On the other hand, clever experimental paradigms have been designed to press individuals to recall “lost memories” that have been created by the experimenters or gathered from the research participants’ relatives. This type of research does find that a minority of people will claim to recall pieces of a relatively benign memory that the researcher has created from whole cloth. However, subjects will also recall details from the true memories that the researchers have gathered from the individual’s relatives, and which the subjects report that they had forgotten. The final result: evidence that memory is fallible and evidence that memories can be lost and found again.
It is true that there is no objective method to determine that the recovered memory is true before it is subjected to the examination of the court. The Opinion does NOT mention that the same is true of continuous memory. We would argue that the best evidence in recovered memory cases has taken exactly the same forms as it has in continuous memory cases that come to light after a period of time — witnesses to the act, biological evidence, contemporaneous statements, and confessions in the strongest cases, and strong circumstantial evidence that convince the trier of fact in the rest.
Finally, the authors of the Opinion imply, but do not state, that “believers that repressed-reconstructed memory is possible” are a minority among relevant scholars. In fact, since the 1990’s, “false memory syndrome” has been unsuccessfully championed again and again as an addition to the two most widely accepted compendiums of psychological and psychiatric diagnoses. It remains too controversial due to lack of sufficient scientific evidence to support inclusion. During this same period, the evidence for “repressed memory of trauma,” more scientifically labeled “Dissociative Amnesia,” has stood up to repeated examinations. The diagnosis of dissociative amnesia remains in place in the diagnostic manuals.
The authors of the Opinion are correct that the controversy generated in the early 1990’s, when recovered memory evidence first entered the courtroom, brought to public awareness two warring factions. One group, largely trauma therapists, believed that recovered memories held a special truth and should not be questioned. Another group, largely nonclinical researchers, believed that no recovered memories were reliable. The largest group, consisting of most trauma researchers, many cognitive and biological researchers, and a large number of clinicians, believed that both false memories and recovered memories could occur. Studies since the First World War have repeatedly documented dissociative amnesia for combat in a subgroup of soldiers. Some of these soldiers were documented to later recall the dissociated information. On the other hand, a small minority of these soldiers was found to have confabulated or lied about these types of experiences.
The upswing in research and discussion from 1990 to the early 2000’s left both extreme groups in disrepute. Researchers leaning toward belief and disbelief met in Port de Bourgenay, France in 1996, sponsored by NATO, and discussed the issue for eleven days, contributing to resolution. By the end of this period, dozens of major psychological organizations had made public statements condemning both extremes, and surveys of both clinicians and academicians found few remaining followers of either extreme view. Representatives from cognitive psychology and clinical trauma psychology wrote conciliatory pieces in the literature, and the controversy died.
In the last twenty-five years since the explosion and resolution of this controversy, much more has been learned about dissociation and dissociative amnesia. Dissociation is more prominently, rather than less prominently featured in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5), including a new Dissociative Sub-Type of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The latter has been documented in many studies of individuals with PTSD. Indeed, in the DSM-5, dissociative amnesia for trauma remains a criterion symptom for the diagnosis of both PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder.
Cognitive researchers have more recently contributed evidence that all memory, not simply recovered memory, is reconstructive and should be examined closely. However, in contrast to beliefs expressed in the earlier Opinion, no evidence has emerged that lays a foundation to declare that recovered memories of trauma are a special class of memories that do not deserve fair and just evaluation in a court of law.
