PubMed · 4391098
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B M Smith, J D Hain, I Stevenson. 1970. Controlled interviews using drugs.. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1970.01740250004002
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OBJECTIVE: The author uses clinical experience informed by research findings to suggest approaches to the treatment of the traumatic memories of patients with dissociative identity disorder. METHOD: Recent findings in the treatment of patients with this disorder and current considerations with regard to memories of childhood trauma are used to develop recommended approaches. RESULTS: Treatment of traumatic memories appears crucial in the recovery of patients with dissociative identity disorder, even though the reported memories may not be historically accurate. Criteria are available for determining whether a patient with the disorder is able to undertake such efforts, and methods such as fractionated abreaction have been developed to make the process less unsettling. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the difficulties posed by the vulnerability of patients with dissociative identity disorder to decompensation when working with traumatic material and the vicissitudes of autobiographical memory, modern therapeutic approaches allow the processing of such patients' traumatic material in a manner that reduces the likelihood of disruptive events and the misuse of recovered material.
Accuracy of repressed memories recovered in hypnosis cannot be reliably determined with any greater certainty than non-hypnotically recalled events. Therefore, the practice of therapists' accepting hypnotically enhanced memories as veridical, absent corroborating evidence, is not advocated. A 52-year-old woman with a 27-year history of panic attacks and sleep disorder inadvertently recovered incest memories in hypnosis. Photographs and remembered events by other family members were thought by the patient to provide general support although they did not constitute actual proof of abuse. Implications are discussed.
This exposition is an attempt to unravel the complexities of the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adult psychopathology. Four facets of the relationship are examined in some detail: (a) the extent of childhood sexual abuse; (b) the probability that sexual abuse in childhood will result in psychopathology in the adult; (c) the reliability of early life memories in later life; and (d) the role of recovered memory of trauma in the healing process. The conclusions of this logico-empirical analysis are that first, government statistics tend to underestimate the extent of childhood sexual abuse, whereas independent surveys tend to overestimate it. Estimating prevalence is further complicated by variations in the definitions of key terms. Possibly the only safe conclusion is that true prevalence cannot be reliably determined. Second, empirical investigations of childhood sexual abuse conclude that not all victims are emotionally injured. A substantial number of these investigations find that a majority of victims suffer no extensive harm. Other variables such as family dynamics are involved; there may be only a few cases in which emotional harm results from sexual abuse as a single factor. Third, memory research suggests that memory in general is a dynamic, reconstructive process and that recall of childhood events is particularly vulnerable to distortion. Memory cannot dependably produce historical truth. Last, there is some clinical evidence that abreaction of a traumatic event in adulthood may have a remediative effect. Similar evidence for childhood trauma is lacking. The belief in the healing effect of recalling and reliving a childhood trauma depends on the therapist's orientation.