Archive for false memory
There is an excellent letter by John MacCleod in the Scottish Review (here) poublished on the 10th August 2011 in response to the JIm Fairlie case which compares the rspoonse to the investigation of allegations in general and the investigations of how allegations of child abuse are investigated.
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Watching a video of someone else performing an action can make people think they actually did it themselves, according to a new university report.
Scientists found that people who had watched a video of someone else shaking a bottle or shuffling a deck of cards often remembered performing the action themselves two weeks later.
‘We were stunned,’ says Gerald Echterhoff, of Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, who led the research.
In the experiments, the researchers had volunteers perform several simple actions.
Then they watched videos of someone else doing simple ...
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[My] blog has covered how American sex laws have expanded to such a degree that hundreds of teens per year are incarcerated for what was once considered fairly normal behavior. The great irony of all this is that the laws in question found their genesis in a hysteria from a couple of decades ago, which used the mantra “its for the children” as its slogan.
The mid-to-late 1980s saw a hysteria literally sweep America. The claims were that thousands of children were being attacked sexually by ...
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The following article by David Derbyshire appeared in the Daily Mail on the 2nd August 2010
From the thrill of a perfect childhood Christmas to the excitement of a holiday romance, memories can sustain and support us through life’s more difficult times.
But according to scientists, many of our most treasured memories may never have actually happened.
In an astonishing study, psychologists discovered that one in five people vividly recalls incidents that they know did not take place.
The finding highlights once again the fallibility of memory – and explains why two people can have such different recollections of the ...
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The following article by David Derbyshire appeared in the Daily Mail on the 2nd August 2010
Mind games: Many of our most treasured childhood memories may be fictional
From the thrill of a perfect childhood Christmas to the excitement of a holiday romance, memories can sustain and support us through life’s more difficult times.
But according to scientists, many of our most treasured memories may never have actually happened.
In an astonishing study, psychologists discovered that one ...
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There is an excellent obituary in yesterday’s Times of Lady Parker who died on the 11th March. Lady (Jill) Parker, a former GP, was a good friend of the British False Memory Society and a deeply compassionate person. The obituary can be found here
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Two former soldiers jailed for a range of sexual abuse against children have had their convictions quashed.
Dermot James Wade, 49, and his cousin, Dennis McCalmont Jnr, 46, were convicted in 2004 of 29 offences against boys and girls in the 1970s.
The pair, from near Ballymoney, were released on bail, pending a decision on whether to order a retrial.
The appeal centred on a since-abolished law that a child under 14 could not be held responsible for a crime.
Although the age of criminal responsibility was lowered in 1998, lawyers for McCalmont – who was 13 at the time of some of the ...
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At the heart of the recent inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian shot dead by police three years ago, was a simple question: whose version of events do you believe?
Firearms officers recalled running on to the Underground platform at Stockwell and challenging de Menezes by shouting “Armed Police”, before shooting him seven times in the head. But 17 civilian witnesses could not remember such a thing being said. The police said that the electrician had stood up and walked “aggressively” towards them, but some witnesses do not remember him getting up from his seat. ...
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F.A.C.T. (Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers) is a UK wide voluntary organisation. It exists partly to support carers, teachers and other professionals falsely accused or wrongly convicted of abuse, and partly to lobby for change in investigative practice and in the criminal justice system. F.A.C.T. gains its support from academics, criminal defence lawyers, justice groups, and from an increasing numbers of the press, politicians, professionals and the general public.
If you have been falsely accused of abusing others, or know someone who has, this site provides useful information on what we do, who we are, as well as useful advice and access to information and resources.
Although this site contains ...
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It is perhaps a sad reflection on society that people whose work regularly brings them into contact with children, or vulnerable or dependent adults, do not realise just how:-
vulnerable they are to being falsely accused of abuse
how closed safeguarding bodies are to any possibility that the allegations made might be untrue
and how inadequate the justice system is establishing truth
All of us who have been affected by false allegations therefore have a responsibility to raise awareness of these issues.
F.A.C.T. plays it part by:-
engaging with the media
engaging with politicians
encouraging authors prepared to highlight fraudulent claims and investigative malpractice
encouraging research and participating in training schemes for social ...
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The following story appeared in the Irish media on the 25th July 2008
A court has heard that an “extremely anticlerical” social worker investigating alleged sexual abuse at a Galway school was eventually taken off the case by the former Western Health Board.
Superintendent Jim Sugrue, now retired, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the social worker, Mr Gerry Flanagan, had worked in the school in the late 70s as a “house parent” but had left “under a cloud”.
He said he believed Mr Flanagan had a “fixation” with the school and was “extremely anticlerical” as demonstrated by two letters he wrote to the ...
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A woman has told how her Midland family was torn apart after her sister made false child sex abuse allegations against their father.
The daughter, now a high-profile figure in education, had claimed she was raped by her dad at the age of just two.
But her shocked father and family have always denied the allegations and say she is a victim of False Memory Syndrome.
Critics say the condition is a damaging side-effect of a controversial psychological treatment called Recovered Memory Therapy.
The practice has been discredited by many experts and groups, including the British False Memory Society which says more than 2,000 ...
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A woman who falsely accused her father of rape after undergoing a discredited “recovered memory” psychotherapy has won a £20,000 payout from a local health authority.
Katrina Fairlie claimed a hospital psychiatrist almost ruined her life after he extracted false memories that her father, Jim, a former deputy leader of the Scottish National Party, had sexually abused her.
