Customer Reviews

Unchained Memories: True Stories Of Traumatic Memories Lost And Found

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This is one of the very best books I have read. Lenore Terr is a psychiatrist who has devoted her career to the study of repressed memory and post traumatic stess syndrome both in children and adults who suffered traumatic events in their childhoods. Effectively weaving the biology of memory and the mechanics of suppression through seven highly publicized true stories, this book is fascinating, educating, and highly readable. Dr. Terr manages to convey a large amount of highly technical knowledge without talking down to the reader and manages to convey the knowledge in terms any layman can understand. The stories she shares, most of whom she has worked on, are interesting and are a testament to both man's capacity for cruelty and his (and hers) strength and ability to endure and eventually triumph. The first two chapters delve into the famous case of Eileen Franklin who testified against her father about the rape and murder of her childhood friend twenty years before. In recovering her memories, Eileen also discovers the physical and sexual abuse that, though "forgotten", has shaped her life for years. Dr. Terr interviewed Ms. Franklin on several occassions and eventually went on to testify at the trial overcoming the arguments of False Memory Syndrom advocate Elizabeth Loftus in eloquent and detailed terms. Subsequent chapters are equally fascinating. As a victim and a survivor myself, this book offered validation to my own suppressed memories and hope for brighter tomorrows.

Although I have not finished the book yet, I do feel a need to respond to the review by Casey Lytle, who said that the father had been cleared of this murder by DNA tests. I just researched the case. The DNA tests cleared him of another murder he was convicted of, not this one. He walked free of this murder because of a mistrial. The daughter had been hypnotized prior to her recovered memory, and had failed to disclose that fact to the court. The prosecutor chose not to do a re-trial because he was uncertain that, in the absence of the daughter's testimony (which could not be admitted if it was obtained under hypnotism), they would be able to obtain a second conviction.

In 1990 Lenore Terr was a hero for helping Eileen Franklin uncover the repressed memories of her father killing her best friend. Terr's testimony was seen as a victory over "False Memory Advocate" Elizabeth Loftus who was an expert for the defense.

George Franklin was convicted and sent to prison in 1990 due to the details of his daughter's "repressed memories." It is important to note however, that advances in DNA technology led to DNA tests in 1996 which cleared George Franklin, showing that he could not have been the murderer. He was released from prison.

Today this book stands as a great example of the functions and dysfunctions of memory, and the incredible danger in putting faith in anything "retrieved" via hypnosis.

The Terr vs Loftus battle has definitely shifted in the last decade. Terr's books are frequent finds on the shelves of used book stores, while the works of Loftus must be purchased new.

I finished the book yesterday and my copy is now highlighted and bookmarked. This book is a compelling read on trauma and its effects on memory. Terr writes about her interviews and court cases with several adults abused/traumatized as children. The cases are fascinating and dispersed throughout the book are studies, findings, and a great deal of information about how the mind works and what happens to thoughts and memories when trauma surrounds them.

It was so good to read something on this dreadful subject by someone who did acutual studies of Trauma victims instead of just dismissing the subject and saying there is now way for someone to forget and remember such horrible things. More and more research is showing that truama leaves physical scars on the brain and I hope that it is only a matter of time before there is an easy and proven way to test a person with recovered memories for this physical proof to back them up when searching for justice. Thank God for Lenore Terr and researchers like her who are looking for the Truth and NOT a way to prove their ideas at the expence of the truth!

Terr's book is an astonishing look at the secret life we live inside our unconscious mind. Meticulously researched, thoroughly explained, this book should be required reading for every serious student of human motivation, psychology, criminology, and social science. I am both a therapist and a writer, and found high adventure and thought-provoking science in Terr's true-life accounts of traumatic memory. This is an invaluable resource, a unique contribution to the field of human understanding. Readable, engaging, and powerful!

I must say that this book is one of the most helpful, brilliant, and critical pieces of work, I have come across. To the survivor who had to repress or dissociate their trauma, Dr. Terr combines deep compassion with scientific evidence, to help the trauma survivor validate their unchained memories, when they come alive... If you are reading this, Dr. Terr: I salute your brilliant, compassionate work that has helped me on a very deep level. A MUST READ! -Rebecca

Terr is absolutely on the cutting edge in her work and we can learn so much from her here and now for that very reason.
The different personal stories and struggles are so interesting. I have remembered them even years after reading this for the first time. Some people may never know that the reason they have chosen a specific profession was because of a trauma in childhood but I bet it happens far more than we realize. Can you imagine a man who becomes one of the best divers in the world because he was almost drowned as a child? Yet he had no idea himself. Anyone who thinks their childhood did not have a profound effect on who they are today should read this book!
This is one of the best books I have read on the subject. The individual stories are absolutely fascinating!
If you are interested in how our memories and minds work, especially regarding childhood trauma, this is the book for you.

I have written about the same subject, i.e. Traumatic experience in childhood and repression in my review on Lenore Terr's other book, " Too Scared to Cry ".

Unchained Memories is a very important work, as it shows different real-life cases. After reading the book one can make their own judgement about whether repression is a real phenomenom. ( I know from first hand experience that it is real and that we can repress old petrifying experiences that are banished from everyday conciousness.) Please read this book and try and raise your awareness about what is real and what isn't real in the world. There are so many myths being promoted by those in positions of power that for many people it is hard to tell what is real and what isn't.

If the world and it's peoples continue to drift into this anaethetized fog they will perish. Denial, Lies, Deceit, Manipulation of the Truth and Abuse of Power seem to be winning in the world, but the victory of those that keep pushing the suppression of the real root causes of society's problems will be a hollow one.

One day, gentleness, honesty, loyalty, compassion and inner peace may transcend the " power " energies of the world.

Awareness - Peace - Love - Unity in Diversity