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I have one problem with Richard Gardner's otherwise excellent article, “Interview Criteria for Assessing Allegations of Sexual Abuse in Children and Adults” (this Journal 32 (2), 275-297, 2003). He negates the possibility of a hiatus in memory for “real abuse victims.” I have three instances in which this is not true.
Patient A was abused between the ages of five and eight years old. When she became sexually active, she recalled the abuse. She successfully litigated her case with her family's support.
The second instance is the daughter, one of three, of Patient B. This daughter remembered her abuse on the eve of her marriage. At my suggestion, my patient asked her two other daughters about their experiences. These two daughters had been abused and had continuous memory of the abuse.
Patient C was a woman in her late 30s, who was terminating her analysis, which had dealt with interpersonal work-related issues. Then she had a dream of being forced to masturbate her father when they went sailing together. She left my couch and ran screaming into my waiting room. Nothing diagnostically or in years of free-association had prepared us for this sudden memory of abuse.