Memory Warp: How the Myth of Repressed Memory Arose and Refuses to Die - Paperback

by Mark Pendergrast (Author)

In Memory Warp, Mark Pendergrast sounds a clarion call to stop the ongoing pseudoscience of "repressed memory therapy," which has destroyed millions of families and continues to do so. In the 1990s, Pendergrast's book Victims of Memory helped to debunk the repressed memory craze. Now, more than two decades later, he revisits the subject and proves that this form of "therapy" is still widespread, still destroying family relationships and causing false allegations of terrible crimes against innocent parents and caregivers. With meticulous research and captivating writing, Pendergrast brings coverage of this issue up to date.

Author Biography

Independent scholar Mark Pendergrast is the author ofmany critically acclaimed books of nonfiction, including Victims of Memory, City on the Verge, and Uncommon Grounds.

His new book, Memory Warp, revisits the subject of repressed memories, a faddish pseudo-scientific form of therapy that ran rampant in the mid 1990s, destroying literally millions of families by creating false memories of childhood sexual abuse. Pendergrast's breakthrough book on the subject at the time, Victims of Memory, helped to expose the misguided nature of repressed-memory theories, and all major researchers on the nature of memory have agreed with his conclusions.

Memory Warp updates the issues covered by the earlier book, but it is not a new edition, as it thoroughly covers developments since that time. While it is partly fascinating social history of our recent past, documenting how this incredible juggernaut of pseudoscience came to be, it also shows how these misguided theories continue to fester today. Pendergrast warns that we may face another major outbreak if we do not learn from the past.