![false memories false memories](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--O82rjwpI--/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_900,q_80,w_1600/wlxuohagakwtsryuu4km.jpg)
![false memories false memories](https://i1.sndcdn.com/avatars-000133622016-08iwjs-t500x500.jpg)
Some researchers have contested the truthfulness of those memories, not necessarily accusing the trauma survivors of lying but citing evidence that the memories may not be borne out by legal records or testimony (as occurred in the infamous McMartin Preschool case of purported satanic child abuse in the 1980s) and that people often think they are remembering events that actually did not happen at all ( Loftus, 2001). The controversy had a major impact on laws prosecuting childhood sexual abuse, with the statute of limitations for reporting past abuse increased from a few years to as much as decades in 37 states (Lindblom and Gray, 2008). However, most such memories are very difficult to corroborate and some people who had been accused of perpetrating abuse not only denied the allegations but started or joined organizations such as the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) in order to lobby against laws and court decisions that upheld those accusations. At that time, some clinicians actively encouraged clients to attempt to ‘recover’ memories of childhood abuse in therapy. The Courage to Heal ( Bass and Davis, 1988) was a popular book that described these as ‘repressed’ memories of childhood sexual abuse. The false memory controversy arose in the 1980s when survivors of childhood abuse (and other forms of particularly horrific traumas such as prolonged violence, captivity or torture) reported that they became able much later to recall some traumatic experiences which they did not consciously remember for a period of time after the event. Ford, in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, 2009