Book Reviewed with AI Assistance

[Editor’s note: Another experiment in using AI to understand new religions was written by Joseph Szimhart for the International Cultic Studies Association. Szimhart’s review of Memory Warp: How the Myth of Repressed Memory Arose and Refuses to Die, by Mark Pendergrast (Upper Access Books. 2017. Ebook 758 pages), begins by including a clearly identified “review” written by Microsoft Copilot. Szimhart then reviews the book himself, offering both a critique and expansion of the Copilot commentary. An interesting attempt, it shows the strengths and weaknesses of generative AI.

Controversial cults often control followers by changing how we remember our childhoods and how we view the behaviors of people outside the cult.  We are persuaded to label parents and friends who disagree with our new affiliation and beliefs as satanic, ignorant, or the enemy. The techniques used to achieve this revisionism are often based on what is called recovered memory therapy, a method that attained its height of popularity in the recovered memory movement of the late twentieth century.  Memory Warp addresses the origins, development, and repercussions of this movement, in which therapists falsely persuaded people that they had repressed memories of painful experiences, and needed to recover these memories in order to heal.

I begin with the impressive and dryly accurate review of Memory Warp generated by Microsoft Copilot, an example of artificial intelligence at work. Reading the AI review will not mislead you about this book, but it leaves out creative critical thinking. I add my personal comments and further the review following the Copilot review.

[Copilot review]

Understanding the Complex World of Recovered Memories

Book Review of Memory Warp: How the Myth of Repressed Memory Arose and Refuses to Die

Introduction

Memory Warp, written by Mark Pendergrast, is an insightful and meticulously researched book that delves into the controversial and often misunderstood world of recovered memories. As a follow-up to his earlier work, Victims of Memory, Pendergrast revisits the topic with updated research, personal stories, and a critical analysis of therapeutic practices that have led to the phenomenon of recovered memories.

Summary of the Book

Memory Warp is structured in a way that guides readers through the history, development, and impact of the recovered memory movement. Pendergrast begins by revisiting cases from the 1980s and 1990s, a period when the belief in repressed and recovered memories gained significant traction. He provides detailed accounts of individuals and families affected by these memories, highlighting the often-devastating consequences.

The book also explores the role of therapists and the methods they use to uncover supposedly repressed memories. Pendergrast critically examines techniques such as hypnosis, guided imagery, and other suggestive practices, questioning their validity and the scientific basis behind them. He presents compelling evidence that these methods can create false memories, leading to a phenomenon known as False Memory Syndrome (FMS).

Critical Analysis

Pendergrast’s approach in Memory Warp is both empathetic and rigorous. He acknowledges the genuine pain and suffering of those who believe they have recovered repressed memories of trauma, while also emphasizing the importance of scientific inquiry and skepticism. His thorough research and cited studies provide a strong foundation for his arguments, making the book not only informative but also persuasive.

One of the book’s strengths is its balanced perspective. Pendergrast does not dismiss the possibility of genuine repressed memories outright; instead, he advocates for a more cautious and evidence-based approach. He urges mental health professionals to consider the potential harm of suggestive techniques and to prioritize the well-being of their clients.

Personal Stories

The personal stories interwoven throughout the book add a human element to the complex subject matter. Readers are introduced to individuals who have experienced the effects of recovered memories firsthand, including those who have been accused of perpetrating abuse based on these memories. These narratives are poignant and serve to illustrate the real-world implications of the recovered memory movement.

Impact and Relevance

Memory Warp is a timely and relevant book, especially in an era where discussions about mental health and trauma are increasingly prevalent. Pendergrast’s work encourages readers to think critically about therapeutic practices and the potential for harm when science is overshadowed by unverified beliefs.

The book also serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining rigorous standards in psychological research and practice. It calls for mental health professionals to be vigilant in their methods and to prioritize the accuracy of their diagnoses and treatments.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Memory Warp by Mark Pendergrast is a compelling and thought-provoking book that examines the recovered memory phenomenon with depth and nuance. It combines thorough research, critical analysis, and personal stories to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of the topic. Pendergrast’s balanced approach and emphasis on scientific rigor make this book an essential read for anyone interested in the fields of psychology, mental health, and trauma.

Overall, Memory Warp is an important contribution to the ongoing conversation about memory, therapy, and the potential for both healing and harm within the mental health profession. It is a must-read for professionals, students, and anyone seeking to understand the complexities of recovered memories and their implications.

[End of Copilot review]

This AI-coupled review is both an experiment and a serious effort to pay attention to how artificial intelligence can impact cultic studies. If AI has a bias, it appears to me to be couched in an algorithm-run survey and overview that summarizes existing relevant texts.

