Recovered memory practices in Ireland: public & professional perspectives

We surveyed members of the public and professionals to assess opinions and experiences related to recovered memories in Ireland (N = 675). We found that memory recovery amongst therapy-goers in Ireland is relatively common (8%). Likewise, many practitioners (29%) reported some experience with a client recovering a memory and most had actually recovered a memory themselves. However, both groups struggled with definitions of recovered memories: initially reporting inflated figures (19% & 84%, respectively) that incorporated normal, non-repression-related memory mechanisms. Working therapists and current trainees reported a profound lack of training in this area. We also replicated a previously demonstrated scientist-practitioner divide, where researchers were more likely than practitioners to endorse the fallibility of memory. Though the study related to a sensitive topic, both professionals and members of the public reported enjoying the survey and did not find the questions distressing or ethically problematic–encouraging for future research in this field.