Repressed-Memory Therapy: Lies of the Mind

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The ultimate victim of repressed memory may be the psychotherapeutic profession itself. "Therapists are terrified," says MPD specialist Kluft. "Many are feeling very hamstrung because they fear any time they ask a question, it can result in a lawsuit." Instead of seeing a patient "as a person in pain and in need of help," Kluft complains, "the therapist is looking at a potential litigant. Some people have discontinued treating trauma patients."

S. Scott Mayers, a psychotherapist in Venice, California, is hardly terrified. But he is cautious. "What I do to ensure that I don't inflict my agenda or opinion," he says, "is go with the patients' presentation and stay with it, using their own words, their own scenarios. I'm so cautious because we are all very suggestive."

Recovered-memory therapists might do well to heed those guidelines before they cause irreparable damage to their profession. For, as the public begins to recognize that people have been falsely accused by recovered-memory patients, says psychiatrist McHugh, it "opens us up to skepticism and dismay about our capacity to do things. This is a bubble that is going to burst. We will end up having to re-create the trust this country puts in psychotherapy."