Recovered Memories of Abuse: True or False?

272 Pages·1997·0.72 MB·English

by  Joseph Sandler

PSYCHOANALYTIC MONOGRAPH No.2

R E C O V E R ED

M E M O R I ES

OF A B U SE

True or False?

Edited by

Joseph Sandler and Peter Fonagy

Foreword by Phil Mollon
Monograph Series of
The Psychoanalysis Unit of University College, London
and
The Anna Freud Centre, London
Series Editors: Joseph Sandler and Peter Fonagy
KARNACBOOKS
RECOVERED MEMORIES

OF ABUSE:

TRUE OR FALSE?
Monograph Series of
The Psychoanalysis Unit of University College London
and
The Anna Freud Centre
Series Editors
Joseph Sandler & Peter Fonagy
1 J. Sandler, A. Holder, C. Dare, & A. U. Dreher, Freud's Models
of the Mind: An Introduction
P S Y C H O A N A L Y T IC M O N O G R A P HS

No. 2

RECOVERED MEMORIES

OF ABUSE:

TRUE OR FALSE?

edited by
Joseph Sandler and Peter Fonagy
contributors
Alan D. Baddeley Arnon Bentovim

Christopher Cordess Peter Fonagy

Brendan MacCarthy John Morton

Susie Orbach Eric Rayner
Anne-Marie Sandler Joseph Sandler

Hanna Segal Valerie Sinason

Mary Target Judith Trowell

Lawrence Weiskrantz
Foreword by
Phil Mollon
London
KARNAC BOOKS
First published in 1997 by
H. Karnac (Books) Ltd,
118 Finchley Road,
London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 1997 Joseph Sandler and Peter Fonagy
Foreword copyright © 1997 Phil Mollon
The rights of the contributors to be identified as authors of this work have
been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Memory of abuse
1. Child sexual abuse — Psychological aspects 2. Sexually
abused children — Psychology
L Sandler, Joseph
616.8'5836'0651
ISBN 1 978 1 85575 166 8
Edited, designed, and produced by Communication Crafts
Printed in Great Britain by BPC Wheatons Ltd, Exeter
10987654321
^ THE PSYCHOANALYSIS UNIT AT UNIVERSITY
j/HU COLLEGE LONDON was founded by Joseph Sandler in
^JBHHLta^ 1984, when he was appointed to the Freud Memorial
T//^TT Chair of Psychoanalysis in the University of London
H^J^_^j II (which replaced the annual Freud Memorial Visiting
A
^^5255M
Professorship at UCL). The Unit is based in the Psychol­
ogy Department, arguably the strongest, and certainly the broadest,
department of psychology in the United Kingdom. The Unit quickly
became a thriving centre for academic psychoanalysis and established
a busy doctoral programme in psychoanalytic research. A weekly
programme of lectures was organized, and several highly successful
psychoanalytic conferences have been held each year. Through the
Unit psychoanalysis began to occupy a central place in the intellectual
life of University College London.
The Unit initiated close collaboration with the International Psycho­
analytical Association. Major scientific meetings of the Association were
held in conjunction with the Unit, including the annual IPA Conference
in Psychoanalytic Research and an IPA Conference on Psychoanalysis
and Literature. In addition to fostering these important links between
international psychoanalysis and the British university, the Unit
maintains close ties with the British Psycho-Analytical Society. It
collaborates regularly with the major theoretical groups within the
Society in offering an academic platform for presenting and discussing
their views.
In 1992 Peter Fonagy succeeded Joseph Sandler in the Freud
Chair, with Professor Sandler remaining as a Co-director of the Unit. The
Unit's focus on post-graduate education has continued, with now over a
dozen Ph.D. students at any one time. In collaboration with the British
Psycho-Analytical Society, the Unit has created a Master of Science
degree in Theoretical Psychoanalytic Studies (non-clinical). Over the
years, the strength of the link between the Unit and other psychoanalytic
organizations has increased, with academic members of the staff
of The Anna Freud Centre becoming affiliated to the University via
the Psychoanalysis Unit. The Unit's original links to the Psychology
Department have been maintained and developed, with Professor
Fonagy assuming the headship of the Sub-Department of Clinical Health
Psychology on its inception in 1994. The international influence of the
Unit continues to increase, and in 1995 it organized and hosted th efirst
research training programme for psychoanalysts sponsored by the
International Psycho-Analytical Association. As part of this development,
leading psychoanalytic researchers became visiting professors of the
Unit; these have included Professors Robert Emde, Horst Kachele, Wilma
Bucci, Otto Kernberg, and Peter Hobson.
The mission of the Unit remains the integration of psychoanalytic
ideas with academic pursuits across a range of disciplines—literature,
medicine, the social sciences, the arts. The Unit frequently consults with
leading academics from those disciplines who seek advice on psycho­
analytic aspects of their work. It has become a national and international
centre for psychoanalytic research and scholarship.
THE ANNA FREUD CENTRE was founded by Anna
Freud in 1940 as the Hampstead War Nurseries, which
provided a home for children who had lost their
own homes or were separated from their parents in
some other way in the Blitz. After the war, Anna Freud
responded to the urgent demand for greater expertise in
child mental health and the childhood disorders by founding The
Hampstead Child Therapy Course and the Clinic, which, after Anna
Freud's death, was renamed in 1984 as The Anna Freud Centre.
Since its inception, The Hampstead Child Therapy Course has
provided high-level, intensive training in all aspects of child psycho­
analysis and psychotherapy. Training at the Centre has received formal
accreditation from the International Association for Child Psycho­
analysis, and many of the child psychoanalysts and psychotherapists
trained at the Centre are currently practicing in the United Kingdom and
elsewhere.
After the untimely death in 1992 of the Director, George Moran, Rose
Edgcumbe functioned as Acting Director until 1993, when Anne-Marie
Sandler was appointed to the Directorship. After her retirement in 1996,
Julia Fabricius was appointed to the post. In addition to combining
therapy, training, and research, the Centre provides a psychiatric
assessment and advisory service for children and young adults, long
term therapy and young adults' consultation and preventive services,
and an internationally recognized and highly esteemed programme
of research. In an important collaboration with University College
London, the Centre offers a Master of Science degree in Psychoanalytic
Developmental Psychology. This unique course reflects the extension
and accreditation of the Centre's well-established teaching programme.

CONTENTS

PREFACE Xi
FOREWORD by Phil Mollon xv

CONTRIBUTORS xvii

PART I

1 Memories of abuse, or abuse of memories?

Lawrence Weiskrantz 3

Discussion / Judith Trowell 22

General discussion 26

2 Cognitive perspectives on recovered memories

John Morton 39

Discussion / Christopher Cordess 64

General discussion 70

3 Remembering in therapy

Valerie Sinason 81

Discussion / Susie Orbach 100

General discussion 109

ix