Cultural Psychopathology and the “False Memory Syndrome” Debates: A View from Psychoanalysis

Abstract

The typical "false memory syndrome" debates assume that clinicians mus establish whether a recovered memory of abuse is objectively true. The prese paper criticizes that assumption from three psychoanalytic perspectives an proposes that it reflects a pervasive underlying societal psychopathology. Illus tive examples are provided and explored.Given the current climate surrounding the debates and heated arguments about the "false memory syndrome" and related issues, it probably will seem strange, even willfully obdurate, to ask: Why do we need to establish whether a memory of past abuse which has surfaced during an adult's psychotherapy is true? Why should it matter?The question may seem frivolous because it is so widely believed that the answers are obvious, well known and well established.