Susan Clancy: "One of the most bitter and volatile debates ever to occur in psychology concerns the reality of repressed and recovered memories of traumatic events."
From Prof Scheflin :
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/1158280
The recovered memory debate has been the most acrimonious, vicious and hurtful internal controversy in the history of modern psychiatry. From its very beginning in the late 1980s, it has been more an "ad hominem" war, appealing to feelings and prejudices, rather than a matter of reasoned professional disagreement.
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/dissociative/a/dabaterec.htm
A war continues to rage between advocates of "recovered memories" and advocates of "false memory syndrome." When the battle gets this heated it is difficult to determine where the truth lies. I believe that both sides have some points to make Are these recovered memories necessarily true? There is much debate about this. Some therapists who work with trauma survivors believe that the memories are true because they are accompanied by such extreme emotions. Other therapists have reported that some of their patients have recovered memories which could not have been true (a memory of being decapitated, for example).
+ abducted by aliens