EMDR and False Memories: A Response to Lee,de Jongh,and Hase (2019)

To the Editor:

We demonstrated that eye movements may amplify false memory creation (Houben, Otgaar, Roelofs, & Merckelbach, 2018). Lee, de Jongh, and Hase (2019; this issue) argued that our article “ignores research incompatible with their findings” and “fails to take into account contextual differences between the laboratory and other settings” (p. 403).

Lee et al. (2019) specifically referred to the study by Parker, Buckley, and Dagnall (2009), who found that eye movements decrease the proneness to misinformation-related false memories. As we already emphasized (Houben et al., 2018), the difference is that our design was based on what we as expert witnesses sometimes encounter in the courtroom: A patient has a vague recollection of trauma, receives treatment (e.g., eye movement desensitization and reprocessing; EMDR), and is then provided with suggestions implying that he or she experienced a traumatic childhood event (Shaw & Vredeveldt, 2019). Therefore, we provided misinformation after performing eye movements. Parker et al. provided misinformation prior to performing eye movements, but this design is not informative for cases as illustrated previously. It is conceivable that in Parker et al.’s study, eye movements degraded the memory of the misinformation, thereby lowering false memory formation.

In contrast to what Lee et al. (2019) asserted, therapists sometimes do encourage patients to discover aversive childhood memories of which the accuracy is not clear. Moritz et al. (2015) asked a group of patients who had been in treatment for obsessive compulsive symptomatology questions about dubious interventions (e.g., “My therapist claimed that certain adverse events happened in my childhood that I’m not able to recollect”). Nine patients (11%) said that they had been confronted with such interventions.

The literature on clinical trials of psychological interventions is not particularly known for its meticulous consideration of potential harmful effects (Jonsson, Alaie, Parling, & Arnberg, 2014). Hence, our findings stress that false memory creation should be monitored during interventions based on eye movements. Little is known about adverse effects of psychotherapies, and experimental studies are a first step to fill this knowledge gap.

Sanne T. L. HoubenFaculty of Psychology and NeuroscienceMaastricht University Henry OtgaarFaculty of Psychology and NeuroscienceMaastricht UniversityFaculty of LawCatholic University of Leuven Jeffrey RoelofsFaculty of Psychology and NeuroscienceMaastricht University Harald MerckelbachFaculty of Psychology and NeuroscienceMaastricht University