UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE

PSYC -1504-01

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

INSTRUCTOR – Temmy Lex

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT – UNIT 4

 The cases of repressed memory have always been controversial among psychologists and

scientists. The concept of repressed memory has been introduced by psychologist Sigmund

Freud. According to Freud, repressed memories are memories that the person throws away

unconsciously and cannot be remembered after an event. (White, 2022) This can happen to a

child who has suffered from abusive behaviors at a young age and repressed these traumatic

experiences. The resurfacing of a repressed memory of child abuse cases was very controversial

in the 1980s and 1990s. There were also disputes among psychologists and stated as memory

wars. Even Freud later stated another theory of false memories which the person strongly

believes that an event has happened but did not happen actually. Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus

is well-known for her criticism of repressed memory. In fact, it was not easy for psychologists

and authorities to take legal action on suppressed memory cases. There were many falsely

accused cases. The study of Jane Doe’s case was a big case for the most controversial topic in

the research field.

The case of Jane Doe occurred in 1984 when Jane Doe was physically and sexually

abused by her mother. It was recorded and interviewed by the psychiatrist Dr. David Corwin. Dr.

David Corwin interviewed Jane Doe and recorded the interview tape. The unique fact about this

story is that the interviews were different in time, one was when she was 6 and another was when

she was 17. At the age of 6, she was interviewed by Dr. Corwin about her abuse case to make the

evidence for the court hearing. (Watt, 2018) After that, she was sent to her father and lived with

him. When her father was dead, she moved from place to place. She has never seen her mother

for such a long time.

 Things were different after a decade and she became a teenager. The incredible thing is

she forgot what has happened to her as a child. She completely did not remember that she was

abused by her biological mother. She even contacted her mother and restarted their relationship

again. At that time, she did even understand why she made custody of her biological mother.

However, she started to doubt her mother’s behavior and at the age of 16, she found out the

videos about her abuse case existed and she decided to watch them again. She asked Dr. Corwin

if she could watch these videotapes. Dr.Corwin agreed with the consent of watching the tapes

together and filming them. She started to remember the events eventually. She was totally

different from who she was before in the video. With her consent, Dr.Corwin published the

article on the two interviews of her. This was a big issue for the controversy because there were

other clinical researchers and scientists who does not believe in the case of repressed memory

and testified on the side of the defendants. They argued that there was no significant evidence on

those cases.

The controversy between experts affected Jane Doe’s life in some ways. The

psychologist Loftus did a private investigation on Jane Doe’s personal life. She invaded Jane

Doe’s privacy and gathered all the pieces of information without her consent. (Watt, 2018) Then,

Loftus published the article and claimed that Jane Doe’s case was not possible. In the article, she

put information about Jane Doe’s private life. She even lies to Jane as she is working with the

psychiatrist Dr.Corwin whom Jane trusted. Later, Jane sued Loftus for using personal

information about her health and private life and publishing without her knowledge or consent,

and defamatory comments were made about her in public settings. (The Leadership Council -

Taus, n.d.) In my opinion, Jane Doe’s case was a significant case in memory wars history.
 From the study, it is thought to be that repressed memories can likely resurface in

situations which is related to the event. However, it may not be the same from person to person.

By looking at the case of Jane Doe, she started to remember the event when she met her mother

and feel something is unusual with her mother. She completely remembered all those memories

by watching the videotapes of her interview. But in the case of Franklin stated in the article, she

started to remember her childhood traumas by looking at her daughter. By comparing this, these

memories are likely to resurface under a connected situation.

There can be many possible effects after remembering these painful memories. A person

may deal with PTSD, stress, shame, and feeling of denial about these memories. Sometimes, it

can even affect our relationships, day-to-day life, and feeling threatened. It was a very hurtful,

painful memory for a person and their mind repressed these memories in order to keep them safe

and live their life. I can’t tell if it is better for a person not to remember these events at all or if

they should resurface these memories through therapy and get healing as I am not a professional

expert. However, if repressed memories suddenly occur, we have to deal with them. By reading

this study, I have many questions if repressed memories can be real or delusional. Actually, I

have seen many movies and dramas about those suppressed memory. We, normal people, can’t

even remember some events in the past. And the story of Jane Doe showed that the repressed

memories could be true. Moreover, we even experience some situations like black-out and can’t

recall the memory or information in our everyday life. Our brain is a complex system and it is

hard to tell if these mysteries could not be true. The most possible thing is to support research on

the memory field and find experimental evidence of those repressed memories.
References

White, T. (2022, May 13). Is It Possible to Repress Trauma? Psych Central.

https://psychcentral.com/ptsd/repressed-trauma

The Debate on Repressed Memories. (2022, January 10). News-Medical.net. https://www.news-

medical.net/health/The-Debate-on-Repressed-Memories.aspx

“Some days I think I was molested and others I’m sure it didn’t happen”: a controversial case of

repressed memory. (2017, September 23). The Guardian.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/23/inside-case-of-repressed-memory-nicole-

kluemper

The Leadership Council - Taus. (n.d.). The Leadership Council - Taus.

http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/lg/taus.html#overview

What Happens When Repressed Memories of Trauma Begin to Resurface. (2019, July 5). What
Happens When Repressed Memories of Trauma Begin to Resurface.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/happens-repressed-memories-trauma-begin-211800794.html