Miss Fairlie, who withdrew the baseless allegations months after making them, revealed during other sessions with consultant Dr Alex Yellowlees that she witnessed her father murder a child and named him and 17 other men, including two politicians, as paedophiles.
Katrina Fairlie and her father ...
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The following letter in this Sunday’s Observer caught our attentionYour report, ‘Crackdown on therapists who abuse vulnerable’, (News, last week) will have been welcomed by the thousands who have had their lives wrecked by poor quality therapy and counselling. We at the British False Memory Society deal every week with people who have been falsely accused of historical sexual abuse. More often than not, the accusation is made by a now-adult child against his or her parent, often following prolonged counselling sessions. In our experience, too many therapists are all ready to conclude that a person’s problems have arisen because ...
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There has been further correspondence on the Can of Worms debate in the Herald
Where does the Royal College of Psychiatry in Scotland really stand on Can of Worms?
The report by Karen McVeigh (March 6) about the concerns being expressed by the Scottish division of the Royal College of Psychiatry about the booklet, Can of Worms, led to a flurry of correspondence and an immediate denial by the royal college that it intended to call for the withdrawal of the booklet.
You published a letter from the college, signed by Dr Tom Brown, and others, which was very complimentary about the content of ...
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Jim Fairlie responds to criticism of his earlier letter in the Glasgow Herald regarding the Scottish Parliament’s decision to endorse the publication of a booklet on preventing child sexual abuse called a Can of Worms.
Nowadays ‘expert opinion’ and ‘good intentions’ lead to witch-hunts and destroyed lives.
Either Karen McVeigh has completely misquoted the spokesman for the Royal College of Psychiatry (March 6) or the royal college is doing a quick back-track on Ms McVeigh’s report (Letters, March 9). I suspect the latter.
The college cannot have it both ways. It acknowledges that its concerns about the booklet, Can of Worms, as reported by ...
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A new booklet for frontline workers to help inform them of the issues faced by adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse has recently been launched in Scotland. The booklet ‘A Can of Worms – Working with Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse’ is designed to encourage staff to feel more confident when working with adult survivors who disclose abuse. The booklet is part of the the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, which resulted in the introduction of a national strategy for adult survivors in September 2005.I have looked through the booklet to see whether or ...
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There has been some interesting research about aversion therapy can help control over eating. What you may ask has this to do with false allegations? This new approach to gluttony is based on the principle that by implanting false memories in the brains of compulsive eaters, they become convinced that in childhood they had become averse to certain foods. The theory is that this will help them to follow a better diet with less fattening foods. Elizabeth Loftus, of the University of California, explains that it is well known that food preferences and aversions acquired in childhood are likely to be lifelong. ...
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Care Home Rresidents Seek CompensationMore than 60 people are claiming they were subjected to life-blighting ordeals at the long-closed St Vincent’s home and its sister establishment, St Aidan’s, in Widnes. The alleged victims are suing the Nugent Care Society, which is responsible for both homes, for substantial damages. Speaking at London’s High Court, Mr Justice Holland directed that the trial of the claims should start on February 21 when the judge is expected to hear six “lead cases” on the result of which about 60 others will depend. The judge has set the trial date despite a plea from Edward Faulks ...
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Posted on 15th February 2004February 15, 2004 Sex abuse myth ‘is rife in Ireland’Dearbhail McDonaldAN ORGANISATION established to fight false allegations of sexual abuse in Britain claims the Irish redress system has created a “myth-making machine”, with many complainants making extreme allegations about abuse. The claim, which has fuelled a bitter row with the main support group for victims of institutional abuse in Ireland, will be spelt out in Ireland this week by Margaret Jervis, a legal adviser to the British False Memory Society, which aims to raise public awareness of the dangers of using unscientific methods to recover memories ...
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Posted on 8th January 2004There is a long but very interesting and informative article in The Times (Times 2) today on Prof Loftus’s work on false memory – well worth reading. The article also draws attention to some work by Prof Corwin which can be found here under the heading “child maltreatment”. Other articles by Prof Loftus and Mel Guyer on the dangers of a single case history can be found here and here. Recommended Reading
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My attention has been drawn to an interesting article by James Le Fanu which was published in the Daily Telegraph.
There are apparently now more counsellors in Britain than there are members of the Armed Forces. Some observers, such as Prof Frank Furedi, of Kent University, take a dim view of this, claiming that this army of therapists is seeking to redefine normal experiences and emotions as being stressful or damaging. No doubt he has a point. But it could be argued that the rising number of therapists is an appropriate response to the previously unfilled needs of the many with ...
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The Victorian government will reportedly conduct an investigation into the practice of repressed memory therapy.The government revealed plans it would look into who was practising repressed memory therapy and the training they had received, according to a report on the ABC TV program Stateline.The Health Services Commissioner will oversee the inquiry which is expected to take about six months.The investigation was announced after a government inquiry into the regulation of health professionals was inundated with submissions from parents who claimed they had been falsely accused of sexually abusing their children, Stateline revealed.The parents said they wanted the practice of repressed ...
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The Irish Republic’s Child Abuse Commission is seriously flawed, encouraging people who have not been abused to seek compensation and accuse innocent people, it was claimed today.The British False Memory Society and Irish group Let Our Voices Emerge (LOVE) criticised the commission and claimed the scale of alleged abuse in Ireland was incredulous and caused irreversible damage to those accused.The claims sparked fury among abuse victims who branded it an outrageous attack against all Irish people.The Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA) held a protest against the two groups as they met in Dublin and angrily hit out at claims they ...
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