ArticleJournal of forensic sciences2022
A court ruled case on therapy-induced false memories.
Article in Journal of forensic sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- The recovery and retraction of memories of abuse: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Judicial assessment of testimonial reliability after EMDR therapy: a case-series analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Are legal professionals more knowledgeable about eyewitness testimony factors than the general public? A survey of judges, prosecutors, and laypeople.Psychiatry, psychology, and law : an interdisciplinary journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law · 2026Article
- Examining the effects of mood and emotional valence on the creation of false autobiographical memories.Memory & cognition · 2025Article
- A study on the use of Flashbulb Memories features to discriminate true from fabricated autobiographical memories for negative events.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- In a UK sample, EMDR and other trauma therapists indicate beliefs in unconscious repression and dissociative amnesia.Memory (Hove, England) · 2025Article
- False memories in forensic psychology: do cognition and brain activity tell the same story?Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
- Evaluating the validity of testimony: The role of the order of evidence.Forensic science international. Synergy · 2024Article
- EMDR: dispelling the false memory creation myth in response to Otgaar et al. (2022a).Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying false memories: misinformation, distortion or erroneous configuration?AIMS neuroscience · 2023Review
- Recovered memories of trauma as a special (or not so special) form of involuntary autobiographical memories.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Review
- External and internal influences yield similar memory effects: the role of deception and suggestion.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Review
- A court ruled case on therapy-induced false memories.Journal of forensic sciences · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
We report on a unique Italian criminal case in which a court ruled that a therapist implanted false memories of abuse in a young girl. Using therapeutic excerpts, we show that the therapist used a multitude of problematic interventions that are all linked to false memory creation. Specifically, an analysis of the therapeutic excerpts showed that across many sessions, the therapist asked highly suggestive questions to the girl, implying that she was abused by her father. In addition, the girl underwent EMDR techniques that have been associated with memory undermining effects. Our analyses showed that although before treatment the girl did not have any recollection of being abused by her father, she gradually started to remember the abuse and identified the father as her abuser during the therapeutic sessions. Our case report clearly shows the danger of suggestive pressure in a therapeutic context causing patients to form false memories of abuse and supports the need to prevent the therapeutic practice of suggestive techniques.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.