This article explores therapists' responses to clients' suspicions that they have repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Each participant was randomly assigned one of two vignettes, varied for gender, each concerning a client who suspects that he/she is a victim of CSA. Following the vignette, a series of questions regarding the client assesses the participants' ratings of diagnoses, treatment goals, treatment plans, appropriate responses, and validity of suspicions. Participants were significantly more likely to endorse a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and endorse treatments focusing on present symptoms over treatments focusing on the client's past. Participants were unlikely to endorse controversial treatments, suggestive statements, or strong opinions regarding the client's suspicions of CSA. The client's gender had a significant effect on diagnoses only. These results do not support reports that many therapists neglect clients' current symptoms and instead focus on memories, use controversial techniques, make suggestive statements regarding abuse, or immediately assume that their clients have repressed memories.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdlerD. A.DrakeR. E.TeagueG. B. (1990). Clinicians' practices in personality assessment: Does gender influence the use of DSM-III Axis II? Comprehensive Psychiatry, 31, 125–133.
2.
AlpertJ. L.BrownL. S.CeciS. J.LoftusE. F.OrnsteinP. A. (1996). Working group on investigation of memories of childhood abuse: Final report. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
3.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
4.
BassE.DavisL. (1994). The courage to heal: A guide for women survivors of child sexual abuse (3rd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.
5.
BeckerD.LambS. (1994). Sex bias in the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 25, 55–61.
6.
BriereJ. (1993, August). Repressed memory controversy and sex abuse cases [Cassette recording No. APA-93-241], Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
7.
CourtoisC. (1988). Healing the incest wound: Adult survivors in therapy. New York: W. W. Norton.
8.
CourtoisC. (1994, October). Some suggested guidelines of practice in therapy with adult clients possibly abused, as children (those who enter therapy without memory and who do not disclose at the outset of memory). Paper presented at tie Tenth Annual Midwest Conference on Childhood Sexual Abuse and Incest, Middleton, WI.
9.
EnnsC. Z.McNeillyC.CorkeryJ.GilbertM. (1995). The debate about delayed memories of child sexual abuse: A feminist perspective. Counseling Psychologist, 23, 181–279.
10.
FordM.WidigerT. A. (1989). Sex bias in the diagnosis of histrionic and antisocial personality disorders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 301–305.
11.
GardnerR. A. (1992). True and false accusations of child sex abuse (pp. 639–680). Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.
12.
HenryK. A.CohenC. I. (1983). The role of labeling processes in diagnosing borderline personality disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 1527–1529.
13.
HermanJ. L. (1992). Trauma and recovery. New York: Basic Books.
14.
HunterM. (1990). Abused boys: The neglected victims of sexual abuse. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
15.
KrollJ. (1993). PTSD/Borderlines in therapy. New York: W. W. Norton.
16.
LandeckerH. (1992). The role of childhood sexual trauma in the etiology of borderline personality disorder: Considerations for diagnosis and treatment. Psychotherapy, 29, 234–242.
17.
LoftusE. F. (1993a). The reality of repressed memories. American Psychologist, 48, 518–537.
18.
LoftusE. F. (1993b, August). Repressed memory controversy and sex abuse cases [Cassette recording No. APA-93-241]. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
19.
LoftusE. F.KetchamK. (1994). The myth of repressed memory. New York: St. Martin's Press.
20.
LoftusE. F.ScheflinA. W.SpeigelH. (1993, August). Therapeutic memories of early childhood abuse—fact or fiction? [Cassette recording No. APA-93-058]. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
21.
LoringM.PowellB. (1988). Gender, race, and DSM III: A study of the objectivity of psychiatric diagnostic behavior. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 29, 1–22.
22.
LuntzB. A.WidomC. S. (1994). Antisocial personality disorder in abused and neglected children grown up. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 670–673.
23.
OfsheR. J.WattersE. (1994). Making monsters: False memories, psychotherapy, and sexual hysteria. New York: Scribners.
24.
OgataS. N.SilkK. R.GoodrichS.LohrN. E.WestenD.HillE. M. (1990). Childhood sexual and physical abuse in adult patients with borderline personality disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 1008–1012.
25.
PopeK. S.BrownL. S. (1996). Recovered memories of abuse: Assessment, therapy, forensics. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
26.
PooleD. A.LindsayD. S.MemonA.BullR. (1995). Psychotherapy and the recovery of memories of childhood sexual abuse: U.S. and British practitioners' opinions, practices, and experiences. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 426–437.
27.
RothbartM.DawesR. M. (1986). Sex bias, diagnosis, and DSM-III. Sex Roles, 15, 269–274.
28.
TabachnikB. G.PopeK. S. (1997). Therapist responses to recovered and never-forgotten memories of child sex abuse: A national survey of licensed psychologists. Violence Against Women, 3, 348–360.
29.
TerrL. (1994). Unchained memories. New York: HarperCollins.
30.
WakefieldH.UnderwagerR. (1992). Recovered memories of alleged sexual abuse: Lawsuits against parents. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 10, 483–507.
31.
WarnerR. (1978). The diagnosis of antisocial and hysterical personality disorders. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 166, 839–845.
32.
WhitfieldC. (1995). The forgotten difference: Ordinary memory versus traumatic memory. Consciousness and Cognition, 4, 88–94.
33.
WidomC. P.AmesM. A. (1994). Criminal consequences of childhood sexual victimization. Child Abuse & Neglect, 18, 303–318.
34.
YapkoM. D. (1994). Suggestions of abuse: True and false memories of child sexual trauma. New York: Simon & Schuster.
