The unstated assumption underlying recovered memory therapy is that something very bad must have happened in the past to account for the current state of psychological disrepair. From this fallacious assumption, both client and therapist further assume that if the symptoms and well-being of the client do not spontaneously recover when the childhood sexual abuse is uncovered, that there must be even more, yet undiscovered, abuse. One incident becomes many, a pattern of betrayal is established, even going so far as the assertions of Dr. Cory Hammond at the University of Utah who holds to the existence of an underground Satanic network of childhood sexual abuse that spans generations. Two hundred known cases were documented in history until 1979. In 1980, Colin Ross estimated MPD in one percent of Americans, or more than two million people.
Diagnostic criteria are unclear and open to interpretation.
The DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for Multiple Personality Disorder are aptly criticized as justifying a MPD diagnosis on the scantiest of evidence. For example, changes in consciousness such as those experienced during a drive in the country can be inappropriately personalized in the therapeutic process. To state the professional case for the validity recovered memories, Ofshe and Watters sought out Ellen Bass, coauthor of The Courage to Heal , at her home outside Santa Cruz. The authors elected her an apologist for the movement, a role she was not equipped to fill. They asked her to how she accounted for the psychological phenomena of recovered memory.