IS THERE EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE COLLECTION OF BELIEFS ABOUT REPRESSION?
Pope et al. (1998) reviewed all studies published since 1960 in which investigators had recruited victims of specific traumatic events and had prospectively assessed their psychological symptoms. A prospective study eliminates the problem of recall bias that can happen when people are asked to remember past events. Pope et al. found no evidence for repression. Indeed, for more than sixty years, researchers have been seeking scientific evidence that people repress traumatic memories. To date, they have found none. In summary, “the reality is that most people who are victims of childhood sexual abuse remember all or part of what happened to them.” (American Psychological Association, 1995) Memory research refutes the other beliefs as well. No special mental mechanism protecting a memory from natural decay has ever been found. And no scientific evidence shows that psychological healing requires unearthing memories. Evidence does abound, however, about the malleability of human memory. Tha
