Extremely Lame-O Article on the “Consensus” of Repressed Memories

Doug Bremner — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:16:45 +0000

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.

Before You Take That Pill » repressed memory

Extremely Lame-O Article on the “Consensus” of Repressed Memories