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Repressed memory syndrome (RMS) therapy is based on the idea that childhood traumatic events often dictate emotional behavior in adulthood. As Elizabeth Loftus, Ph. D., professor of psychology and adjunct professor of law at University of Washington, puts it, "Mental-health practitioners use techniques to dig out allegedly buried trauma memories under the belief that they must be ferreted out to heal the patient."

Jenks' therapist used hypnotherapy to get at those memories. In his statement before the board of psychologists of the state of Idaho in 1996, Stephenson cited his paper, "Overcoming the Structure of Control," in which he explains that patients can discover this structure through motor responses to questions (hence the finger movements).

"He was trying to get a response via body movement," says Chuck Lloyd of the Minneapolis firm Lindquist & Vennum. Lloyd was one of three lawyers who represented Jenks. "When he [Stephenson] didn't get the answer he liked he'd tap on the 'yes' finger."

Stephenson's technique used the concept of ideomotor response, or a physical response to an idea, in which fingers are used to designate "yes," "no" and "I'm not sure" answers. At Jenks' first session, the questions went from the innocuous (name, birthday) to the more significant ("Have you ever been sexually molested?").

"The notion of hypnotherapy makes sense if you believe that we store everything we hear or see," says Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in Philadelphia. "But it makes no sense because that's not how the memory works. These recovered memories are highly contaminated; they can be false because of the suggestions by the therapist."

New York therapist David Halperin, Ph.D., steers clear of hypnotherapy. "The problem is the issue of suggestibility," he says. "When a person is in a state of hypnosis, the question is, To what extent are they impressionable? Is it a reflection of the patient, or a reflection of what the hypnotist is bringing to the situation?" And yet Halperin, as do thousands of others, concedes: "Freud used hypnosis. A colleague of mine used it. It can be used as a relaxation technique, but suggestibility is much more part of the process, and the risks are greater."

According to Freyd, most people treated for RMS are white and female, between 25 and 45. "All of them were distressed with something in their life to go into therapy for the first place," he says. "Some went after birth of a baby, some were anxious about relationships, a lot of people got into this because they were too fat, so people entered into therapy for a variety of reasons. But if you turn to somebody for help, and they tell you you were abused, then that stage is set."

Attorneys are getting a big boost from the epidemic through malpractice cases. Christopher Barden, a Minnesota psychologist and another of Jenks' attorneys, has made a career of successfully suing therapists in MPD cases. Barden participated in one of the largest settlements in history in a psychotherapy negligence case when one of his clients, Patricia Burgus, received a $10.6 million settlement in November 1997.

Lloyd points out that big settlements generally occur in states such as Texas, where juries historically award big sums, as opposed to states such as Idaho, where juries tend to behave more conservatively.

Although media hype has waned, court cases and victims continue to crop up. America's therapy community may be partly to blame. Also, in an atmosphere filled with inaccurate information and dramatic Hollywood reenactments, few laws govern how psychotherapists and mental-health practitioners operate. "In Washington, you can call yourself a therapist if you have $80 and take a test," Loftus says. "The public is not at all educated on therapy. They can't make distinctions.

"Because it wasn't regulated, the crisis erupted and these false accusations became widespread," Loftus says. "The regulation [of therapists] has, sadly, been accomplished through litigation. Only after huge settlements that were leveled against psychotherapists have insurers stopped paying."

Acocella claims that many women who missed the boat on feminism found solace in their presumed mental dilemmas. "Many of these had the same grim lives as their mothers: early pregnancy, unkind husbands or boyfriends, boring jobs, little money, no education. The process helps to explain the great outbreak of female disorders in the last few decades. Many women, then, had reason to take shelter in multiple personality disorder. It restored their dignity; it gave them a career."

Jenks is now working on a real career. She lives in Boise, Idaho, with her second husband and newborn. Her plans are to attend college and pursue journalism. Looking back, she says, "Before I met [Stephenson] I had a weight problem and guilty feelings. Now I've lost childhood memories and I have severe depression. I've lost a lot of time with my family. I'm never going to therapy again. Heavens, no."
salon.com | Dec. 22, 1999

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