title: Questions raised by the controversy over recovered memories of incest.
abstract: The controversy in the mental health community over recovered memory has been heated. The devastation to families falsely accused of incest has been profound. A fortunate consequence, however, has been the vigorous pursuit of answers to a variety of mind-behavior questions raised by the controversy. In this article I raise some of the important questions and in reply I review and summarize some of the data. Some questions deal with the nature of memory and of unconscious processes, especially the role of implicit memory; the techniques of recovered memory therapy and the evolution of pseudomemories and its relevance to clinical practice; the effects, real and alleged, of trauma; the place of dreams, flashbacks, and repetitive patterns of behavior in the understanding of memory and behavior; and finally, questions dealing with the definition of reality. All of these are important issues for the psychoanalyst.
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Harold I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Lief
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000523:psychology; D004325:Dreams / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis; D007179:Incest / Q000523:psychology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology