Ross is a college professor who entered therapy because he was unhappy with his life. Describing his condition, he said, “I felt somehow adrift, as if some anchor in my life had been raised. I had...

Ross is a college professor who entered therapy because he was unhappy with his life. Describing his condition, he said, “I felt somehow adrift, as if some anchor in my life had been raised. I had doubts about my marriage, my job, everything” (Schacter, 1996, p. 249). Then, some months after entering therapy, he had a dream that left him with a strong sense of unease about a certain camp counselor he had known as a youth. Over the next few hours, that sense of unease gradually became a vivid recollection of the counselor molesting him. From that point on, Ross became obsessed with the memory, finally hiring a private detective, who helped him track down the counselor in a small Oregon town. After numerous attempts to talk with the counselor by telephone, Ross at last made contact and taped the phone conversation. The counselor admitted molesting Ross, as well as several other boys at the camp. Strangely, Ross claimed he had simply not thought about the abuse for years—until he entered therapy