|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences. A
repressed memory is one that is retained in the sub conscious mind, where
one is not aware of it but where it can still affect both conscious thoughts
and behavior.
When memory is distorted or confabulated, the result can be what has been called the False Memory Syndrome: a condition in which a persons identity
and interpersonal relationships are entered around a memory of traumatic
experience which is objectively false but in which the person strongly believes. Note that the syndrome is not characterized by false memories as such. ... Rather, the syndrome may be diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained that it orients the individuals entire personality and lifestyle, in turn disrupting all sorts of other adaptive behaviors. ... False memory syndrome is especially destructive because the person assiduously avoids confrontation with any evidence that might challenge the memory. ... The person may become so focused on the memory that he or she may be effectively distracted from coping with real problems in his or her life.
There are many models which try to explain how memory works. Nevertheless, we do not know exactly how memory works. One of the most questionable models of memory is the one which assumes that every experience a person has had is recorded in memory and that some of these memories are of traumatic events too terrible to want to remember. ... And, both before and after the repressed memory is remembered, it causes physical and mental disorders in a person. ... "(Lindsay & Read, 1994)
This view of memory has two elements: (1) the accuracy element and (2) the causal element. ... (Tavris, 1993)
Here are a few of the unproved, unscientifically researched notions that are being bandied around by these child abuse experts: One, if you doubt that you were abused as a child or think that it might be your imagination, this is a sign of post-incest syndrome. ... And four, If you have any suspicion at all, if you have any memory, no matter how vague, it probably really happened. ... While some reports of incest and
sexual abuse are surely true, these decade delayed memories are too often
the result of False Memory Syndrome caused by a disastrous "therapeutic"
program. False Memory Syndrome has a devastating effect on the victim and
typically produces a continuing dependency on the very program that creates
the syndrome. False Memory Syndrome proceeds to destroy the psychological
well being not only of the primary victim but through false accusations of
incest and sexual abuse other members of the primary victims family. ...
The dangers of this model are apparent: not only are false memories treated as real memories, but real memories of real abuse may be treated as false memories and may provide real abusers with a believable defense. In the end, no one benefits from encouraging a belief in memory which is unfounded.
Whatever the theory of memory one advocates, if it does not entail examining
corroborating evidence and attempting to independently verify claims of
recollected abuse, it is a theory which will cause more harm than good.
Carl Jung, an early Freudian disciple and later heretic, extended this
model of memory by adding another area of repressed memories to the
unconscious mind, an area that was not based on individual past experiences
at all: the "collective" unconscious. ... )
The Platonic Model avoids the problem of determining whether or not a
memory is accurate by claiming that the memory is not of a personal
experience at all.
Approximate Word count = 2882
Approximate Pages = 11.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|