Suits by adults for childhood sexual abuse: Legal origins of the “repressed memory” controversy

Abstract

In the last decade there has been a proliferation of civil lawsuits by adults claiming to be survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Many states have permitted such suits to go forward by applying some form of “delayed discovery of injury” exception to the statute of limitations. Advocates for those claiming to have been falsely accused have generated a new concept—“false memory syndrome”—as an alternative explanation for delayed memories of CSA. Its proponents claim that there is an epidemic of therapy-induced “false memories” of CSA. Psychotherapists and the profession as a whole have become involved in a heated controversy, whose substance as well as intensity is to a large extent litigation driven. To understand the controversy and get a handle on its future, it is important to examine its legal origins, history and context.