In the US, when professionals need a frame of reference for a particular diagnosis, they might very well consult the Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV).  The American Psychological Association stresses that using this to diagnose someone using this manual isn’t something a layperson should do, and for good reason: diagnostic paradigms are a very crude framework, something to take into account along with other data, observational cues, training in how various parts of human thought, consciousness and physiology interconnect, and so on.  Still, it’s a reference that can at least tell the layperson what the general criteria of a diagnosis are, so long as they don’t actually try to diagnose anybody.

If you consult DSM-IV to find a definition of false memory syndrome (FMS), then I hope you have either a lot of patience, or none at all.  You won’t find it.  But you can find a working definition of it, one endorsed by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF).  Dr. John Kihlstrom (University of California, Berkeley) described FMS as a:*

...condition in which a person's identity and interpersonal relationships are centered around a memory of traumatic experience which is objectively false but in which the person strongly believes. Note that the syndrome is not characterized by false memories as such. We all have memories that are inaccurate. Rather, the syndrome may be diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained that it orients the individual's entire personality and lifestyle, in turn disrupting all sorts of other adaptive behavior. The analogy to personality disorder is intentional. False Memory Syndrome is especially destructive because the person assiduously avoids confrontation with any evidence that might challenge the memory. Thus it takes on a life of its own, encapsulated and resistant to correction. The person may become so focused on memory that he or she may be effectively distracted from coping with the real problems in his or her life.

This definition presupposes several things.  The first is that false memory is common.**  The second is that those suffering from FMS have memories that are “objectively false.” Third, the false memory becomes the focal point of the sufferer’s life, to the point where they cannot cope with real life.

Over the next few posts, I will examine the first two presuppositions, and leave the third for a later time.  For now, it’s important to realize that there is hardly academic or scientific agreement about what constitutes a false memory.  Moreover, proving a memory is objectively false is a lot harder to do than it sounds.

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*Dr. Kihlstrom obtained his PhD in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where he assisted Dr. Martin Orne’s research in hypnosis.  He got his BS in psychology from Colgate University in 1970.  Dr. George Estabrooks still taught there at that time.

**In a later post, I will talk about talk about legitimate empirical studies that establish memory distortion and plain simple forgetfulness as an everyday occurrence--a rather commonsense observation.  How inaccuracy in memory relates to FMS is a topic of debate for those supporting the FMS diagnosis.