recovered memory

noun

1. a memory of a past event that has been recalled after having been forgotten or repressed for a long time. Compare false-memory syndrome.

recovered memory

noun

1. the alleged recollection of traumatic events from childhood by a person undergoing psychotherapy See also false memory syndrome

Word History and Origins

Origin of recovered memory¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

The Franklin case was “the first of the recovered memory persecutions,” said Richard Ofshe, a professor emeritus of social psychology at UC Berkeley and coauthor of “Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria.”

From Los Angeles Times

Recovered memory cases had been “sprouting up like beanstalks,” but “once the reversal happened, everyone reanalyzed it,” Franklin’s attorney said.

From Los Angeles Times

Never before had recovered memory been used in a criminal prosecution.

From Los Angeles Times

Recovered memory, as a clinical practice, veered far in the opposite direction: Patients who never knew they’d experienced such abuse were coached into having memories of it.

From New York Times

Some prominent cases of recovered memory of child abuse have turned out to be false, elicited by overzealous therapists.

From Scientific American