Minouche Kandel and Eric Kandel

About the author: Minouche Kandel is an attorney with the Support Network for Battered Women in Mountain View, California, and a member of the legislative committee of the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence. Eric Kandel is University Professor at Columbia University Center for Neurobiology and Behavior.

In recent decades, a number of adults have uncovered repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse and have confronted their attackers in civil courts. However, a backlash has developed among parents and researchers who maintain that these recovered memories are fabrications. Psychologists dispute whether there is a psychological basis to support the concept of repressed memory. But there may be a biological explanation: In response to trauma, human brains produce natural opiates that block the formation of long-term memory. These blocked memories...