SCIENTIFIC-RESEARCH, RECOVERED MEMORY, AND CONTEXT - 7 SURPRISING FINDINGS

Data from seven contexts (gender history, dichotomized bitterness, lin ks between assertions and proofs, dramatizing facts, malpractice and o ther legal actions, therapists' own history of abuse, and therapists' experience of recovered memories) are presented and their implications explored. The data support the thesis that individuals, the professio n, science, and society suffer when research findings, clinical interv entions, and public policy are taken out of these seven contexts. Even otherwise reliable facts, theories, laws, and practices can become di storted, misleading, and, ultimately, harmful.