Dissociation : Vol. 9, No. 4, p. 221-231 : Delayed memories of child abuse: part I: an overview of research findings on forgetting, remembering, and corroborating trauma
Date
1996-12
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Publisher
Ridgeview Institute and the International Society for the Study of Dissociation
Abstract
This article provides an overview of data from memory research which is clinically relevant to dealing with delayed memories of abuse in dissociative disorder patients. Studies indicate that childhood abuse is partly or completely forgotten by 12%-64% of adults. Amnesia has been consistently associated with earlier abuse, threats, and more types of abuse. Therapy is a factor in memory return in about half of persons, and is the sole trigger in one fourth of cases. Corroboration of delayed memories of child abuse has been found in 47%-74 % of outpatients reporting abuse in 85 %-94 % of dissociative disorder patients, and in 0%-3% of persons reporting ritual abuse. Studies suggest that extreme emotional arousal diminishes recall, but moderate arousal results in accurate enhanced recall of central events. Memories of real life trauma have low suggestibility, throwing doubt on the applicability of laboratory studies of eyewitness memory suggestibility to trauma memories. Implications for therapy are discussed.
Description
p. 221-231