False Memory Syndrome

False memory syndrome, commonly abbreviated FMS, was a proposed pattern of beliefs and behaviors in which a person's identity and relationships become affected by false memories of psychological trauma that the person strongly believes but that the accused contests; it is not listed as a psychiatric illness in the ICD-11 or the DSM-5. The concept was proposed as a consequence of recovered memory therapy, a scientifically discredited form of therapy intended to recover repressed memories, and was originally conceptualized by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation to describe a pattern of behaviors the foundation observed following such therapy; the psychologist Elizabeth Loftus is the most influential figure in the genesis of the theory. Scientists broadly accept that individuals can hold false memories and that outside influence can shape their formation, but debate continues over whether this effect can produce the kind of detailed memories of repeated abuse and major personality change, such as cutting off family members, that FMS has historically been invoked to explain.