Repressed Memories: Do Triggering Methods Contribute to Witness Testimony Reliability?
Camille L Fletcher · Open Scholarship Institutional Repository (Washington University in St. Louis) · 2003
For example, "recovery" may occur through supplementation of the patient's memory.7 While issues of reliability are not completely settled in the case of stimulus-triggered, spontaneous resurfacing of repressed memories, this type of memory recovery more easily avoids the potential problems of improper influence.8 This Note seeks to address the issues involved with repressed memories in legal settings.Part II of this Note examines the differences between the various methods of memory retrieval, showing how these differences may affect issues of reliability in general, as well as in court settings.Part III analyzes two ways that repressed memories are recovered: through therapy and through spontaneous resurfacing.Because courts do not differentiate between different types of repressed memory recovery, Part IV of this Note proposes several ideas for increasing the probative value or evidentiary weight of spontaneously recovered memories, as opposed to memories retrieved through therapy.Part V concludes that spontaneously resurfaced memories should be afforded greater evidentiary value and admissibility in the courts. II. BACKGROUND OF MEMORY RESEARCH AND REPRESSED MEMORY SYNDROME'S PLACE IN LITIGATIONRecovered memories 9 gained acceptance in the psychotherapy community before they were addressed by the legal community.In the early 1980s, therapists used the concept of recovered memories to explain a host of psychological maladies seen in therapy.10 Soon thereafter, recovered memories made headlines when a number of celebrities claimed to have recovered repressed memories of childhood abuse.11 This publicity propelled the concept of recovered recovery).7. Id. 8. See infra Part II.F. 9.The concept of repressed memories "refers to the complete absence of awareness or memory of a traumatic event from the time of its occurrence until a period of years thereafter."Richmond, supra note 4, at 520. 10.Id. at 519-20.Psychotherapists have employed the concept of recovered memories to explain such maladies as sexual dysfunction, eating disorders, relationship difficulties, and low self-esteem.Id. at 519. 11.Id. at 520.Notable figures, including