Ph.D. Co-Founder And Executive Director, False Memory Syndrome Foundation, Inc". Treating Abuse Today 3 (3). http://fmsf.com/v3n3-pfreyd.shtml.
- ^ Underwager, Ralph, and Wakefield, Hollida. Misinterpretation of a Primary Prevention Effort
