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False memory syndrome: A therapeutic tool?

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Froderik:

--- Quote from: "Samara" ---There were a few reasons I successfully split. One was that I could see the memory manipulation occurring around me. Once staff decided what your story was, you had no choice but to embellish to distortion. Or life would be very emotionally torturous for you. After awhile, you believed the most extreme version. Some were badgered and bullied to  "admit the truth" about events that never transpired.  Others were forced to embellish to the extent the truth was unrecognizable. I knew I was at the point in the program where I would be forced to "enhance" my story, repeat it, internalize it, confess it, flog myself for it until I no longer recognized the truth of my own experiences.   I could not stomach the possibility of doing this.  I also couldn't stomach the pressure to berate and humiliate others in a barrage of verbal and psychological abuse. You have to do both to level up.
--- End quote ---

Well said. It was too much alright..you had to look and (at least seem to) feel their way about yourself, your life and consciousness...and it was all in the lingo. You were supposed to believe you were "powerless over drugs." If you didn't, you were "in denial." This was one of the essential things they pushed on you, and usually the most damaging.

Also, they wanted me to refer to my best friend (a person who had advised me to cool it down and do my homework once in a while, he was more like an older brother) as my "druggie friend." He was anything but a "druggie friend." How ludicrous it was when they 'explained' it to me. It was obvious to me how ignorant and stupid it was...yet the group would not let you just say "friend" when talking about "your past." And then, there was their inane bit of Christian right propaganda concerning "pre-marital sex," which stated that the druggie's "chemical dependency" was somehow linked to the druggie's sexual habits and preferences, and professed that these things were "part of your drug problem."

Eventually I split on account of my old "druggie girlfriend," who I missed so much for two years....

BuzzKill:
Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers
Claudette Wassil-Grimm (Author)


http://http://www.amazon.com/Diagnosis-Disaster-Devastating-Syndrome-Accusers/dp/0879516380/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323908152&sr=8-1

The reviews are mixed, but you'll find the negative one are from people not happy about being told their memories are false - which may or may not be the case -  I do understand why this would upset them; However - this is a real syndrome and this book explains how it happens pretty clearly.  Luckily I had read it when I heard about the pressure to "confess" some sort of family drama and outrage, and so understood how dangerous this kind of pressure could be. Having read it is partly how I can to realize what we were involved with as quickly as I did.

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "BuzzKill" ---Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers
Claudette Wassil-Grimm (Author)

http://http://www.amazon.com/Diagnosis-Disaster-Devastating-Syndrome-Accusers/dp/0879516380/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323908152&sr=8-1

The reviews are mixed, but you'll find the negative one are from people not happy about being told their memories are false - which may or may not be the case -  I do understand why this would upset them; However - this is a real syndrome and this book explains how it happens pretty clearly.  Luckily I had read it when I heard about the pressure to "confess" some sort of family drama and outrage, and so understood how dangerous this kind of pressure could be. Having read it is partly how I can to realize what we were involved with as quickly as I did.
--- End quote ---
There are (currently) six reviews of this book, three of them fairly or unequivocally negative. Moreover, one of the positive reviews appears to be a duplicate. Here are those reviews:


