Can Kids Remember Childhood Sexual Abuse?

Oct. 4, 2007 — -- Many may wonder how a girl who was raped and filmed for a child pornography tape could ever be considered a "happy, and perfectly healthy little girl" just a few years after the assault occurred.

But according to the Nevada mother whose daughter was discovered last week to have been featured on a sex abuse tape when she was only 2 years old, the child is not reeling from the traumatic events. In fact, she is actually doing quite well.

In a press conference Wednesday, Jerry Donohoe, the family's attorney who read the mother's statement, said that he did not believe the girl has any idea what happened to her.

"I believe she had no memory of the event," said Donohoe, who also said that the girl had been reviewed by psychologists since the tape was discovered.

While we only have the statements of the mother and lawyer to gauge the condition of the child, the case raises questions about how young children remember traumatic events and whether it is possible that this girl in question may not remember -- also known as suffering "traumatic amnesia" -- the very events that put her in headlines nationwide.

"It is possible that if a child is sexually molested at a very early age that they might not have a recollection of the incident," said Dr. N.G. Berrill, a forensic psychologist who has not treated the girl in the Nevada sex tape. "There would be the possibility of some kind of memory [of the incident] but not necessarily the kind of memories we talk about."

The traumatic experience, Berrill said, may be translated into nervous or timid behavior by the child, who does not understand exactly what happened or may not be able to remember the specific events. As a result, the child is only able to recall the feelings and sensations that occurred during the incident.

"Developmentally, the younger you are the less you remember well or accurately," said Berrill, who is the director of New York Forensic, a psychiatric consulting group. "Kids remember sensory memories -- they don't have memories that are coherent like XYZ occurred, but they remember that they felt a lot of tension or fear."