For nearly 30 years, the False Memory Syndrome Foundation went to bat for alleged perpetrators of child molestation in cases where victims recovered repressed memories of childhood abuse. The cornerstone of their defense was False Memory Syndrome. But as sexual abuse researcher Michael Salter has pointed out, no such syndrome is recognized as a valid medical diagnosis.
The foundation’s entire basis being fictitious may be one reason why the FMSF quietly shut down in December of last year.
The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) was founded in 1992 by Pamela Freyd and her husband, Peter Freyd. Peter was accused by his daughter — falsely by his account — of childhood sexual abuse at the height of the repressed or recovered memory controversy in the 1980s and 90s. It offered support to family members who believed they were falsely accused and highlighted memory research from major academics such as Elizabeth Loftus.
Among its key principles, FMSF elevated Dr. John F. Kihlstrom’s definition of a proposed “false memory syndrome” — which has never been ratified as an actual diagnosis — to question and deconstruct the rise in adults now accusing family members of sexual abuse that never happened. The FMSF amassed heavy hitters in academia and law to help defend family members “falsely” accused of abuse by their adult children, effectively swinging the public narrative to one of mistrust of survivors.
The timing of the FMSF’s closure may be significant. The foundation closed up shop almost exactly two months after Mister Metokur’s reporting on an FBI document dump that confirmed the reality of 1980s “Satanic Panic” child ritual abuse.
For those who were out sick that day, Jim’s perusal of the FBI docs uncovered a group called the Finders which operated from the 1960s at least into the 90s. Recruited from the hippie subculture, the Finders carried out industrial-scale kidnapping, child trafficking, and ritual abuse–all with government sponsorship.
When accusations of child sexual and ritual abuse were lodged against McMartin Daycare, Peter Freyd’s bogus False Memory Syndrome was trotted out to undermine the victims’ testimony. A map found in the FBI files linked the McMartin case to the Finders.
A couple of Metokur live streams later, and the FMSF is no more. Coincidence? Possibly, but the whole affair smacks of rats fleeing a fire.
Is somebody turning up the heat on an unholy cabal of satanists and government spooks?
We can hope.
One thing that /was/ a problem was the idea of retrieving repressed memories under hypnosis. That wasn't a syndrome though.
IIRC the idea of "false memories" of abuse originated with Freud, and again IIRC it was a change from his original belief on the matter. It would be interesting to know whether the pressure brought to bear on him – for so the story went – was a result of outrage and denial, or deliberate manipulation to cover tracks.
You know psychiatry is quackery because Freud is still considered relevant.
Depending on where you live, certain permutations of the word "psycho" and "therapy" refer not to the current best guesses or best bets on science or outcomes respectively, but to basically a patented system that just acts as though Freud spake and so it shall be done. It's essentially chiropractic for your brain, only with an even heavier veneer of respectable medicine.
Brian
And Fredrick Crewes was extricated for his exposure of Freud's fraud and misconduct. This back in the late 80s and the swarm attacks are the day run for today's twitter mobbing
xavier
I highly recommend watching the Satanic Panic Reconsidered & Mythos series of videos by Apollo's Artifacts. He goes into every offshoot of what happened during the '80s, including charlatans such as those in the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. Every member of that foundation was a hardcore deviant of some sort, and regularly palled around with those with satanic ties.
If it seems weird that sexual abuse of children is often tied with satanic cults then watching this series should help clear that right up. One hand always ends up washing the other.
Reconsidered: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV11Bw6e4qQX6T65VwsELYzSNSYobR13F
Mythos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV11Bw6e4qQWxBhLAhhyvpnQy8jUtw-bt
Also Frerick Crewrs essays published by the New York Review of books at the time He dosen't just cover the false memory cases but also Freudism. He's a ferocious critic
xavier
Thanks, JD!
You're welcome!
JD,
Thanks for those links. I spent the better part of today watching them.
The McMartin stuff blew me away. I remember when it was happening: in public school, we had to discuss it current events. But I was always fed the anti-Christian version of events.
Sorry to have been away so long again Brian! I missed stopping by here regularly.
We are glad to have you back!
Am I the only one confused and amused at the nature of the heroes who've arisen to fight against this wickedness? I mean, Mr. Metokur, a.k.a. the Internet Aristocrat? Have you watched his stuff? Not bad, but . . . odd and definitely foul-mouthed. For that matter, the rise of President Trump himself? I don't think he's perfect, but he's done quite a bit of good, which I never would have guessed 5 or 6 years ago.
Strange times call for strange heroes.
God uses flawed vessels to show forth His glory.
The rapidly rising stakes in the series of revolts against the Death Cult have been wonderfully effective at separating the serious culture warriors from the grifters.
At this stage in the game, it's easy to see who's on the side of the true and the good and who's just in it to fleece Pop Cultists and wage YouTube flame wars.
Metokur is one of the very few from that crowd that actually questions secular dogma we've been taught since birth. He does it almost by accident, as if he stumbled into it.
His slippery slope video alone shows he is far ahead of where his former contemporaries are.
People can sometimes really surprise you.
Well, it's a matter of honesty. Regardless of who is right about even the existence of God, modern secularism is a cultic, superstitious mish-mash of total nonsense and obvious lies.
Any honest person must find themselves in conflict with it, one way or another.
I am currently reading GL Chesterton's Orthodoxy. His path to faith began with noticing the self-contradictions of modernism, materialism, and disbelief.
The West's aggressive secularism and naturalism has blinded even the church to the demonic (and sadder still, the angelic). Spend a month in rural South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, or South or Southeast Asia, and you will know that naturalism is a lie.
The natural implies the supernatural.