Satanic child abuse claims are almost certainly based on false memories

As I have written in the past in these pages, the use of various dubious techniques by therapists and counsellors aimed at recovering allegedly repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse can often produce detailed and horrific false memories.

In fact, there is a consensus among scientists studying memory that traumatic events are more likely to be remembered than forgotten, often leading to posttraumatic stress disorder. So despite widespread acceptance among the general public, legal professionals, and those working in mental health, the very notion of repression as described by Short is doubted by the majority of memory researchers.

The sad truth is that we have been here before. On 13 March 1990, the headline of the Daily Mirror read, "Kids forced into satan orgies". The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children had reported that satanic abuse was widespread in the UK.

The details of the allegations made in the Mirror were remarkably similar to those now being made. It was alleged that at these satanic orgies, children were made to eat human body parts and to drink blood and urine. Animals and babies were said to be sacrificed. Most of the media at the time uncritically accepted the NSPCC's claims and a satanic panic ensued.

source: Article 'Satanic child abuse claims are almost certainly based on false memories' by Chris French; www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/18/satanic-child-abuse-false-memories-scotland; The Guardian; 18 November 2014