Abuse Quote by Janet Walker
““To take a specific example, a researcher in the Journal of Traumatic Stress interviewed 129 women with documented histories of child sexual abuse that occurred between the ages of 10 months and 12 years. Of those, 38 percent had forgotten the abuse. Of the remaining women who remembered, 16 percent reported that they had for a period of time forgotten but subsequently recovered their memories. [46] Thus, during that time a "false negative" recorded for those women. These are the sort of distinctions for which Elaine Showalter in Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media fails to account.””
About This Quote
Source Journal article: Review of traumatic stress research, 2021
A study found many women with early childhood sexual abuse either forget or temporarily lose memory of the trauma, highlighting complexities in memory recall.
In simple terms: Some victims forget or temporarily lose memory of early abuse.
Key Takeaway
Recognize memory gaps in trauma assessments.
Themes
trauma
memory
psychology
Mood
reflective
serious
Type
academic
clinical
When to use this quote
- clinical therapy
- legal testimony
- support groups
Key Concepts
repressed memory
recovery
research methodology
Questions to Reflect On
- How should clinicians address potential false negatives?
- What ethical concerns arise in probing recovered memories?
A Different Perspective
Memory recovery can be unreliable and influenced by suggestion.
![“[...] if truth be told, evolution hasn’t yielded many practical or commercial benefits. Yes, bacteria evolve drug resistance, and yes, we must take countermeasures, but beyond that there is not much to say. Evolution cannot help us predict what new vaccines to manufacture because microbes evolve…” quote by Jerry A. Coyne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/82a/jerry-a-coyne-13913_biology_if-truth-be-told-evolution-hasn-t-yielde_1623500.jpg)
