People believe it is plausible to have forgotten memories of childhood sexual abuse.
Pezdek, Blandon-Gitlin, and Gabbay (2006) found that perceptions of the plausibility of events increase the likelihood that imagination may induce false memories of those events. Using a survey conducted by Gallup, we asked a large sample of the general population how plausible it would be for a person with longstanding emotional problems and a need for psychotherapy to be a victim of childhood sexual abuse, even though the person could not remember the abuse. Only 18% indicated that it was implausible or very implausible, whereas 67% indicated that such an occurrence was either plausible or very plausible. Combined with Pezdek et al.s' findings, and counter to their conclusions, our findings imply that there is a substantial danger of inducing false memories of childhood sexual abuse through imagination in psychotherapy.
Rubin
David C
DC
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0086, USA. david.rubin@duke.edu
Berntsen
Dorthe
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001290:Attitude; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D012094:Repression, Psychology