The practice of recovered memory therapy (RMT) and the resulting accusations of childhood sexual abuse have polarized the psychotherapy community and crowded the courts. This book depicts the human toll exacted by the practice of RMT. Combining first person stories of families devastated by RMT-inspired memories with a critical cultural analysis, this book provides a unique glimpse into a catastrophically misguided therapy.
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From Kirkus Reviews
Five personal and painful accounts of how recovered memory therapy (RMT) has led daughters to make false accusations of child sexual abuse against their fathers, combined with an examination of the forces in society that have created an environment in which RMT flourishes. The first story is Van Til's own; three of the others were told to him by a parent or parents; and the last is the first-person narrative of a woman who underwent RMT, ``recovered'' incest memories, came to doubt them, and finally recanted them. Each of these frightening stories is followed by an analytical chapter. In these, the author looks at what recovered memory therapists believe and their use of such questionable therapeutic techniques as guided imagery and hypnosis; the close relationship between RMT and radical feminists, whose sense of victimhood has promoted the idea of American society as a ``rape culture''; and the growing public concern about child abuse since passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act in 1974, which resulted in a huge increase in reports, both genuine and spurious. This leads him to the increased popularity of belief in the threat of satanic cults and ritual abuse, and to an examination of the relationship between satanic ritual abuse and multiple personality states children purportedly develop as a form of psychic protection from the violence visited on them. Van Til makes clear that he is not denying the existence of child sexual abuse, but that his concern is therapeutically induced false memories of abuse. In an epilogue, he draws telling parallels between the situation of today's falsely accused parents and those persecuted in the 17th-century's Salem witch trials. A convincing demonstration of the devastation wreaked by some therapists, the gullibility of some patients, and the very real vulnerability of us all to such unfounded charges. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
comprehensive review of the recovered memory deception,
By jehu@rocketmail.com (Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lost Daughters: Recovered Memory Therapy and the People It Hurts (Paperback)
Reinder Van Til does a good job of reviewing each study which has been offered in support of the bogus theory of "repression of trauma" being pushed by today's psychotherapy industy to their vulnerable clients. He points out the flaws in each of these and exposes the misinterpretation of the data which attempts to force it to prove an agenda which simply can't be proven. i.e. abuse memories of which there was total lack of knowledge for perhaps years until these were suddenly recalled with the help of a therapist.The power of suggestion is very real and when used in the clinical setting can have profound effects upon a person which can turn their entire worldview upside down. This includes their view of their own identity and of the identity of those who love them. A loving parent can be transformed into a monster, while a normal daughter can come to believe she has lived her life in a satanic cult but repressed all memory of such because somehow this is what children do in response to serious trauma. all this being sanctioned by the today's therapists, of course. Van Til's own personal story of how this toxic therapy and psychobabble destroyed his own family is very shocking and at the same time, very familiar. The daughter he loved accused him of vile abuse and sexual crimes. Later his son joined in such allegations. At first his wife who was deep into psychology and feminism believed the charges against him. His daughter and son would see his friends and go out of their way to go up and tell them about how dad abused them and how they never wanted to see him again. Finally, the children began accusing the mother who had supported their accusations of being involved in the abuse herself. This is a very common but tragic occurence seen in many cases where suggestion and imagination have led to total reinventing of one's personal identity to that of "abuse" victim. They are now a member of the recovered memory cult. A product of today's psychotherapy industry.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another chilling chronicle about the hysteria,
This review is from: Lost Daughters: Recovered Memory Therapy and the People It Hurts (Paperback)
Van Til begins with his own personal horror story. His daughter takes a radical feminist class at college and then begins therapy with a lesbian shrink who recovers memories of incest, etc. by dear old dad. Mom, who is divorcing him, believes the daughter. Then the son comes up with a similar tale! After about a year and a half of hell, Van Til finds out that the children are accusing Mom as well! Mom now decides she no longer believes her daughter. She can't bring herself to condemn the industry since she is part of it, but Van Til clearly sees who the villains are. This is an excellent book that really takes the SRA, RMT, and MPD people apart with a non-hysteric presentation of the facts. That's "Satanic Ritual Abuse," "Recovered Memory Therapy," and "Multiple Personality Disorder"-all frauds, by the way. The other villains of this Great American Witch Hunt of the 80s and 90s are, one, the well-intended Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974 which required persons, teachers, clergy, social workers, etc., to report evidence of child abuse, which was okay, but it granted such persons blanket immunity from any kind of legal action should they be wrong; and, two, the policies of the stupid medical insurance companies who allied their payment practices with diagnoses made from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Since the inception of CAPTA the instance of in-the-book "mental disorders" grown like kudzu. What some therapists have done is to make sure their client has insurance, find a disorder in the manual that takes a long time to treat, and then milk that for all they can get. Because recovered memory therapies are almost always about childhood sexual abuse, the therapist was further encouraged because the therapist now had immunity (via CAPTA) from prosecution from those hurt by the false charges developed through the so-called therapy. Van Til does an excellent job of accounting for the existence of the hysteria and the witch hunt and explaining how it became so extensive despite the lack of any evidence for the existence of SRA and alleged widespread sexual abuse of children by daycare people. He shows the parallels with the Salem witch hunt of 1692 and the McCarthy witch hunt of the 1950s. This witch hunt was worse than either of those in many ways. While innocent people were actually executed by the Puritans, the number of damaged lives in the daycare and recovered memory hysteria was much larger. Hundreds of individuals actually went to jail, and many are still in jail as I write this, and untold thousands of lives were destroyed, both financially and emotionally. Van Til shows how the use of the invasive brainwashing techniques by social workers and counselors actually constituted a particularly horrible form of child abuse. What was especially sad about the methods of recovered memory therapy was the way they turned family members against one another and ultimately destroyed what love and trust existed. Van Til compares the tactics of RMT therapists to those of cult leaders who isolate and brainwash susceptible persons. He is right. By the way, this attack on men is also to some extent an attack on the family by the social service industry. What the industry was saying is don't believe or trust your parents. Trust us. Give your money to us. We will make you well because we know the way and the truth. Your parents are people that you need to be rid of. We'll show you how. I feel the utmost empathy for Van Til, and congratulate him for having the courage to write this important book. Nothing can give him his life back, but I believe in detailing his personal tragedy he has helped others, and hastened an end to the sickness.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lost Daughters proved theraputic.,
By
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This review is from: Lost Daughters: Recovered Memory Therapy and the People It Hurts (Paperback)
Lost Daughters was quite helpful, for not only me, but others in our adoption group that have "Lost our Daughters". The insight was phenomenol. Some of us have lost our daughters to unscrupulus therapists and it is devastating. To know that we were not alone in this tragedy was somewhat reassuring. The book "Lost Daughters", made it come alive and more able to handle the entire situation.
I would recommend this book to anyone that is struggling with a similar situation. A companion book would be "Second Thoughts", by Dr. Paul Stone.
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