Profile of Prosecution Expert
Memorable Quote: "Truth Matters"

James A. Chu, MD
Monday, January 31, 2005

Today Dr. James Chu, witness for the prosecution, stated he has seen over a thousand patients during his career and about 20% of patients with severe trauma histories have the experience of recovering memories that were previously inaccessible to them. He also suggested that whether or not a memory is true matters even in clinical practice. One way that he judges what his patients tell him is how their story hangs together and and whether it makes sense. He also referenced his reserach which found that some patients who recover memories are able to find evidence that corroborates their memory.

Chu, J., Frey, L., Ganzel, B., & Matthews, J. (1999). Memories of childhood abuse: Dissociation, amnesia, and corroboration. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 749-55.

This study investigated the relationship between self-reported childhood abuse and dissociative symptoms and amnesia. The presence or absence of corroboration of recovered memories of childhood abuse was also studied. Participants were 90 women inpatients admitted to a unit specializing in the treatment of trauma-related disorders. The researchers found that participants reporting any type of childhood abuse demonstrated elevated levels of dissociative symptoms compared to those not reporting abuse.

Participants who reported recovering memories of abuse generally recalled these experiences while at home, alone, or with family or friends. Although some participants were in treatment at the time, very few were in therapy sessions during their first memory recovery. Suggestion was generally denied as a factor in memory recovery. A majority of participants were able to find strong corroboration of their recovered memories.

Brief Biography

• Current Position: Chief of Hospital Clinical Services, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA; Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA
  
  
• Degree(s):
  
  
  •1972 BS Yale College
  
  •1976 MD Tufts University School of Medicine
  
  
• Board Certifications(s):
  
  
  •1984 Adult Psychiatry, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
  
  
• Clinical Interests: Posttraumatic stress disorder, dissociative disorders, personality disorders
  
  
• Bio: Dr. Chu is Chief of Hospital Clinical Services, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA -- a major teaching facility of Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital maintains the largest program of research in neuroscience and psychiatry of any private psychiatric hospital in the United States. Dr. Chu's publications in the psychiatric literature include both basic research on the effects of childhood abuse and discussions concerning the nature and techniques of treatment of abuse survivors. He is the author of the 1998 book Rebuilding Shattered Lives (John Wiley & Sons, 1998). Dr. Chu is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a Fellow and a past president of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation, and the recipient of that organization's Cornelia B. Wilbur Award, Distinguished Achievement Award, and Pierre Janet Writing Award for outstanding contributions in the field of dissociative disorders.
  
  

Why do the experts seem to disagree so vehemently on the issue of whether it is possible for the mind to recover memories of abuse?

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Currently, the topic of traumatic memory for child sexual abuse is contentious and emotional. However, it has not always been this way. Although the mental mechanism is not fully understood, the ability for the mind to block out painful memories is well-accepted scientifically. The criterion "difficulty remembering important aspects of the trauma" has always been part of the PTSD diagnosis since it was introduced in the DSM-III in 1980. This occured at a time when PTSD was associated most strongly with combat trauma. It wasn't until the early 1990s that memory loss associated with trauma became contentious. It was during this time period that some adults began to sue parents based on claims of incestuous child sexual abuse. Because of the short legal statute of limitations for child abuse (generally one to two years after the child reached age 18), few suits had ever been brought against abusers. However, an exception was made for delayed discovery. Some courts did not start the clock on the statute of limitations until a person had an opportunity to discover that they had been harmed. Through this legal mechanism some courts allowed survivors who repressed memories of the abuse to sue their perpetrator (often their father) for damages.

The successful prosecution of several legal cases based on repressed memories, prompted defense attorneys and some academic investigators to question the accuracy and authenticity of these child abuse claims. In short order, the courtroom became a battle ground where scientific experts for the accused were pitted against those for the alleged victim. At this point all of the emotional intensity and controversy surrounding allegations of child sexual abuse began to be mixed into the science of memory. The adversarial nature of the courtroom added to the tension. Before long, the fight spilled out of the courtroom into the academic arena.

Of course scientific issues aren't settled by the legal system. They are settled by careful research.

In the case of delayed memories of child sexual abuse, research has unequivocally shown that the phenomenon does exist. There are literally 100s of clinical reports and research studies that have demonstrated that people can and do forget and later recover memories for traumatic events, including memories of child sexual abuse:

• "In just this past decade alone, 68 research studies have been conducted on naturally occurring dissociative or traumatic amnesia for childhood sexual abuse. Not a single one of the 68 data-based studies failed to find it" (p. 126).
  
  Brown D, Scheflin A, & Whitfield CL: Recovered memories: the current weight of the evidence in science and in the courts. The Journal ofPsychiatry and Law 26:5-156, Spring 1999
  
  
• See also: The Evidence for Dissociative Amnesia
  
  
• "The data converge on the conclusion that many survivors of childhood sexual abuse claim periods of amnesia for the traumatic experience" (p.250).
  
  Sivers, H., Schooler, J., & Freyd, J. J. (2002) Recovered memories. In V.S. Ramachandran (Ed.) Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, Volume 4. (pp. 169-184). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  
  
• "Even the most conservative assessment of the evidence indicates that traumatic memories can fluctuate in their persistence, with periods of time in which the memories are relatively less accessible" (p. 174).
  
  

• Motivated forgetting--Anderson, M. C., et al. (2004). Neural Systems Underlying the Suppression of Unwanted Memories. Science, 303 Vol 5655: 232-235. (Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) researchers confirmed the existence of an active forgetting process in the brain and established a neurobiological model for motivated forgetting.) See also BBC article: We Can Control Memory
  
  
• Stress-induced impairment of memory systems in the brain -- Bremner, J. D. et al, (1995). Functional neuroanatomical correlates of the effects of stress on memory. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8(4), 527-53. (Using new neuroimaging technology researchers have found that abnormalities of hippocampal function or dysfunction of thalamic gating may result in the altered memory recall typical of dissociation).
  
  
• Betrayal Trauma theory --Freyd, J. J. (1996). Betrayal trauma: The logic of forgetting childhood abuse.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Betrayal trauma theory posits that there is a social utility in remaining unaware of abuse when the perpetrator is a caregiver or trusted adults whom the child is dependent on).
  
  
• Dissociative Amnesia – American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), WashingtonD.C.: Author. (Dissociation is defined as a separation of mental processes that are normally integrated. Memory disturbances are also part of PTSD-- Further elaborated in: Whitfield, C. L. (1995). Memory and Abuse: Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications)
  
  
• Repressive coping style --Myers, L. B., & Brewin, C. R. (1994). Recall of early experience and the repressive coping style. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 288-92. (Use of repressive coping style is associated with reports of adverse childhood experiences and widespread inhibition of negative memories from both childhood and adulthood).