False Memory Syndrome

Many fathers have been accused of abuse by their adult daughters who claim they either repressed or forgot all memory of such abuse until recently. Often these women are in therapy or have read pop-psychology books on the subject of recovered memory. Some report they have recovered memories without therapy or suggestion of any kind. Why then are they subject to this delusion which inflicts such destuctive effects on the lives of both the accused and the accusers? Nearly all therapists refuse to admit they have ever led anyone to create a false memory or falsely accuse anyone. This seems to be an industry in total denial. Malpractice insurance insulates these therapists from having to accept responsibilty for their mistakes. Paul Simpson, a former recovered memory therapist in Tuscon, says he finally realized his patients were confabulating pseudomemories of abuse as the result of imagination in response to his suggestion. He now works to try to undo the results of such therapy and to inform the public of the danger and the deception. Dr. Simpson is a Christian who has appeared on the James Dobson radio program along with Paul Meier, a well known 'christian psychologist.' Meier defended his own clinical practice of ferreting out satanic ritual abuse victims, while admitting there are a few rotten apples in the industry who encourage false ritual abuse memories. One rotten apple spoils the entire barrel. Meier recently had a falling out with his long-term partner, Frank Minirth, and they have now separated their clinical practices. At least one of the reasons for this stunning parting of the ways seems to be rooted in the area of false memory syndrome. D-Magazine did two stories several years ago on the survivors group which begam at Minirth-Meier Clinic in Richardson, Texas and then ran amok, creating phony victims of satanic ritual abuse. [see the story of Gloria Gradey by Glenna Whitley] A listener who called in to ask a question on the Minirth-Meier radio program in Atlanta got more than he bargained for. The caller, Scott Rogers, was awarded a $1 million judgement against Minirth-Meier Clinic. Just as is seen in secular therapy where errors occured which harmed clients or their families, both Frank Minirth and Steve Arterburn, the new partner of Paul Meier, say that they would change nothing and that their people handled the Scott Rogers case correctly. Apparently unrepentant, these two "christian psychologists" insure such mistakes will happen again in their counseling businesses. This refusal to admit error and harm fits the pattern seen in therapists not wanting to give up their pose of infallibility. Women who believe they have recovered abuse memories cling tenaciously to these 'memories' even though their lives would be much easier if they were to discern that these might only be pseudomemories confabulated as a result of suggestion and imagination. They are caught in a delusion from which there is no escape via logic and persuasive reasoning. Facts cannot penetrate the religious fervor with which they believe in the repressed memory false doctrine with all its unproven theories. Such is the nature of delusions. Only God can set a person free from the delusion which God himself sent to those who fail to receive a love of truth. One can hope that eventually, they will leave therapy and begin to critically evaluate how they came to believe in their 'memories' and whether these might be due to therapist influence or other suggestion. Hypnosis and psychotherapy suggestion cause the patient to fiercely defend the validity of their memories even though it dilutes the truth of the memory recalled by adding in suggested material from the therapist. Patients also defend the therapist's methods because they have been convinced this is their only hope to be healed of their alleged abuse. The real way to healing is to stop thinking on vile events, real or imagined, and begin to think on pure, noble, and praise-worthy things. If anything is true and of good report, one should think on such pleasant things. Those who support recovered memory are partners in the delusions of those who believe they have retrieved such memories. This includes therapists and a large part of the public which pays rapt attention to so-called "expert opinion" rather than relying upon its own common sense. Too much focus on self is a sure prescription for narcissism and mental illness. It is strange indeed that this is the panacea being offered by therapists. Between toxic psychotherapy and overzealous biopsychiatry turning Americans into drug addicts, our mental health industry has indeed gone insane.

Will the real deluded person please stand up? Is it the therapist who leads the patient into concocting false memories of abuse or the patient who misleads the therapist into believing in their flashbacks of imaginary events and worst fear scenarios? Is it not both? God sends them delusion so that they will believe the lie. Each of us are responsible for our actions even if beguiled by some lying serpent. This example we know from seeing how God dealt with a similar situation with our ancestors in the book of Genesis.{Adam and Eve and the "christian psychologist"} Therapists are getting paid as experts in healing the human mind and psyche so their failure to warn of such complications of psychotherapy as false abuse memories is gross malpractice. The outcome of such deception is often a shattered family and unhealthy dependence of the client upon the therapist.

According to psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, Anton Mesmer, is the founder of today's mental health industry. Mesmer and his patients were engaged in a gigantic lie which fooled many intelligent and important people of his day. It was inevitable that the deception would eventually be exposed. The same thing can be said today concerning recovered memory therapists and their adoring patients with supposed recovered memories or the even more exotic MPD diagnosis. Mesmer founded the practice of inventing illnesses and then claiming he had the cure for these imaginary illnesses. The patients charmed by Mesmer played along with the the deception due to his suggestion and their interest in being the center of attention. This con game in late eighteenth century France was debunked by such men of science as Benjamin Franklin, Jean Bailly, Antoine Lavoisier, and Joseph Guilotin. Mesmerism is still being played today in an even more gigantic lie. It is called 'the mental health industry.' [see The Myth of Psychotherapy by psychiatrist Thomas Szasz] Therapy works because of the air of confidence of the therapist and the confidence of the patient has in the therapist's ability to effect a cure. It doesn't matter that there may be hundreds of different therapies which contradict each other or that the therapist doesn't know what he is talking about. All therapies work to some degree on a temporary basis because of the placebo effect, a very significant factor in medicine and human behavior. The talking cure relies heavily upon it.

The panel commissioned by Louis XVI in 1784 to investigate the claims of healing by Anton Mesmer, conducted experiments which led them to conclude that his healing claims were false. He only could heal patients who were not really sick but acting upon his suggestions and exhibiting symptoms of phony illnesses. The really sick people didn't get cured. The panel stated that the whole phenomenon was the product of imagination. The same is true for false memory syndrome, mpd, and satanic ritual abuse. What is mental illness? I define it as when a person is lacking reality. Some such conditions are iatrogenic illnesses made up by so-called professionals who then purport to treat the phony conditions their patients have imagined for themselves. There is a deception carried on between patient and therapist. The therapist redirects the concerns presented by the patient upon entering therapy to an imaginary new malady which he then says he can cure. And he is sure he can cure it because it is imaginary in the first place. The therapist can be totally wrong in theory and unscientific in practice. He can be wrong in interpretation of symptoms, wrong in treatment. It does not matter. This is how all faith healing works. His diagnosis does not have to be correct, but he must have one. If the patient believes or comes to accept the therapist's diagnosis {or misdiagnosis} the placebo effect can be applied. In Mesmerism, from Phineas P. Quimby to Benny Hinn one observes the same phenomenon. It doesn't matter what the object of one's faith is, just that they have faith. Faith in Buddha or faith in the psychologist; one is as good as the other. It won't get you to heaven or help you to discern truth, but it can produce the placebo effect. Many onlookers think the mesmerist has supernatural powers but it is only the process of suggestion at work. Eventually, the subject returns to exhibiting his symptoms. Many get sicker because they act out the toxic label accepted from the therapist. He/she is separated from reality and from truth. If one goes into therapy for a cold, he shouldn't accept the diagnosis of pneumonia. He might just end up in a hospital.