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Letter to the Dominion
August 12, 2000
by Elizabeth Loftus
Seattle, Washington
I write in response to David McLoughlin's August 5 piece about my
invitation to speak to the New Zealand Psychological Society.
I live in a country where freedom of speech is one of the most cherished
possessions that citizens have. Who would choose to live without it? I would
hope that people would stand up against those who try to take it away.
When I was elected president of the American Psychological Society, two
people resigned from the organisation. It hurt my feelings.
I created a presidential symposium on science and pseudo-science for the
annual meeting. Thousands either attended or read about it in our monthly
newspaper. Thank goodness the two were not able to stop an important message
from reaching thousands. I can only hope that the outcome will be similar in New Zealand.
The issues surrounding the repressed memory controversy are literally a
matter of life and death. Patients who have had false memories and beliefs
planted have gotten worse, and some have ended up killing themselves.
Innocent parents and others have been wrongly accused, families have been
destroyed, and more than a few innocents have gone to jail.
The uncritical acceptance of any dredged-up memory, no matter how dubious,
has trivialised the experiences of the genuinely abused and increased their
suffering. For all these reasons I feel compelled to speak out about this
problem as forcefully as I can.
I hope I have the chance to do this in New Zealand and perhaps some of
the years of suffering experienced in America can be minimised in your
country.
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