Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse: Clinicians' practices and beliefs

Kathleen M. Palm, University of Nevada, Reno
Pamela Gibson

Abstract

The issue of recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has stirred up a great deal of controversy in the field of psychology and in the public media. Recent court trials and television specials suggest that recovered and false memory cases occur often. Clinicians completed a survey designed to determine the prevalence of recovered memory for CSA in their clinical practices and to assess whether the recovered memory controversy had affected their treatment of female CSA victims. Despite the publicity the debate over memories of CSA has attracted, few cases of so-called recovered memory were reported. Even fewer cases of so-called false memory were reported.