OUTCOME OF RECOVERED MEMORY THERAPY

This is surprising, because tens of thousands of psychiatrists, psychologists, religious counselors, secular counselors etc are believed to utilize RMT extensively in the United States and Canada. And full time therapists generally have dozens of patients or clients every year.

Such therapists are proceeding with a therapeutic technique of unknown reliability and with unknown hazards. From the sheer weight of numbers of RMT clients, one would expect a high priority would have been given to evaluating RMT to make certain that (as a minimum) it is safe.

Preliminary RMT Study on Ritual Abuse Recovered Memories

The State of Washington has a Crime Victims Compensation Program which gives money to people who have been the victims of criminal acts. In 1990, they allowed individuals who had recovered previously repressed memory of childhood sexual abuse to apply for compensation. 670 repressed memory claims were filed between 1991 and 1995. 325 of these were allowed. An employee of the Department (Loni Parr RN) apparently selected all of the claims which involved ritual abuse; 183 in total. She then selected 30 cases at random from the 183. She and another Department employee (Rachel Brown) found:

• Total ritual abuse cases analyzed: 30
• Number of females: 29 (97%)
• Number of Caucasians: 29 (97%)
• Age range: 15 to 67 years; mean 43
• Therapists: 26 saw mainly Masters level therapists; 2 saw a Ph.D; 2 saw an MD.
• Time of first recovered memory: 26 during therapy; 4 before therapy
• Number in therapy for 3 years after the first memory: 30 (all)
• Number in therapy for 5 years after the first memory: 18 (60%)
• Self-mutilation prior to recovered memories: 1 (3%)
• Self-mutilation after recovered memories: 20 (67%)
• Suicidal ideation prior to recovered memories: 3 (10%)
• Suicidal ideation after recovered memories: 20 (67%)
• Hospitalization prior to recovered memories: 2 (7%)
• Hospitalization after recovered memories: 11 (37%)
• Employed before entering therapy: 25 (83%)
• Employed after 3 years of therapy: 3 (10%)
• Married before first recovered memory: 23 (77%)
• Number of the 23 who separated or divorced within 3 years of first memory: 11 (48%)
• Number estranged from family of origin: 30 (100%)
• Age of first memories of abuse: 7 months average
• Memories of non-Satanic ritual abuse: 1 (3%)
• Memories of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA): 29 (97%)
  • Number of cases with family perpetrators: 29 (100%)
  • Observed birth or infant cannibalism: 22 (76%)
  • Total number of murders remembered: 150
  • Total number of resulting police investigations: 0
  • Consumed body parts: 22 (76%)
  • Tortured with spiders: 20 (67%)
  • Torture or mutilation: 29 (100%)
  • Number of medical exams which corroborated torture or mutilation: 0

Conclusions from Preliminary Study

• No conclusions can be reached about recovered memories generally
• Conclusions can be reached about recovered memories of SRA, but they are limited by the small sample size
• The vast majority of people who recover SRA memories are white females who enter therapy with no SRA memories, and start to recover them during therapy
• People who recover SRA memories can expect long term therapy, a massive degeneration in mental health, loss of employment; if married, about half will see their marriages disintegrate.
• Most memory researchers believe events which occurred earlier than 24 months of age cannot be remembered. Yet in the cases cited the average age for the first SRA memory was 7 months. One can safely conclude that the latter are false memories (i.e. real feeling memories of events that never happened).
• None of the claims was supported with medical findings; none triggered police investigations
• People who recover SRA memories usually blame their family members as perpetrators; they will usually sever contact with their family of origin.

The Ritual Abuse remembered in all but one of these cases were believed to have been perpetrated by underground, inter-generational groups who worship Satan. We have shown that this type of Satanic Ritual Abuse almost certainly does not exist. We expect that all of the cases involved false memories, that none of the ritual abuse actually happened, and the destruction of emotional health and disruptions in family relationships could have been prevented.

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