THE MYTH OF REPRESSED MEMORY

According to many clinical psychologists, when the mind is forced to endure a horrifying experience, it has the ability to bury the entire memory of it so deeply within the unconscious that it can only be recalled in the form of a flashback triggered by a sight, a smell, or a sound. Indeed, therapists and lawyers have created an industry based on treating and litigating the cases of people who suddenly claim to have "recovered" memories of everything from child abuse to murder.

This book reveals that despite decades of research, there is absolutely no controlled scientific support for the idea that memories of trauma are routinely banished into the unconscious and then reliably recovered years later. Since it is not actually a legitimate psychological phenomenon, the idea of "recovered memory"--and the movement that has developed alongside it--is thus closer to a dangerous fad or trendy witch hunt.

"The descriptions the authors give of the 'therapeutic' practices by which memories are recovered are a frightening indictment of the burgeoning therapy industry, of its heads-I-win and tails-you-lose approach to moral rectitude, and of its capacities for self-delusion."

— The New York Times Book Review