Memory dangers

False memory is not something to be treated as a form of light-hearted amusement.

Your report, "Total recall? Childhood memories may not be the real thing" (2 August) gives examples of participants who believed they had spoken to the "real" Santa Claus or seen a living dinosaur, in the research study conducted by Professor Giulana Mazzoni.

These can easily be dismissed as fantasy but when the recovered memories have appeared as a consequence of the discredited recovered memory therapy (RMT), still practised by some psychiatrists and psychologists, they are capable of destroying not only the lives of those unfortunate enough to have been treated, but also those of their entire families.

Your report states: "Crucially, if these (false) memories are not challenged by some form of evidence, they would still be considered part of the individual's autobiographical experience."

Unfortunately, the mantra of the RMT practitioner, when challenged on the veracity of the memories of their patients who, during therapy, have "discovered" memories of having been abused as a child, rejects any notion of "evidence" or "challenging" the patient's new found "memories" on the grounds that this would damage the "patient/therapist relationship".

In other words, the patient is encouraged to continue to believe the "truth" of their recovered memories, even when there is no evidence to substantiate them or, worse still, when there is ample evidence to disprove them. Not all false memories are funny, neither is the failure of the law in this country to force those who practise RMT to take responsibility for the damage they cause.

JIM FAIRLIE

Heathcote Road

Crieff