I previously read another book by Mark Pendergrast, The Most Hated Man in America: Jerry Sandusky and the Rush to Judgement (2017), when it came out. I reviewed that book for my YouTube channel in 2025, rereading it after reading Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson (2022). (My review of Unmask Alice appeared online in a recent issue of ICSA Reviews.) How we can be influenced to believe false narratives and to twist, embellish, and fabricate memories is the theme in those and Memory Warp. According to Pendergrast’s meticulous research, a former Penn State college football coach, Jerry Sandusky, who has been in prison since 2012 for sexual abuse of boys, is most likely innocent because the court allowed testimony based on recovered and embellished memories from people motivated by greed to lie. Penn State officials hastily paid out millions of dollars in rewards to alleged victims, hoping to put the damaging accusations against the university behind them. But Pendergrast readily exposes how reasonable doubt failed because belief trumped proof throughout the Sandusky trial.

As the Copilot review mentioned, our author first examined the history of false memories in Victims of Memory (1996). Since 2010, this abuse of therapy has re-emerged significantly, thus prompting the vigilant author to update his research. He tells us that as of 2014, 84% of the public surveyed in America believe in repressed memories and memory recovery therapies. In 1994, 97% of United Kingdom therapists believed in the reliability of recovered memories. “We have here an Orwellian world where truth doesn’t matter, where the therapist can redefine reality and hide behind the sanctity of his ‘concern’ for the patients” (Pendergrast, 1996, eBook p. 569).

Pendergrast, following a history of skepticism about recovering deep and dark memories that stretches back to the origins of Freudian depth psychology, offers strong evidence that even Freud waffled on whether to believe what his patients emitted from their subconscious. Freud’s early ideas about buried memories influenced controversial therapies invented by L. Ron Hubbard, for example. The recovered memories industry from the 1960s through the 1990s utilized hypnosis, breathwork, rebirthing, and primal scream as techniques to purportedly open memory pathways to forgotten events and traumas from current and past incarnations. Pendergrast documents legal cases in the 1990s that eventually set precedents for what is and is not admissible in court because of a therapist’s influence on memory. Similarly, testimony produced from lie detector tests was practically banned by law in the courts in 1998 because of its unreliability. Pendergrast recommends the television series on NOVA called Memory Hackers (2016) as a worthwhile report on this controversial topic.

Pendergrast also questions the inclusion of dissociative identity disorder (DID) in official psychiatric diagnoses. DID became the new version of multiple personality disorder, a misleading diagnosis that was popular among the recovered memories crowd of therapists for decades. Pendergrast remarks that DID’s acceptance is as political as diagnostic: There’s money to be made by insurance companies and doctors who believe in the disorder. He lists dozens of academic and legal references to support his contentions. One of his main targets is the dreadfully biased and naive book A Courage to Heal by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis (1988). Although Bass and Davis have since backed away from their more outrageous suggestions, they remain convinced that most recovered memories of abuse are authentic. New editions of A Courage to Heal continue to influence the market and damage relationships, according to Pendergrast.

One criticism I have of Memory Warp concerns Richard Gardner, who pioneered “parental alienation syndrome.” In 1992, he published a popular book by that title, which influenced how courts treated children who were allegedly alienated from one parent by another’s influence. Gardner (1992) writes, “There are parents who are quite creative in their brainwashing maneuvers” (p.87). Pendergrast (2017) says that this syndrome “is all too real” (eBook p.574), which in some cases may be entirely correct, but he neglects to mention that Gardner’s treatment ideas were never approved by accepted mental health models or social science. Indeed, my original copy of Gardner’s book contains a typed, six-page insert with amendments by Gardner, who admitted that his ideas were a work in progress. The addendum in the book serves as an advertisement for Gardner’s services, with a sample contract requiring USD2,500 (or USD6,000 today) as a downpayment for him to do an assessment.

The current issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine (March/April 2025) features a commentary by Jean Mercer, a developmental psychologist, who critiques Gardner’s influence. Her new book, Someone Said Parental Alienation (2025), documents many cases in which Gardner’s ideas have resulted in harm to the child forced to stay with the “alienated” parent, most often the father. Mercer reports that some children have been murdered by their father while going through “parental alienation therapy.”

Pendergrast is careful to affirm that child abuse is a very real, pervasive social problem and that reliable evidence has resulted in courts ordering punishment for the offenders and needed protections for the children. In sum, people may not discuss abuse (or war memories), but they rarely forget. In other words, when someone experiences a trauma, their reactions may vary, but they do not need a hypnosis session to recover that memory. Toward the end of his book, Pendergrast argues pedantically for a reasonable way to approach therapy using scientific rigor and common sense to avoid undue therapy influence that can warp the memory of a vulnerable patient.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has been wrongly impacted by a bogus or fringe therapy to recover memories from this life and a past life. Even though some readers may feel that Pendergrast is too skeptical, we ignore his carefully researched arguments at our peril.

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[Note: This review was originally published by International Cultic Studies Association and is reprinted with permission through Creative Commons.]