Accusations of child abuse based on memories apparently recovered in psychotherapy, support groups, and similar settings have spurred a national debate. The question most frequently asked is, do these recovered memories refer to real events? This is the wrong question to ask, says Lawrence Hedges, the author of this important new work. What is vital is to understand the psychodynamic roots of remembered abuse.

Drawing on a century of psychoanalytic study of memory and the way it operates in therapy, Hedges clarifies the misunderstandings and misinformation that currently exist in the media and popular press regarding memory and the nature of the psychotherapeutic process.