Submitting Your Story for Online Publication
I would like to turn this site into an online memorial to all the victims
of the memory recovery movement -- the retractors whose lives have been
devastated, the innocent families who have been falsely accused, and the
believers who do not yet realize who they have been misled. The victims
of the memory recovery movement have suffered in silence. Most have hesitated
to tell their story because of the understandable fear of having their
lives destroyed by the witch hunt that has swept this country. It is time
for this story to be told. The hysteria and epidemic of malpractice and
false accusations will not stop until everyone in America realizes the
scope of the damage that has been done already. People will not believe
how many decent, innocent, hard working people have been falsely accused
of incest, child molestation, and satanic ritual abuse based solely on
so-called "repressed memories" which were supposedly "recovered" during
therapy until the accused people have the courage to step forward, be named,
and say to all who will listen "I have been falsely accused of incest based
on so-called 'repressed memories' which were supposedly 'recovered' during
therapy. Here is my story. Listen to it carefully and learn from it so
that your family too is not one day destroyed. It is too late for my family,
but it may not be too late for yours."
Publishing your family's story online will serve the following purposes:
-
it will document in shocking detail the devastation this misguided movement
has wrought
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it will make more people aware of the dangers posed by pop psychology,
books written by amateurs with no medical or psychological training, mental
health practices not grounded in science, the use of techniques that have
not been tested for safety and effectiveness, the treatment of the mentally
ill by amateurs with no medical or psychological training, mental therapy
performed without informed consent, the practice of medicine and psychology
without a license, and all of the other factors that have led to this disaster
-
by educating the public about these dangers, it will reduce the number
of people who will be misled by this movement in the future and reduce
the number of innocent families that will be shattered in the future
-
it will serve as a permanent online memorial to these innocent victims
so that our suffering will never be forgotten
-
it will fight the denial of the problem's existence by therapists (be it
due to ignorance, incompetence, or self-interest), professional organizations
which don't wish to admit the extent of their membership's irresponsibility,
government officials who have put innocent people in prison based solely
on "repressed memories," the few wildly irresponsible radical feminists
and radical fundamentalists who find it useful to create demons where none
exist, and believers who do not want to admit their mistake
I encourage everyone who has been falsely accused and everyone who has
developed false memories to be completely open about what has happened
with everyone they know. When a person hears from someone they've known
their entire life that the person was just falsely accused of incest based
on "repressed memories" supposedly "recovered" during "therapy," it changes
forever that person's opinion of "repressed memories," "memory recovery,"
and "therapy." We must share our suffering to save others from the same
fate. Otherwise, our suffering will have been in vain, and the madness
will continue.
On the advice of legal counsel, I will remove all identifying information
from the stories that I publish online. This is to protect the innocent
from harassment and to prevent lawsuits by those who are not so innocent.
Personal names and place names will all be changed to pseudonyms in italics.
Changing the names will protect the innocent (and the not-so-innocent therapists),
and writing the changed names in italics will clearly identify for the
reader those few details which have been changed in an otherwise accurate
story.
Points which you may wish to cover in your story:
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Who believes (or believed) that they had been abused?
-
Did the person always remember the abuse? Did they state that the memories
had been forgotton and later "recovered"? Did they state that the memories
had been "repressed" or "dissociated"? If so, for how long were the memories
allegedly out of conscious awareness?
-
Who was accused of committing abuse? How many people were allegedly committing
abuse?
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When were the accusations first made? Was the accuser involved in therapy,
divorce, or child custody proceedings at the time?
-
What kind of abuse was alleged?
-
How many people were allegedly the victims of abuse? Do all of the alleged
victims in fact believe they were abused?
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How old was the person at the time the abuse allegedly began?
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On how many occasions (or for what period of time) did the abuse allegedly
take place?
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Did the beliefs include ritual abuse, satanic ritual abuse, abuse in past
lives, or alien abduction?
-
Did the person confront other family member? If so, who and in what way?
-
Did the person cut off contact from other family members? If so, who was
cut off, and for how long? Were other family members able to maintain contact
during this period? Has contact been reestablished?
-
Did other family members believe the allegations? If so, who did and did
not?
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Did the belief in past abuse develop during therapy? If so:
-
Why did the person originally seek therapy? For what problem were they
seeking help?
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What kind of therapist did the person go to? Did the person have a degree?
If so, what kind?
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Was the therapist licensed or unlicensed? If licensed, what kind of license?
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What beliefs did the therapist hold about abuse and memories of abuse?
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Has a complaint been filed against the therapist? If so, what is the complaint's
status?
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Were any books or movies involved? If so, which ones?
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Was any effort made to verify the allegations? If so, was there evidence
which confirmed or contradicted the allegations?
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What has been the impact of the accusations?
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Is legal action involved? If so, who took legal action against whom? What
was the outcome?
-
Were law enforcement or child protection authorities notified of the accusations?
If so, what was the outcome?
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Have the accusations been retracted? Has the family been reunited?
Tips on submitting your story:
-
Please send the text of your story by email to save me the time of retyping
it. (If you don't have email, you can send a typed or neatly handwritten
version, but this may delay posting of the story because of the need to
retype it.)
-
When you submit your story, please include your full name and
postal address. (Including your phone number
may save time as well if there are any questions.)
-
If you are uncomfortable about sending this information (or the story itself)
by email, please send it by U.S. mail to this site's mailing
address; if possible, please include a 3.5" floppy disk in IBM PC format
with your story's text saved as an ASCII text file, a Microsoft Word .doc
or .rtf file, or a WordPerfect file.
Please educate others and protect other families from this tragedy by sharing
your story online!
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