Opinion ID: 1242865
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: False memory syndrome

Text: ¶ 23 The concepts of repression and recovery of traumatic memories are not without serious criticism. Clinical case studies have been rejected as unconfirmed speculations and a review of over sixty years of research failed to turn up a single controlled laboratory experiment to support the concept of repression.... [U]ntil experimental proof is available to demonstrate the existence of repression, experimental psychologists will remain skeptical. Gary M. Ernsdorff & Elizabeth F. Loftus, Let Sleeping Memories Lie? Words of Caution About Tolling the Statute of Limitations, 84 J.CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 129, 133 (1993). Other critics contend that no empirical evidence supports the theory of memory repression and retrieval. See Christina Bannon, Comment, Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Should the Courts Get Involved When Mental Health Professionals Disagree?, 26 ARIZ. ST. L.J. 835, 845 (1994) (citing Miriam Horn, Memories Lost and Found, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, (Nov. 29, 1993)). ¶ 24 The possibility of implanted false memories presents further concerns. [8] Experts in this field contend that therapists who are inadequately trained or lacking in integrity may suggest memories of abuse that never occurred. Intense scrutiny has been given to certain therapy techniques similar to hypnosis, such as guided imagery, that may lead to inaccurate or false memories. See, e.g., Bannon, supra, 26 ARIZ. ST. L.J. at 843-45; State v. Quattrocchi, 681 A.2d 879, 881-82 (R.I.1996). The problem of false memories is particularly dangerous because the purported victim who remembers the suggested incident may honestly believe she is telling the truth. This could result in the conundrum of a witness who truthfully testifies that she remembers incidents that in fact never occurred. [9] ¶ 25 The possibility of false, implanted memories, however, does not negate the case made for the existence of repressed memory because memory retrieval often occurs in the absence of therapy or other forms of treatment. See Lazo, supra, 28 LOY. L.A. L. REV. at 1376-78. [10] One author has observed, If such memories were induced only by pesky therapists, survivors ... would not spontaneously recover them outside therapy. But they do. David Chalof, Facing the Truth About False Memory, FAM. THERAPY NETWORKER 39, 42 (Sept./Oct.1993) ( quoted in Lazo, supra, 28 LOY. L.A. L. REV. at 1377). A statement by the American Psychological Association Working Group on the Investigation of Memories of Childhood Abuse summarizing the state of knowledge with regard to memory repression endorses the existence of memory repression in spite of the possibility of false implanted memories: it's possible to create a false belief and it's possible to retrieve a lost memory. Bowman & Mertz, supra, 109 HARV. L. REV. at 598 (quoting Kim Ode, Task Force Investigates Repressed Memory Issues, STAR TRIB. (Minneapolis-St.Paul), Oct 11, 1993, at 3E (emphasis added)). Thus the psychological process of memory repression and recall is not discredited by the possibility that a false memory has been implanted. Rather, either of these processes may explain a particular factual allegation of therapy-induced memory recall. ¶ 26 From a review of the literature, we must conclude that repressed memories of childhood abuse can exist and can be triggered and recovered. We also conclude that such memories can be inaccurate, may be implanted, and may be attributable to poorly trained therapists or use of improper therapeutic techniques. On the record before us, it is impossible to say which is the case here. Suffice it to say at this stage of the proceedingssummary judgment  we must assume the truth of Plaintiff's submission and that it would be for the jury to decide the question of repressed memory recovery or false memory syndrome. ¶ 27 Thus we accept, as do the experts, the possibility that a victim of severe stress such as childhood sexual abuse might repress memory of the trauma and later experience recall of those events. Furthermore, we note that in this case the concerns about implantation of false memories are not at issue Plaintiff's initial flashback occurred spontaneously rather than through suggestive therapy techniques. The task before us, then, is to discern how the limitations period and concomitant exceptions apply to the case of repressed memory. ¶ 28 Plaintiff was a minor when the alleged sexual abuse occurred. The two-year limitations period for her claim therefore did not begin to run until her eighteenth birthday. A.R.S. § 12-502. Plaintiff did not file her claim within two years from that date and advanced three grounds in support of her claim as timely filed: (1) her parents are estopped from asserting the statute of limitations, (2) her cause of action did not accrue under the discovery rule until within two years of her filing, and (3) the limitations period was tolled due to her unsound mind. Plaintiff did not raise the estoppel theory in her petition for review, and we mention it only because the court of appeals decided the issue adversely to Plaintiff. Because the issue is not properly before this court, we do not address the court's disposition. We turn instead to the application of the discovery rule.