"In
Michigan, Christian counselor Kathryn Salmi has been fighting a lawsuit
brought against her by the parents of a young client, who claim that
the therapist’s techniques gave their daughter false memories of sexual
abuse. In 2014, an appeals court ruled that counselors like Salmi have
an obligation not just to their patients, but to third parties who could
be harmed by certain therapy techniques as well. The state’s Supreme
Court declined last month to rule on the issue, allowing the lower court’s decision — and the lawsuit — to stand. The
court’s decision marks the latest stand against therapeutic techniques
meant to uncover so-called repressed memories, which have experienced a
steady fall from favor since their heyday in the early 1990s. The tide
began to turn against repressed memory recovery after investigations
into an alleged epidemic of sexual abuse revealed instead a wave of
therapy-induced false memories. Eventually, former patients began
speaking out against recovered memory therapy. Last year in Pacific Standard, Ed Cara wrote
about Missouri’s Castlewood Treatment Center — an eating disorder
clinic facing several civil malpractice lawsuits from former patients
claiming that the center’s techniques left them with harmful false
memories. The
former Castlewood patients claimed that, under the influence of hypnosis
and psychiatric drugs, they were encouraged to link their current
problems to forgotten childhood abuse. The false memories of abuse,
according to the suits, exacerbated the emotional distress the patients
were already experiencing. But the patients who were incepted with these
emotionally disturbing and false memories aren’t the only victims of
the discredited technique. As Cara reported: Although
there is no full tally, University of California-Berkeley professor
Frederick Crews, who wrote about recovered memory therapy, suggested
(conservatively, he says) that one million patients may have been
convinced they had recovered repressed memories. Of course, as Crews
notes, the number of those affected was far greater; the accusations
from each of these patients almost always radiated through families and
communities, leading to bewildering and painful estrangements for
fathers, mothers, teachers, and others..........The
lawsuit against Salmi in Michigan is ongoing, and she asserts that she
does not practice repressed memory therapy. While the outcome of that
case is still uncertain, there is now some legal precedent, at least in
Michigan, for falsely accused friends and family members to go after
counselors and psychologists who do still practice the discredited
therapy."
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Bulletin: Kathryn Salmi: Michigan: False memory syndrome; Significant Decision; Michigan Supreme Court declines to interfere with a lower court ruling that counselors like Salmi have an obligation not just to their patients, but to third parties who could be harmed by certain therapy techniques as well. (The Michigan counselor faces a lawsuit from parents who believe the therapist’s techniques gave their daughter false memories of abuse.)..."The false memories of abuse, according to the suits, exacerbated the emotional distress the patients were already experiencing. But the patients who were incepted with these emotionally disturbing and false memories aren’t the only victims of the discredited technique. As Cara reported: Although there is no full tally, University of California-Berkeley professor Frederick Crews, who wrote about recovered memory therapy, suggested (conservatively, he says) that one million patients may have been convinced they had recovered repressed memories. Of course, as Crews notes, the number of those affected was far greater; the accusations from each of these patients almost always radiated through families and communities, leading to bewildering and painful estrangements for fathers, mothers, teachers, and others."..."The lawsuit against Salmi in Michigan is ongoing, and she asserts that she does not practice repressed memory therapy. While the outcome of that case is still uncertain, there is now some legal precedent, at least in Michigan, for falsely accused friends and family members to go after counselors and psychologists who do still practice the discredited therapy." Kate Wheeling; Pacific Standard.
