The current reemergence of clinicians' attention to the sequelae of childhood sexual abuse has been met by a powerful critical opposition. The criticisms often extend to many forms of psychotherapy and to psychoanalytic treatments of trauma. This article situates the debate in its historical context. It examines the use of eyewitness testimony and the work of Elizabeth Loftus in this controversy and makes a case for a more wide-ranging, careful, and critical reading of cognitive neuroscience and empirical studies of memory processes. The distinctions between clinical data, legal evidence, and research findings are considered. The essay also examines some of the challenges and problems in treating trauma and in considering the impact of real events in a relational and social constructionist psychoanalysis.