Psychoanalytic Psychology Copyright 2001 by the Educational Publishing Foundation2001, Vol. 18, No. 1, 161-164 0736-9735/01/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0736-9735.18.1.161

Repressed MemoriesAvoiding the Obvious

Bertram P. Karon, PhDMichigan State University

Anmarie J. Widener, MA, MSWUniversity of Michigan

Sorting out the distinctions between reality and fantasy interms of apparently recovered memories and reconstructions isat least as puzzling as sorting out current realities. In respond-ing to C. B. Brenneis's (1997, 2000) challenge to the existenceof the phenomena of repression and of recovered or recon-structed memories, the authors point out the data from theRecovered Memory Archive web site, the data from WorldWar I and World War II battlefield neuroses, as well as theclinical observations of psychoanalysts.

The articles by Brenneis seem very thoughtful and carefully elucidated.But they avoid the obvious. Brenneis (1997, 2000) reviewed some of therelevant studies, citing some data and logic that supposedly discount theevidence for repressed memories. He says there are very few real cases,and "no larger sample of verified cases exist" (Brenneis, 2000, p.74).

Brenneis appears not to be aware of the existence of the FalseMemory Archive web site, set up by Professor Ross Cheit of BrownUniversity. In this readily available public document, there are 66 docu-

Bertram P. Karon, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University;Anmarie J. Widener, MA, MSW, School of Social Work, University of Michigan.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Bertram P.Karon, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing,Michigan 48824. Electronic mail may be sent to karon@msu.edu.

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mented cases of recovered memories where the truth has been externallyvalidated by medical evidence, by eyewitnesses, by other victims, or by aconfession by the perpetrator. Professior Cheit began the archives afterbeing puzzled by many statements (like those of Brenneis, as well as theFalse Memory Society) that there are no documented externally validatedcases. In a few hours, a research assistant found 6 documented externallyvalidated cases in easily available public documents. This led to setting upthe False Memory Archive, which also refers to numerous research articlesabout repressed memories in general, as well as articles about Holocaustsurvivors and repressed memories, phenomena specifically denied byskeptics of repressed memories. (Cheit, 1999). All of these data may bereviewed at www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/Archive.html

In previous articles, we (Karon & Widener, 1997, 1998, 1999a) havediscussed the hundreds of documented battlefield neuroses in World WarII regularly discussed in the textbooks of the 1950s, where memories ofbattlefield trauma (witnessed by others) were repressed and retrieved intreatment with symptomatic improvement. Usually, the symptoms were ofconversion hysteria. Recently, Van der Hart, Brown, and Graafland (1999)published a similar historical article about the data concerning World WarI battlefield neuroses and their treatment.

Given the nature of research on repression (commonly involvingtraumatic memories), Brenneis seems to overvalue peer-reviewed journalsof experimental data as the only way to get at what is "true." No ethicalperson would be willing to subject children or adults to a rigorouslycontrolled experiment wherein participants are traumatized in the labora-tory with random assignment and a control group and then observed foryears to determine whether they repress the memories of the experiment.If that is the required standard of evidence, then critics of repression aresafe forever. He also undervalues clinical observations or even observa-tions made openly outside the clinical situation. He even seems to believethat changes in specific case histories made to protect confidentialitysomehow invalidate the accuracy of other described observations ofclinicians.

Moreover, his apparent attention to detail is belied by the fact that heapparently has confused Williams's (1995) data with Herman and Schat-zow's (1987) data (Brenneis, 2000, p. 66).

It is axiomatic in psychoanalysis that anything the patient says aboutthe past may be a reflection of the ongoing therapeutic relationship (e.g.,see Langs, 1976) as well as that anything the patient says about the

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therapeutic relationship may be a reflection of the patient's past. Brenneis(2000) tends to discount the discovery of the past in psychoanalysis byassuming that memories or reconstructions of intrusive boundary viola-tions in childhood must reflect only intrusive boundary violations in thetherapy. This is simple-minded.