2.0 out of 5 stars  NOT the best review on the subject, February 25, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers (Paperback)
The bias of the author is so strong towards the FMS side, she unquestionly quotes FMS proponents rather than try to maintain a moderate stance and assess both sides of the controversy. I do not recommend this book. It is not well researched, it is more propaganda than critique. I DO recommend Memory, Trauma Treatment, and the Law, just out this year and a very thorough and fair look at the issues.5.0 out of 5 stars  Diagnosis for Diaster, October 11, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers (Hardcover)
I thought this book was well researched and well written. One of the best on False Memory Syndrome. Even though there are over 60 books out on the subject I believe this is the easiest to read and explains the problem thoroughly. It is not filled with big words and psychological jargon, which would only confuse a reader not versed in this field. Yet it explains the problem in detail and with obvious research into the subject. I liked the way she talked to the families involved in this terrible syndrome and gave helpful analysis and answers to the problem. It was especially helpful the way she gave 16 reasons why anyone would believe anything so painful, if it were not true. Then there were appropriate chapters to explain each reason more fully. This is the only book I have seen on this subject to do it this way. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the subject more thoroughly.5.0 out of 5 stars  Diagnosis for Diaster, October 11, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers (Hardcover)
I thought this book was well researched and well written. One of the best on False Memory Syndrome. Even though there are over 60 books out on the subject I believe this is the easiest to read and explains the problem thoroughly. It is not filled with big words and psychological jargon, which would only confuse a reader not versed in this field. Yet it explains the problem in detail and with obvious research into the subject. I liked the way she talked to the families involved in this terrible syndrome and gave helpful analysis and answers to the problem. It was especially helpful the way she gave 16 reasons why anyone would believe anything so painful, if it were not true. Then there were appropriate chapters to explain each reason more fully. This is the only book I have seen on this subject to do it this way. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the subject more thoroughly.1.0 out of 5 stars  diagnosis for disaster, February 25, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers (Hardcover)
I shared my abuse experience with Claudette Wassil-Grimm to help other survivors. I was told by her that her book was going to help support incest survivors by telling their experiences. I was mislead and in her book she claimed that I had false memories. My words were used for her own agenda. I don't want this to happen to anyone else.1.0 out of 5 stars  Shoddy Research Methods, March 18, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers (Paperback)
How outraged and disgusted I am that a writer could behave with the lack of integrity this author has. No matter what her opinion on FMS is, lying to and manipulating survivors to get their stories is unconscionable and must surely bring the rest of the work under suspicion.

Those who want to have a look at the questionable background of the FMS and some of its chief supporters would do well to read Charles L. Whitfield's "Memory and Abuse".4.0 out of 5 stars  One who knows, April 3, 2008
By Aimee L. Elliot (Cedar Rapids, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)  
This review is from: Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers (Paperback)
As a "survivor" of bogus repressed memory therapy, I have to strongly recommend this book. It also scares me to read the reviews of those who defend repressed memory and therapists who offer this type of quack therapy. I missed 6 years of my life believing in this crap because I trusted my therapist. I beg anyone who is being told that they have repressed memories, and that their parents were evil and a bunch of other nonsense, get out of there now, and read this book. Don't you find it kind of odd and suspicious that all of a sudden after a therapist tells you that you are D.I.D and have repressed memories, you suddenly remember all kinds of horrible abuse that you suffered as a child. Don't blame yourself if this has happened to you, these therapists know how to make you actually believe this crap because they get you dependant on them. I just wish I would have read this book before I got caught up in all this crap. Thankfully, there were people out there to help me finally see the deception. Thanks to the author for this book, also. It has not only helped me, but my family to understand what happened to me.

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BuzzKill:
Odd things sometimes occur with Amazon reviews. I know for certain this book had hundreds of reviews at one time, with roughly 1/3 being negative. Most of the negative reviews were from people who had "recovered" memories of child sexual abuse and were very upset to have anyone suggesting the memories might be false. That said, it is a book written more for the lay-person trying to understand how such a thing could be (false memories being created) rather than being a book for professionals with a lot of clinical data - and so some professionals may find it lacking if they bought it expecting a more clinical discussion for a professional. There may be many other better books on the topic - but this is the one I have personally read. From our perspective I think it could be interesting as what it explains and describes also fits well with what takes place in many of the programs - the group pressure to admit and describe family abuse, as well as ones own vile escapades - which often leads kids to create memories - and which can, in the right sort of personality, become fixed as a fact they now remember.

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "BuzzKill" ---From our perspective I think it could be interesting as what it explains and describes also fits well with what takes place in many of the programs - the group pressure to admit and describe family abuse, as well as ones own vile escapades - which often leads kids to create memories - and which can, in the right sort of personality, become fixed as a fact they now remember.
--- End quote ---
It can work in both directions, creating abuse where none exists, as well as negating bona fide abuse that really does exist.

When the abuse occurs while at the program, particularly when expressly due to the fault and design of the program, group pressure can be and has been applied to victims to "admit" their own fault or guilt for said events. This effectively negates and/or distorts the appropriate context and truth of what happened, and takes the responsibility for the abuse off of the program's shoulders. At least until the kool-aid wears off.

For some reason, FMS proponents don't seem to be at all concerned about this type of "false memory."

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