Recovered Memories (PDF)

The phenomenon of recovered memories has excited much controversy
in recent years amongst professionals with extreme positions being
held: either all such memories are, by definition false, or any
such claim is an attempt to deny the victims of abuse their rights
to confront their abusers. In this refreshing new approach to the
problem Graham Davies and Tim Dalgleish have assembled leading
figures from both sides of the debate to provide a balanced
overview of empirical evidence as well as evidence from clinical
practice.

Recovered Memories: Seeking the middle ground, unlike most other
writing on the topic, eschews extreme positions. It provides
clinicians with findings from the latest research to enhance their
understanding of memory and presents pure researchers with a range
of experiences encountered in clinical practice for which they
presently have few explanations. Topics include the impact on
family and community members, the latest findings on implanted
memories and discussion of clinical guidelines for therapeutic
practice to avoid potential influence on memory. Having weighed the
evidence, a framework is offered in which true and false recovered
memories are seen as the inevitable compliment of true and false
continuous memories.

This important new collection should not be missed by anyone with
an interest in memory, whether engaged in a clinical, legal, child
protection, family welfare or experimental research capacity. It is
the most authoritative and comprehensive review of the evidence on
both sides available to date.