MEMORY WORK - A ROYAL ROAD TO FALSE MEMORIES

In this reaction to Lindsay and Read, we raise three unanswered questions, and rebut three unquestioned answers. Specifically, we ask: (1) how compelling is the evidence for repression as a mechanism, as opposed to simple forgetting, infantile amnesia, or motivated foregetting? (2) are trauma memories subject to the same type of alteration and nontraumatic memories?; and (3) should memory work techniques be used even in they entail some reliability risk, because to forsake them will result in unrecovered memories?. The three unquestioned answers we address are: (1) painful, but nonsexual, genital experiences (e.g., vaginal catheterizations), do not get recovered in therapy because they are societally sanctioned, and therefore do not rise to the level of trauma that is associated with sexual abuse by a trusted loved one; (2) it is acceptable for therapists to pursue repressed memories if their 'index of suspicion' is raised by the presence of multiple symptoms of childhood abuse; and 3) the problem with incest resolution therapists has been overblown, by focusing on a few bad apples.