Sincerely,
ד״ר גילי אופיר, מרכז לטם לטיפול בטראומה מינית, בית חולים איכילוב
ד״ר אודי אורן, נשיא EMDR Europe
ד״ר רננה איתן, מנהלת מרפאה נוירופסיכיאטרית, בית חולים הדסה עין כרם
ד״ר אודי בונשטיין, פסיכולוג קליני ראשי, בי״ח נהריה, יו״ר האגודה הישראלית להיפנוזה
ד״ר שירי בן-נאים, מרפאה פסיכיאטרית, הדסה עין כרם
ד״ר אהובה בני, מנהלת השירות הפסיכיאטרי, מרכז רפואי בני ציון, חיפה
פרופ׳ דני ברום, האוניברסיטה העברית
ד״ר נועה בר חיים, פסיכיאטרית, מרכז תמר
ד"ר דליה ברנדס, יחידה לטיפול בטראומה נפשית אקוטית, בית חולים איכילוב
ד״ר ענבל ברנר, בית חולים שלוותה
ד״ר אורנה גורלניק, אוניברסיטת ניו יורק
ד״ר שרון גיל, אוניברסיטת חיפה
פרופ׳ קרני גינזבורג, אוניברסיטת תל אביב
ד״ר הילה הרמלין קוטנר, פסיכולוגית קלינית בכירה
ד״ר אפי זיו, אוניברסיטת תל אביב
ד״ר כרמית כץ, אוניברסיטת תל אביב
ד״ר יפעת כהן, פסיכיאטרית, מיסדת/מנהלת שותפה, מכון אופק לטיפול דיאלקטי-התנהגותי
פרופ׳ מולי להד, מכללת תל-חי
ד״ר אופיר לוי, המרכז האקדמי רופין, אוניברסיטת תל אביב
ד״ר דוד ליבה, מנהל מחלקה, בית החולים מזרע
ד״ר ערן לייטנר, מרכז לטם לטיפול בטראומה מינית, בית חולים איכילוב
ד״ר עופר מאורר, בית הספר החדש לפסיכותרפיה
ד״ר מיה מוכמל, אוניברסיטת חיפה
ד״ר אביגיל מור, המכללה האקדמית תל חי
ד״ר פטריסיה סיפריס, מנהלת מחלקה, מרכז רפואי לב השרון
ד״ר נמרוד פיק, פסיכיאטר, המרכז לבריאות הנפש באר יעקב
פרופ' רות פת-הורנצ'יק, האוניברסיטה העברית והמרכז הישראלי לטיפול בפסיכוטראומה
ד״ר חנה צור, האוניברסיטה העברית
ד״ר אילן קוץ, פסיכיאטר
פרופ׳ שאול שרייבר, מנהל המערך הפסיכיאטרי, בית חולים איכילוב
ד״ר דניאלה שבאר-שפירא, אוניברסיטת תל אביב
Prof. Judie Alpert, Founder of Division of Trauma Psychology of the American Psychological Association, New York University, USA
Prof. Judith Armstrong, University of Southern California, USA
Dr. Kathryn Becker-Blease, Oregon State University, USA
Dr. Suzette Boon, Supervisor, Trauma Center, Zeist, The Netherlands
Prof. Bethany L. Brand, Towson University, USA
Prof. Stephen E. Braude, Emeritus Professor, University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
Prof. John Briere, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, USA
Prof. Daniel P. Brown, Harvard Medical School, USA
Dr. Laura S. Brown, Past President, Trauma Division, American Psychological Association, USA
Prof. Lisa D. Butler, University at Buffalo, USA
Prof. Etzel Cardeña, Lund University, Sweden
Prof. Ross Cheit, Brown University, USA
Dr. Richard A. Chefetz, Distinguished Visiting Lecturer, William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Psychology, New York City, USA
Prof. Jim Chu, Harvard Medical School, USA
Prof. Catherine C. Classen, University of Toronto, Canada
Dr. Christine A. Courtois, Washington, DC, USA
Prof. Carlos A. Cuevas, Northeastern University, USA
Prof. Constance J. Dalenberg (Distinguished), California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, USA
Prof. Martin Dorahy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Prof. Amber N. Douglas, Mount Holyoke College, USA
Dr. Nel Draijer, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Prof. Helena Espirito Santo, Instituto Miguel Torga, Portugal
Prof. Charles F. Figley, Distinguished Chair in Disaster Mental Health at Tulane University and School of Social Work Professor and Associate Dean for Research, USA
Dr. Janina Fisher, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, USA
Prof. Brad Foote, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, USA
Prof. Steven Frankel, University of Southern California, USA
Prof. Jennifer J. Freyd, University of Oregon, USA; Editor, Journal of Trauma and Dissociation
Prof. Silke Birgitta Gahleitner, Donau-Universität Krems, Austria
Dr. Richard B. Gartner, Founding Director of Sexual Abuse Service, William Alanson White Institute for Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology, New York, USA
