Also called recovered memory syndrome, this controversial concept emerged in the US, and was picked up later by some therapists in the UK. It holds that abused children sometimes suppress their unpleasant memories, and that subsequent PSYCHOTHERAPY could help them recover these memories – thus possibly aiding rehabilitation. This recall of ‘repressed’ memories, however, is believed by many to be a false memory implanted into the victim's subconscious by the psychotherapy itself, or perhaps invented by the individual for personal motives.

In 1997 the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK produced a comprehensive report which was sceptical about the notion that the awareness of recurrent severe sexual abuse in children could be pushed entirely out of consciousness. The authors did not believe that events could remain inaccessible to conscious memory for decades, allegedly provoking vague non-specific symptoms to be recovered during psychotherapy with resolution of the symptoms. Supporting evidence pointed to the lack of any empirical proof that unconscious dissociation of unpleasant memories from conscious awareness occurred to protect the individual. Furthermore, experimental and natural events had shown that false memories, created through suggestion or influence, could be implanted. Many individuals who had claimed to have recovered memories of abuse subsequently withdrew their claims, and often, non-specific symptoms allegedly linked to suppression worsened rather than improved as therapy to unlock memories proceeded. The conclusion is that recovered memory therapy should be viewed with great caution.

The American Psychological Association has declared that it is not possible to distinguish a truly repressed memory from one that is false, without corroborating evidence.