Archive for the ‘Memory’ Category

The Forgotten Lessons of the Recovered Memory Movement

Saturday, October 1st, 2022

Illustration: Mike McQuade. Photograph:Getty Images

“Just what happened to lead so many well-intentioned people down such a road is not a simple story. Understanding the power of recovered memory therapy requires an examination not just of the memory retrieval techniques used by individual therapists but also of how the movement created a tide of popular belief that bordered on mass hysteria. Recovered memory stories were, for a time, pervasive and inescapable. These stories influenced both patients and therapists as they hunted for hidden histories of abuse.”

Please read this excellent article by Ethan Watters on the disastrous recovered-memory movement and the lasting damage it caused.

Repressed Memories are Back!

Thursday, October 10th, 2019

“In 1973, the idea of repressed memories became popularized with the publication of Sybil, a “nonfiction” book by journalist Flora Rheta Schreiber. Schreiber claimed that under psychiatric treatment, a patient whom she called Sybil recalled severe abuse by her mother, abuse that later manifested as 16 different personalities that all lived within her. The book sold over 400,000 copies and was later made into a movie, bringing the idea of both multiple personality disorder, and repressed memories, into pop culture.

Sybil was later reinvestigated by journalist Debbie Nathan, who concluded that most of the story was based on lies. But the book sparked an industry. Therapists all over the country began to specialize in this treatment, and more and more books and articles were published legitimizing wild, outlandish stories of abuse.”

Read the article at The Stranger by Katie Herzog.

H/T Bill Dobbs of The Dobbs Wire

$28 million award for “Beatrice 6” whom police psychologist helped railroad to prison

Sunday, March 10th, 2019

Credit: Omaha World-Herald

“Of interest to this blog’s audience is the role of the police psychologist. As I blogged about back in 2008, Wayne R. Price, PhD saw no ethics conflict in helping to interrogate the suspects even though he had previously provided therapy to two of the young women. Dr. Price reportedly reassured the suspects that their lack of any recollection of the crime was because they had repressed the traumatic memory. He later assisted them in reconstructing the details of their imagined crime.”

Read the post at the Forensic Psychologist Blog.

Why Spotlight is a Terrible Film

Monday, February 29th, 2016

“I was in Boston in the Spring of 2002 reporting on the priest scandal, and because I know some of what is untrue, I don’t believe the personal injury lawyers or the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team or the Catholic “faithful” who became harpies outside Boston churches, carrying signs with images of Satan, hurling invective at congregants who’d just attended Mass, and at least once – this in my presence – spitting in the face of a person who dared dispute them.”

Read the article in Counterpunch by JoAnn Wypijewski.

The National Center for Reason and Justice sponsors the cases of Paul Shanley and Gordon MacRae.

Paul Shanley Web Site

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

Dear Friend of Justice,

I have long been convinced of the innocence of Father Paul Shanley. My partner Jim and I attended his trial. No credible evidence against him was presented. Unfortunately, he had already been convicted by the media, especially by the Boston Globe.

Jim and I visit Paul, write to him, and talk with him on the phone. He has begun to share some of his prison writings with us.

The National Center for Reason and Justice — who sponsor his case — have long had information about Shanley at their web site. But we decided he deserved a site of his own where we could also publish some of his writings.

Thus far, we have only added two short pieces that we hope you will read. We will be adding more in the future.

The url is Paulshanley.org.

-Bob Chatelle

 

TV News Spot About the Father Gordon macRae Appeal

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

http://www.wmur.com/video/30519235/detail.html

FatherMacRae’s case is sponsored by the National Center for Reason and Justice.

-Bob Chatelle

Some Recent Research on False Memory

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145342

Frank Kane to be a Guest on Diane Rehm Show

Monday, September 27th, 2010

Dear Friend of Justice,

I’m posting this from an internet cafe in Montreal, using an unfamiliar keyboard.

NCRJ Treasurer Frank Kane will be a guest tomorrow morning on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show. I believe the time will be 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight time.

I’ll be out of the country, but do try to listen.

-Bob Chatelle

Poisonous Massachusetts

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Dear Friend of Justice,

A week ago today, the Massachusetts Supreme Court, in the Paul Shanley case, ruled that the theory of repressed memory has scientific validity in Massachusetts.

Today I was sent a link to this disturbing news story.

I don’t know for sure that the Indiana judge had read the Massachusetts decision, but I would put money on it.

Thus the floodgates have been opened, not just here in Massachusetts but all over the country.

One can only hope that eventually the U.S. Supreme Court will put an end to the nonsense.

-Bob Chatelle

Psychology Today Article About the Shanley Decision

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Dear Friend of Justice,

You might find interesting this article by Jean Mercer on the Psychology Today website.

-Bob Chatelle