Prof. David H. Gleaves, University of South Australia, Australia
Prof. Steven N. Gold, Nova Southeastern University, USA, Editor, Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy
Dr. Anabel Gonzalez, University Hospital of A Coruña, Spain
Prof. Jean M. Goodwin, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, USA
Prof. Thomas G. Gutheil, Harvard Medical School, USA
Dr. Christine Hatchard, Monmouth University, USA
Prof. Janna A. Henning, Adler School of Professional Psychology, USA
Prof. Judith L. Herman, Harvard Medical School, USA
Dr. Jim Hopper, Harvard Medical School, USA
Prof. Elizabeth Howell, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis
Prof. Sheldon Itzkowitz, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis
Prof. Philip Kinsler, Geisel School of Medicine, Darthmouth, USA
Prof. Richard Kluft, Temple University School of Medicine, USA
Prof. Christa Krüger, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Prof. Marilyn Korzewkwa, McMaster University, Canada
Prof. Ruth Lanius, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Prof. Richard J. Loewenstein, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Dr. Giovanni Liotti, MD, Post- graduate School of Clinical Psychology, Università Pontificia Salesiana, Rome, Italy.
Prof. Alexander McFarlane, University of Adelaide, Australia
Prof. Warwick Middleton, University of Queensland, Australia
Prof. Andrew Moskowitz, Aarhus University, Denmark
Dr. Ellert R.S. Nijenhuis, psychotraumatology researcher, Department of Psychiatry, Assen, The Netherlands
Dr. Pat Ogden, Founder/Director, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, USA
Dr. John A. O’Neil, McGill University, Canada
Dr. Ken Pope, researcher, former chair of ethics committees, American Psychological Association and American Board of Professional Psychology, USA
Dr. Luise Reddemann, University of Klagenfurt, Austria
Prof. Margo Rivera, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Colin A. Ross, The Collin Ross Institute, USA
Dr. Anca Sabau, Child psychiatrist, ESTD executive board member, Romania
Prof. Vedat Şar, Emeritus, Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey
Prof. Ingo Schäfer, University Medical Center Hamburg, Germany
Prof. Alan W. Scheflin , Professor of Law Emeritus, Santa Clara University, USA
Dr. Yolanda Schlumpf, University of Zurich, Psychological Institute, Division of Neuropsychology, Switzerland
Dr. Joyanna Silberg, Executive Vice-President, Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence, USA
Prof. Tom L. Smith, University of California, San Diego, USA
Prof. David Spiegel, Stanford University School of Medicine, USA
Prof. Helle Spindler, Aarhus University, Denmark
Dr. Pam Stavropoulos, Head of Research and Clinical Practice Adults Surviving Child Abuse, Australia
Kathy Steele, MN, CS, Adjunct Faculty, Emory University School of Nursing, USA
Prof. Paula Thomson, California State University, USA
Prof. Onno van der Hart, Emeritus, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Dr. Amelia van der Merwe, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Prof. HGJM Eric Vermetten, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
Prof. Lenore E. Walker, Professor, Nova Southeastern University, Center for Psychological Studies, USA
Dr. Fran S. Waters, DCSW, LMSW, LMFT, Former ISSTD president, USA
Prof. Rachel Yehuda, Director, Traumatic Stress Studies Division, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY, USA
Prof. Dr. Sahika Yuksel, Emeritus, Istanbul University Medical School, Turkey
December 27, 2014
