Shame on You, Fox!
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008New Amsterdam, a new television drama on Fox, showed its third episode last night. I had liked the first two very much.
Not so much the third.
I don’t know the writers and I don’t know the producers … what I do know is that the pseudo-science on the show last night was quite bogus.
The question of recovered memories was directly addressed in last night’s show, and the show strongly suggested that traumatic memories would be reinforced by the adrenaline surge brought on by the trauma … thus, “recovered memories” must be false.
I know that it is very possible to bury deep, deep hurts repeatedly inflicted until there is enough support … enough safety … enough strength … enough courage to survive them.
Jim Hopper provides an excellent overview of the real science of forgotten trauma. According to Hopper:
At least 10% of people sexually abused in childhood will have periods of complete amnesia for their abuse, followed by experiences of delayed recall.
Shame on you, Fox, for potentially harming those struggling to heal. I can speak only for myself … I don’t want “revenge” … I don’t want to hurt my family … In fact, I’d love for it not to be true … but, it is. And, those of us who have survived it don’t need you trying to knock us down again … we were knocked down plenty as children.
I know what I’m talking about. For years I buried the extremely painful memories of the truly heinous acts my grandfather perpetrated upon me. Unless you’ve been there, you can’t imagine how awful it is, and you can’t understand the logic of forgetting. You can read my story here for free. You can see that my sisters believe me … they say it clears so many things up. My parents believe me. My husband believes me. My grandfather is dead, so I guess I can never have the absolute verification that it would take to satisfy you, Fox … but I know that I am right and you are so very, very wrong.
Never, ever, has a therapist — or anyone else — suggested to me that I might have forgotten something. Never, ever, has a therapist — or anyone else — tried to coax a memory from me.
Shame on you, Fox!
I have a website for those seeking to heal from childhood sexual abuse. You can visit it here.
