False memory syndrome, Recovered memory 

The nation's leading expert on memory reveals how the current spate of sex abuse charges linked to ""repressed memories"" have little factual basis in scientific research and are often unwitting fabrications based on the ideological agendas of therapists. Tour. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly While acknowledging the reality of childhood sexual abuse, Loftus, a research psychologist specializing in memory, believes that in many cases, people create false memories of nonexistent abuse, prompted to do so by their psychotherapists. Writing in the first person with coauthor Ketcham (with whom she wrote Witness for the Defense), Loftus critiques the tools used by some therapists ("trance work," hypnosis, dream analysis, journal writing, etc.) to "recover" patients' buried memories. She presents numerous case histories involving presumed memories that turned out to be fabrications and reports on a study in which false memories of childhood events were created in men and women volunteers. She also discusses her involvement in the case of Paul Ingram, a Washington deputy sheriff who confessed that he was a priest in a satanic cult and sodomizer of children after his two daughters accused him of sexual abuse; he later retracted his confession but was imprisoned anyway. This eye-opening book makes a compelling argument for caution. Author tour. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal In this latest entry in the repressed memory/false memory debate, Loftus (psychology, Univ. of Washington; Witness for the Defense, LJ 3/15/91) recounts several incidents of false memory syndrome in a popular 60 Minutes style. While the author does not completely dismiss the theory of repressed memory, she believes that it has become a dangerous panacea in the hands of too many inexperienced therapists. Loftus contends that counselors are inadvertently instilling "memories" of sexual abuse in their patients. She discusses the genesis of this phenomenon at great length, moving from Ellen Bass's Courage To Heal (LJ 5/15/88) to her current foil, Lenore Terr (Unchained Memories: True Stories of Traumatic Memories, Lost and Found, LJ 1/94). Recommended for collections needing balance in their treatment of this subject. (Index not seen.)-A. Arro Smith, San Marcos P.L., Tex. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.