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Purpose; Academic and Clinical Studies
Background
History of this project
The Archive
101 corroborated cases of recovered memory
Response to Critics
Dr. August Piper (1999)
Dr. Richard McNally (2003)
FAQs
Other Scholarly
Resources
Bibliographies, links
to websites by four
doctoral-level
psychologists
Supportive
Information
For those with personal
questions & concerns
about sexual abuse &
those interested in
political & social
responses to sexual
abuse
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The Archive > 25 Clinical
Accounts and Other Cases in Scientific and Academic Publications
The case of "Claudia." Recovered memories
of child sexual abuse by her older brother and corroborated
by documentary evidence. Her case is notable for three reasons:
first, it was written up in Science News, second, the memories
cam back in the course of group therapy, and third, they were
corroborated through powerful documentary physical evidence.
As detailed by Bruce Bower:
"After losing more than 100 pounds in a hospital weight-reduction
program she had entered to battle severe obesity, Claudia
experienced flashbacks of sexual abuse committed by her older
brother. She joined a therapy group for incest survivors,
and memories of abuse flooded back. Claudia told group members
that from the time she was 4 years old to her brother's enlistment
in the Army three years later, he had regularly handcuffed
her, burned her with cigarettes, and forced her to submit
to a variety of sexual acts."
"Claudia's brother had died in combat in Vietnam more than
15 years before her horrifying memories surfaced. Yet Claudia's
parents had left his room and his belongings untouched since
then. Returning home from the hospital, Claudia searched the
room. Inside a closet she found a large pornography collection,
handcuffs, and a diary in which her brother had extensively
planned and recorded what he called sexual 'experiments' with
his sister." Bruce Bower, "Sudden recall: adult memories of
child abuse spark a heated debate." Science News (September
18, 1993), Vol. 144 , No. 12: pp. 184-86.
Six men who grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts (in
additional to Frank Fitzpatrick and John Robitaille, whose
cases are included in the legal section of this archive) who
were sexually assaulted by Father Porter as children and "who
reported no thoughts or memories of childhood abuse until
the case broke." These findings were reported by Harvard
psychiatrist Stuart Grassian, who surveyed 43 of the victims
in 1993. [Katy Butler, "The Latest on Recovered Memory,"
Family Therapy Networker, Nov/Dec 1996: 36.]
The case of "D." Boy in treatment for obsessive-compulsive
symptoms, who eventually recovered memories of an attempted
strangling by his mother years earlier. The events were subsequently
confirmed by the mother. Nathan M. Szajnberg, Recovering a
repressed memory, and representational shift in an adolescent,"
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
(1994), vol. 41 (3): 711-727.
Four adult women reported by Linda M. Williams See
case studies in "Recovered Memories of Abuse in Women
with Documented Histories of Child Sexual Victimization,"
Journal of Traumatic Stress, Vol. 8, No. 4,(1995):
649-73.
Two cases from Puerto Rico See, Taboas A. Martinez,
"Repressed Memories: Some Clinical Data Contributing
Toward its Elucidation," American Journal Psychotherapy
(Spring 1996), 50(2): 217-30.
The case of "Laura." Using both prospective
and restrospective data, this case "circumvents many
limitations of previous studies by including multiple corroborative
sources of evidence of sexual trauma n early childhood, prospective
evidence of memory loss in oral and written measures in consecutive
assessments, and evidence of spontaneous recovery of memory
outside of therapy in the context of late adolescence."
Sunita Duggal & L. Alan Sroufe, "Recovered Memory
of Childhood Sexual Trauma: A Documented Case from a Longitudinal
Study," Journal of Traumatic Stress, Vol. 11,
No. 2, (1998): 301-21.
The case of "Rachel." A 40-year old woman
with no history of mental illness and ten years of exemplary
professional work, recovers memories of childhood sexual abuse
by her father through a call from her youth pastor in whom
she had confided as an adolescent. This reminder triggered
a severe depression, suicidal action, and the need for hospitalization.
Rachel's older sister, herself an abuse survivor, had
witnessed the abuse, yet Rachel had no memory of the events.
Dennis S. Bull, "A Verified Case of Recovered Memories
of Sexual Abuse," American Journal of Psychotherapy,
Vol. 53, No. 2, Spring 1999, pp. 221-224.
"Videotaped Discovery of a Reportedly Unrecallable
Memory of Child Sexual Abuse: Comparison with a Childhood
Interview Videotaped 11 Years Before." This case
appears in Child Maltreatment, Vol. 2, No. 2, May 1997
(91-112). The commentaries that follow this case demonstrate
its general acceptance in the scientific community.
Note: the underlying facts have since been challenged by
Professor Elizabeth Loftus in the Skeptical Inquirer. Loftus
apparently hired two private investigators to help her conduct
her research, all without approval of the Human Subjects
Committee at the University of Washington. The woman at the
heart of the case has since sued Professor Loftus for invasion
of privacy. The California Supreme Court recently agree to
hear the case, after two lower courts rules that there was
sufficient basis for the lawsuit against Professor Loftus
to proceed.
The Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal
Violence has collected a
variety of materials related to
the invasion of privacy lawsuit, Taus v. Loftus.
Three unrelated respondents in Karen Stoler's dissertation,
"Recovered and Continuous Memories of Childhood Sexual
Abuse: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis (unpublished
dissertation, University of Rhode Island 2000). The dissertation
includes more documented cases of recovered memory. Three
of the delayed recall cases jump out of the detailed narratives
as clearly corroborated.: Subjects #17D (corroborated by sibling),
22D (corroborated by older sister who had run away from similar
abuse), and 23D (one sister clearly corroborated, the other
sister corroborated and later said that it "might be
dreams").
Three separate cases reported in the Poster Session
at the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on
Recollections of Trauma (June 1996; Port de Bourgenay, France).
• Miriam Bendiksen, "Circumstances and the Phenomenology
of a Recovered Memory: A Corroborated Case Study," in Lindsay
& Read, ed. Recollections of Trauma: Scientific Evidence
and Clinical Practice (NATO ASI Series, 997), p. 566.
• Graham Davies and Noelle Robertson, "A Recovered Memory
of a Traumatic Event—A Single Case Study," in Lindsay
& Read, ed. Recollections of Trauma: Scientific Evidence
and Clinical Practice (NATO ASI Series, 997), p. 570 [corroboration
of traumatic armed robbery in the form of contemporaneous
note and damaged clothing consistent with being hit with an
air rifle pellet].
• Daphne Hewson, "The Process of Recovering Memories
of Abuse," in Lindsay & Read, ed. Recollections of
Trauma: Scientific Evidence and Clinical Practice (NATO
ASI Series, 997), p. 575 [one case corroborated by perpetrator
confession].
Two participants, not further identified, in Goodman et.
al.'s prospective study who "indicated that their parents
told them they were victims of CSA, but they had no memory
of the abuse" (Goodman et. al 2003). This prospective study,
based on a prosecution sample, is designed to include only
cases of verified abuse. Two-thirds of the cases reportedly
had corroborative evidence in the form of a confession, eyewitness,
or physical evidence (Goodman et. al. 2003, fn. 2.). Further
information is necessary to ascertain the precise outcome
of the case/s that these two individuals do not remember.
Psychological Science, vol. 14, No. 2 (March 2003).
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Page last updated
July, 2005
Project Director
Professor Ross E. Cheit
Taubman Center for Public Policy & American Institutions
at Brown University
67 George Street
Box 1977
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2201
Fax: 401-863-2452
 
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