The False Memory Syndrome at 30: How Flawed Science Turned into Conventional Wisdom Â
In early December of 1990, the young academic was feeling confused. Though she had recently been granted tenure and was a happily married mother of two, she was weighed down by a surprising surge in anxiety. To get some relief from her distress, she decided to enter psychotherapy.
When she mentioned in an early session how much she was dreading the prospect of seeing her parents during the upcoming Christmas vacation, her therapist asked if she had ever been abused. âI said, âNo,â but later that day, I began experiencing disturbing flashbacks. Over the next few weeks, I remembered that my father had molested me when I was a young child,â said Jennifer Freyd, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, in a phone interview. âWhen my parents arrived for their visit, I couldnât handle being with them, and my husband blurted out the reason. They ended up lea