False Memory Syndrome Foundation

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The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) is an organization that advocates on behalf of individuals who claim they have been falsely accused of perpetrating child sexual abuse.^[1] The FSMF was formed in 1992 by Pamela and Peter Freyd after they became aware that their adult daughter Jennifer Freyd, Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, believed that Peter Freyd had sexually abused her when she was a child. ^[2][3] Ralph Underwager, a prominent defense expert witness in child sexual abuse cases, and his wife Hollida Wakefield, assisted the Freyds in the founding of the FSMF and in gathering an advisory board and a membership consisting mainly of of parents who had been accused of child sexual abuse by adult children who, according to the parents, had no memory of abuse before entering some form of therapy.^[1][4]

The FMSF coined the term false memory syndrome to describe their theory that some adults who belatedly remember instances of sexual abuse from their childhood may be mistaken about the accuracy of their memory. The term does not have wide scientific use.^[5] From this, the Foundation hypothesized that the so-called false memories may have been the result of recovered memory therapy, another term coined by the FSMF in the early 1990s.^[6]

[edit] Controversies

Stephanie Dallam, in a peer-reviewed 2002 article^[1] in Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, concludes that "The 'False Memory Syndrome' is a controversial theoretical construct based entirely on the reports of parents who claim to be falsely accused of incestuous abuse... The current empirical evidence suggests that the existence of such a syndrome must be rejected. False memory advocates have failed to adequately define or document the existence of a specific syndrome, and a review of the relevant literature demonstrates that the construct is based on a series of faulty assumptions, many of which have been disproven. Likewise, there no credible data showing that the vague symptoms they ascribe to this purported syndrome are widespread or constitute a crisis or epidemic."

Charles Whitfield, MD, in his 1995 book Memory and Abuse, states he had found that all critics of the studies showing support for the validity of delayed memories were members of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation advisory board.^[7] It has been asserted that although cases of false memories may exist, the term "syndrome" is misleading and that as an advocacy organization, the FMSF is not a reliable independent source of scientific information.^[8][9]

[edit] Advisory Board Controversy

In 1991, the FMS Foundation was the subject of a bitter public controversy concerning the personal motivations of its founders and the purpose of the foundation as an organization. The controversy resulted in the resignation of two founding members of the FMSF Scientific Advisory Board.

Writing under the pseudonym "Jane Doe", one year before she established the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, Pamela Freyd published a first-person account of her daughter's accusations of sexual misconduct against her husband, Peter Freyd.^[10] The publishers of this journal were Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager. ^[11]

The Freyds' daughter is Jennifer Freyd, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon. She writes,

"For the first two years of my work on betrayal trauma theory, I did not discuss my private life in public. ... In my own case I lost the ability to choose privacy. Approximately eight months after I first presented betrayal trauma theory, my parents, in conjunction with Ralph Underwager and others, formed the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF). Before the organization was formed, my mother, Pamela Freyd, had published an article under the name "Jane Doe". The Jane Doe article, when circulated to my professional colleagues and to the media by my mother, made public accusations about my professional and personal life, at the same time that it helped spawn the false memory movement. ... If people who dare to speak about sexual abuse are attacked by those whom they have relied on and trusted, is it any wonder that unawareness and silence are so common?"^[2]

Jennifer Freyd has received support for her account from significant members of the Freyd family, including Peter Freyd’s mother.^[1]

Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager were appointed to the FMS Foundation Scientific Advisory Board when it was first created. In an interview with the editor-in-chief of Paidika, Wakefield is quoted as follows:

"We can't presume to tell [pedophiles] specific behaviors, but in terms of goals, certainly the goal is that the experience be positive, at the very least not negative, for their partner and partner's family. And nurturing. Even if it were a good relationship with the boy, if the boy was not harmed and perhaps even benefited, if it tore the family of the boy apart, that would be negative. It would be nice if someone could get some kind of big research grant to do a longitudinal study of, let's say, a hundred twelve year old boys in relationships with loving paedophiles. Whoever was doing the study would have to follow that at five year intervals for twenty years. This is impossible in the U. S. right now. We're talking a long time in the future." ^[11]

In the same interview, Underwager said this:

"Paedophiles need to become more positive and make the claim that paedophilia is an acceptable expression of God's will for love and unity among human beings. This is the only way the question is going to be answered, of whether or not it is possible. Does it happen? Can it be good? That's what we don't know yet, the ways in which paedophiles can conduct themselves in loving ways. That's what you need to talk about. You need to get involved in discourse, and to do so while acting. Matthew 11 talks about the wisdom of God, and the way in which God's wisdom, like ours, can only follow after. Paedophiles need to become more positive and make the claim that paedophiles is an acceptable expression of God's will for love and unity among human beings." ^[11]

In the storm of controversy that followed this interview, Ralph Underwager, who died in 2003, resigned from the FMS Foundation Scientific Advisory Board. Hollida Wakefield remains a member of the advisory board. Both Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager have noted the above quotes are taken out of context. Ralph Underwager was attempting to say to the intellectual pedophiles of Europe that if they really believed what they do is right, they should say so publicity but be prepared to take the consequences, which could well mean jail. Neither Ralph Underwager or Hollida Wakefield has ever supported adult-child sexual contact. They believe it is often destructive and is at best neutral in its effects on the child. ^[11]

Pamela Freyd remains as Executive Director. Peter Freyd is on public record admitting that he himself was sexually abused as a child, and that he may have said and done things to his daughter that were inappropriate. He emphatically denies sexually abusing her. ^[12]

Critics have also taken issue with the foundation's lack of intake screening for new members; in an interview, Pamela Freyd once acknowledged that people who come to the FMSF for support claiming that they have been falsely accused are assumed by the foundation to be innocent.^[13]

[edit] Notes