Psychotherapy and the recovery of memories of childhood sexual abuse: U.S. and British practitioners' opinions, practices, and experiences.
Licensed U.S. doctoral-level psychotherapists randomly sampled from the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology (Surveys 1 and 2, n = 145; Council for the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, 1992) and British psychologists sampled from the Register of Chartered Clinical Psychologists (Survey 2, n = 57; British Psychological Society, 1993) were surveyed regarding clients' memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The 3 samples were highly similar on the vast majority of measures. Respondents listed a wide variety of behavioral symptoms as potential indicators of CSA, and 71% indicated that they had used various techniques (e.g., hypnosis, interpretation of dreams) to help clients recover suspected memories of CSA. Across samples, 25% of the respondents reported a constellation of beliefs and practices suggestive of a focus on memory recovery, and these psychologists reported relatively high rates of memory recovery in their clients.
Poole
D A
DA
Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant 48859, USA.
Lindsay
D S
DS
Memon
A
A
Bull
R
R
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States