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I couldn’t believe it when I opened the New York Times this morning and read the rather shoddy article about the case of convicted Boston pedophile priest Paul R. Shanley, who was convicted after one of his victims had a recall of being abused by him after hearing about another case. Shanley is now appealing his conviction based on an argument against the validity of repressed memory. What gets me is that the chowder headed reporters on this article quoted a certain Harrison G. Pope, Jr, a professor of Psychiatry at Harvard, as saying “My impression is there continues to be a few scientists who honestly believe that it is actually possible for someone to be involved in a traumatic event and not be able to remember it at all. But you cannot argue that it is generally accepted” (which is the legal standard for admission of evidence).
Helloooo?
Other than one article which was cited in a chowder-headed review paper on PTSD which I previously picked apart here, Pope really hasn’t done much research on PTSD. My guess is that he has profited handsomely from working as an expert witness in PTSD cases, something which was not disclosed in the NYT article.
Pope was actually one of the signers of the “Bogus Letter to Remove Dissociative Disorders from DSM“, along with my friends the monacle, the evil leprachaun, and other pedophile apologists. Let’s watch them dance around the maypole “one more time” (this time with feeling).
From L to R: Numan Gharaibeh MD, August Piper MD, Pamela Freyd PhD, Joel Paris MD, Joanne Iurato PhD, Elizabeth Loftus PhD, Donna Pellerin MD (in front), Harold Merskey MD, Richard McNally PhD, James Hudson MD, Harrison Pope MD (in front), Paul McHugh MD (green hat) (not included in picture) Brian Boffi MD, Alexander Miano MD, Jennifer Ballew DO
There is no evidence presented that gaps in memory for traumatic events do not exist because, frankly, there is none. I have already extensively debunked arguments agains the validity of amnesia for traumatic events here, for those interested. Dissociative amnesia is a recognized diagnosis in the DSM, referring to gaps in memory not related to ordinary forgetfulness. It’s link to trauma is established by ample research studies which I reviewed in the prior post.
And now we are saying DSM does not represent consensus of opinion in the psychiatry field? Hey guys you are starting to sound a bit like me! But you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
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Its, not It’s. But nice item otherwise, nice blog!
While I do not doubt that traumatic memories may be repressed, I do not think anyone ought to be convicted based on memories that pop up after the supposed victim hears a news story. This strikes me like a witch hunt or money-grubbing efforts to defraud the church more than bona fide memories. Someone would not remember a thing until they hear a news story about the disgraced priest? A criminal conviction was based on that? It ought to be thrown out. What if someone reappeared from your past and said he/she suddenly remembered you molested him/her 20 years ago? He/she would have no proof and you would have no defense. What a travesty of justice.
I have an interesting (to me – you can take it or leave it!), little anecdote for you. I went on a NLP course, one time. I was doing some exercize with a guy who was full of bon homie (“a french term, meaning “bon homie”" (c) AA Milne).
But something had happened to him. At one point, later in the day, when we were being lectured on some point or other, he remembered, with full effect. He’d been bullied – in his perception, he’d been bullied horribly – ganged up on, apparently. This giant of a guy, built like a brick shithouse, was being visited by his past, and he was sobbing his heart out.
Now, I don’t know if, prior to this course, he recalled that event from time to time and pushed it from his consciousness, or whether he’d “forgotten” it altogether. Or maybe, just maybe, something told him that he was in the right environment to achieve resolution. It was startling, though – something triggered him to remember, and fortunately, there was somebody there to listen, this time.
Matt
I don’t think that most professionals who work in the field of child abuse doubt that this phenomenon exists, but there have been a number of well documented incidents that make the Salem Witch Trials look sane that have been precipitated by the uncritical acceptance of recovered memories. It is an area that requires much skill from the therapist and a modicum of skepticism. Reference the famous incident that occurred in Olympia, Washington in the 1980′s.