False Memories: Suggestions of Abuse

Synopsis

Can a person so totally suppress recollections of sexual abuse during childhood that the memory of it can only be recovered through therapy? Or are "retrieved memories" the result of overzealous therapists planting the idea in what is an already vulnerable mind? In America recently Gary Ramona was awarded $500,000 in damages from two therapists whose treatment of his daughter with truth drugs resulted in her accusing him of abuse. Now scores of British parents are claiming their children were coaxed into fabricating memories of childhood abuse. But no matter what the courts decide, families are destroyed by these claims. In tonight's Inside Story, some accused fathers and mothers in this country bravely tell their stories - as do two daughters who now believe their recovered memories were untrue. As one American psychologist points out, while abuse certainly happens, so do false allegations.