False Memories

A Study of False Memories: The Maintaining and Creation of False Memory Syndrome The research of false memory syndrome was a newly emerged field of study in the early 1900s. Recent studies have established the proneness of the brain’s ability to misconstrue information to fit what relates to an individual's surroundings. Although psychologists have already confirmed the malleability of the human mind, the question arises of how and why false memories are created (Laney & Loftus 2013). False memory syndrome describes “a condition in which a person has an apparent recollection of an event that did not actually occur” (Dictionary). The conflicting ideas on the creation of these false memories has created a divide in psychologists since the mid 1900s (Laney & Loftus 2013). Through years of minimal studies, experimental methods have focused on the influence of hypnosis in the creation of memories. As studies have progressed however, the focus has moved to an individual's past traumatic events along with their cognitive fantasy proneness
Most individuals suffering from false memory syndrome initially describe experiences of possible hallucinations, nightmares, and accounts of missing time (Clark, SE, & Lotus 2004). The unexplainable accounts leads the individual to seek help through therapy. Therapists and hypnosis experts struggle with feeding into the fantasy of the false memory. By creating the role of victim for a patient, the false memories become more of a reality and more difficult to treat. “Often, abductees seek out hypnotherapists who accidently implant detailed false memories of the abduction into the mind of the abductees while attempting to ‘recover’ repressed memories of the abduction” (Finkelstein, 38). In a therapist’s attempt to recover and explain the unknown experience, the specific false memory (alien memory, sexual abuse, out of body experience) is created (Finkelstein