Funny how headlines can spark a writer's imagination. Gini Graham Scott, PhD outlines the issue of whether-or-not people can plant false memories in others. We learn the history of the debate and the legalities involved...and then she takes the issue for a lively ride...
LAWSUIT OVER (DISTURBING)FALSE MEMORIES
How about some good ones?
Gini Graham Scott, PhD
Accusations
of planting false memories are in the news again. In the 1980s and 1990s ago,
there were a spate of repressed memory claims by women who suddenly remembered that
their fathers, step-fathers, teachers, or others had abused them and even subjected
them to Satan rituals, and a number of accused perpetrators were convicted. But then in the early 1990s some of the accused
fought back against the therapists, claiming these were false memories, and
sometimes they won their cases and some patients retracted their claims, saying
they had been swayed by the influence of their therapists to falsely believe
something happened. Some patients even
won million dollar verdicts against therapists for planting recovered
memories. In fact, at the height of the
interest in this topic, I wrote a fictionalized court case with two opposing
attorneys, YOU THE JURY by Mark E. Roseman and William B. Craig, where one
represented the victims claiming rediscovered memories and the other
represented the accused claiming the memories were false. Then, the controversy seems to have died out
for the past decade.
However,
now the issue of repressed memories seems to have gained a new life, according
to an ABC News Article about a woman claiming a psychologist hypnotized her
into “believing she possessed multiple personalities and participated in
satanic rituals.” And several others who were told they were part of a satanic
cult may sue as well. As the article: “Therapist ‘Brainwashed’ Woman Into
Believing She Was in a Satanic Cult, Attorney Says” explains, Lisa Nasseff, 41,
of Saint Paul, Minnesota is suing her former therapist, Mark Schwarz, and the
Castlewood Treatment Center in St. Louis, Missouri for creating this false
memory. According to the suit, she went
to the therapist there for 15 months to treat her anorexia, and when Schwarz
hypnotized her to treat her depression and anxiety, she came to believe she had
been involved in a satanic cult in which she participated in various criminal
and other terrible acts. She even came
to believe she had sacrificed her sister’s baby on Satan’s alter. Then she
discovered other women treated at the facility who had similar stories of being
in cults two or three years before but they didn’t know it until they
remembered under treatment.
While the
therapist and treatment center have denied doing any such thing, the False Memory
Center, founded in 1992, supports
the position that false memories can result from a variety of influences, such
as the opinion of an authority figure, information repeated in a culture, and
an individual wanting to please or conform.
And creative imaginative people can find it especially easy to come up
with all sorts of images in response to being influenced. So it is possible to possible to implant
memories, including witnessing a demonic possession or being abused.
Well,
assuming all of that is true about being able to implant all of these horrible
memories, my question is what about the possibility of implanting good
memories? Then, rather than wanting to sue
their therapists or others implanting such memories, people might actually like
to have such good memories, even if they are false, implanted in them. And the experience of these memories might be
so powerful, that they might feel very real – or at least for a time, while
they savor that great experience.
Then, if
that’s the case, I could even imagine some entrepreneur creating a business of
implanting good memories for someone to enjoy.
For example, suppose one wants to remember a joyous experience of going
somewhere with a romantic partner? What
if one wants to recall wonderful childhood experiences with one’s friends or
parents? Or what about recalling how one
won the lottery and had a wonderful time going to fine restaurants and
traveling to exotic destinations all over the world. One could even have
exciting memories of past lives as other people. The possibilities are endless.
Whoever is implanting the memories just has to find out what kind of positive
memories someone wants to have and then use a deep hypnotic state to implant
them, much like the therapists accused of planting false memories of abuse or
ritual membership are supposed to have done.
In short,
if it’s possible to implant harmful false memories, why wouldn’t it be possible
to implant joyful false memories – and in that case, why wouldn’t many people
want to do just that, and perhaps even replace their real memories of difficult
times with happy memories that bring them satisfaction and joy.
So why not try it? It might be fun to remember the way you’d
like things to be rather than remembering the way things really were – or at
least you might like to enjoy the experience for a little while before coming
back to reality and the way things are. Or
then again, maybe it might be best to stay in touch with what’s really real. Or
maybe not. I’m not sure. But sometimes I
sure would like to pick and choose my memories.
Would you? Or maybe not?
Gini Graham Scott, PhD, is the author of over 50 books and a
speaker/seminar leader, specializing in social trends, work relationships,
professional development, and writing and publishing books. Her latest books
include THE TRUTH ABOUT LYING; WANT IT, SEE IT, GET IT!; and USING LINKEDIN TO
PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS OR YOURSELF. She also helps clients write, publish, and
promote their own books and find publishers and agents through Changemakers
Publishing and Writing. She has a publishing company Changemakers Publishing
and writes screenplays, both her own and for clients. Her Websites are at http://www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com
and http://www.ginigrahamscott.com.
Reprinted with permission.
