Video Reaction Paper

The video was a daytime talk show which discussed repressed memories. The hostess Beatrice, interviews three women and two parents whose lives have been impacted by repressed memories. The first guest was Lori, who insisted that she had discovered repressed memories of sexual abuse by a family member. Two other female guests that were on the show also had repressed memories and they were in therapy. This show had the customary experts who were a LPC named Teater and a psychiatrist, Dr Almay. Finally, a married couple whose daughter had repressed memories concerning their abusive treatment of her was present on the stage. Each of the shows participants had a detailed story to tell concerning repressed memories. Lori, realized that she had repressed memories of being abused by her uncle. She was in therapy and her therapist asked her if she had ever thought she was sexually abused. This triggered the repressed memories for her. Lori experienced flashbacks of her abuse at the age of six months old. She further states that therapy enabled her make sense of her life, helped her heal and finally find happiness. Lori believes that she and others who have experienced repressed memories are remembering incidents that occurred previously in their lives. Lori recounts various group therapy sessions with others who had repressed memories of abuse, but were not present on the program. Janet shares her experiences with therapy and repressed memories. She feels that her therapist implanted thoughts of her father abusing her as a child. Janet describes the abuse as not being a repressed memory, but as a lie that was perpetrated by her therapist. She believes that repressed memory therapy is untruthful. Janet claims that her therapist told her to not have contact with people who did not believe her accounts of the abuse by her dad. Janet does not trust therapy or therapists anymore. As all the participants of the show told their stories, I realized that the only descriptions of the repressed memories and their recovery were one sided. None of therapists, who were involved, were present on the show. The LPC Teater, stated that he thought that repressed memories of incest or sexual abuse would manifest themselves in therapy. He thinks that the body has memory and in psychodrama therapy, the truth comes out. He attempts to explain that if the client believes something really happened to them, it does not matter whether it did or not. His job is to treat them and help them with their problems. I believe that he is correct and is ethically correct. His primary concern should be the client. The other expert, Dr. Almey, states he is a psychiatrist. He states that memories can’t be trusted. Additionally, he tells the audience that memories are often false and cites unnamed research supports. Consequently, he states that research a few years ago found that recall and memories are determined by a person’s present circumstances. He fails to offer any credentials other than he is a psychiatrist. I think that Dr. Almey should have disclosed whether or not he had specialized training or was a memories expert. I think that if he were an LPC instead of a doctor, he would have to be viewed as acting unethically for failing to disclose and acting as an expert. Another problem that I noticed was the fact that Dr. Almey gave his opinion when the client with repressed memories should be believed. He states therapists should look at whether or not there were credible witnesses to the memories. In my opinion, the therapist’s job is not to attempt to prove or disprove any client memories, but only to provide therapy to their client. Finally, Dr. Almey appears to agree with the hostess that all those on stage are victims. My first reaction to the video was based on my constructs of right and wrong behaviors. I found myself attempting to believe each of the people on the show.