Citation

Colangelo JJ. J. Child Sex. Abus. 2009; 18(1): 103-121.

Affiliation

Long Island University, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365, USA. james.colangelo@liu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10538710802584601

PMID

19197618

Abstract

The recovered memory controversy has been an ongoing debate within the mental health profession for the past two decades. Disagreement remains in the field over the veracity of "forgotten" memories of childhood sexual abuse that are recalled or recovered during therapy. At the heart of the controversy are the concepts of repression and dissociation as well as the impact traumatizing events have on the encoding of memory. This article provides an overview of the central factors in the longstanding debate and presents a detailed clinical case study involving independent corroboration of memories of childhood sexual abuse recovered during treatment, which the author believes provides additional support for the potential veracity of recovered memories.

Language: en