That memory in general involves processes of transformation, sum-marization, analogues, and reconstructions is interesting, and both clinicaland experimental data help to illuminate an accurate understanding ofthese processes; however, that does not invalidate the concept of repres-sion. Nor does the fact that apparently remembered material may reflectthe dynamics of the ongoing relationship.

Repression, as usually defined, refers to the psychological process ofkeeping something out of awareness because of unpleasant affect con-nected with it. The "something" may be a memory (or part of a memory),a fantasy, a thought, an idea, a feeling, a wish, an impulse, a connection,and so forth. It is hard to conceive of practicing psychoanalysis withoutregularly observing the reconstruction or return to awareness of previouslyforgotten material. Moreover, patients regularly confirm the accuracy oftheir newly recovered memories or reconstructions, as most patients try toobtain evidence of the accuracy of their memories and reconstructionsinsofar as they concern externally observable events, if it seems possibleand safe to do so.

Repression may be massive. Thus, B. P. Karon (Karon & Widener,1999b) treated a patient who, on entering treatment, could not rememberanything before the middle of high school. (He had always thought of thisas normal and not as a symptom.) He had very serious symptoms. Thesesymptoms remitted during the course of dynamic therapy in which heremembered the earlier years of his life, many details of which werevalidated by others.

On the other hand, repression may be specific, as it was in the patient(of B. P. Karon) who sought therapy for irrational violence: "I hurt peopleand I don't want to." He described beating up a girlfriend for no reason.The only conscious reason he could give was because she had performedfellatio on him without his asking. Associations led to her being a "badwoman" and that his mother, who "was like the Bible, she always knowswhat's right," had warned him that there would be "bad women like that"and had showed him what they would do (performed fellatio on him). Theanger about the sexual molestation was repressed and displaced towardother women because it conflicted with his need to have an idealizedimage of his mother. He remembered the child abuse simply as moral

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instruction. Awareness of his previously repressed anger connected withthis child molestation led to a permanent disappearance of violent assaults

against women.Repression is one of the coping mechanisms people use to survive.

There are interesting theoretical questions about the conditions underwhich repression takes place and the conditions under which it can beundone or the repressed material reconstructed as well as the effects ofdoing so (accurately and inaccurately). There are also interesting questionsabout the meaning of memories of events that never happened both inpatients and in people not in therapy (e.g., Karon, 1996). But avoiding theobvious and focusing only on details does not help the discussion.

References

Brenneis, C. B. (1997). Final Report of APA Working Group. Psychoanalytic Psy-chology, 14, 531-547.

Brenneis, C. B. (2000). Evaluating the evidence: Can we find authenticated recoveredmemory? Psychoanalytic Psychology, 17, 61-77.

Cheit, R. E. (1999). Junk skepticism and recovered memory: A reply to Piper. Ethicsand Behavior, 9, 295-318.

Herman, J. L., & Schatzow, E. (1987). Recovery and verification of memories ofchildhood sexual trauma. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 4, 1-14.

Karon, B. P. (1996). On being abducted by aliens. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 13,417-418.

Karon, B. P., & Widener, A. J. (1997). Repressed memories and World War II: Lestwe forget! Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28, 338-340.

Karon, B. P., & Widener, A. J. (1998). Repressed memories: The real story. Profes-sional Psychology: Research andPractice, 29, 482-487.

Karon, B. P., & Widener, A. J. (1999a). Repressed memories: Just the facts. Profes-sional Psychology: Research and Practice, 30, 625-626.

Karon, B. P., & Widener, A. J. (1999b). The tragedy of schizophrenia: Its myth ofincurability. Ethical Human Sciences and Services, 1, 195-211.

Langs, R. (1976). The therapeutic interaction. New York: Jason Aronson.Van der Hart, O., Brown, P., & Graafland, M. (1999). Trauma-induced dissociative

anmesia in World War I combat soldiers. Australian and New Zealand Journal ofPsychiatry, 33, 37-46.

Williams, L. M. (1995). Recovered memories of abuse in women with documentedchild sexual victimization histories. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8, 649-673.