How I took notes about Carol Felstead and problems I found with the TEDTalk

'Carol Felstead: A Real Look at False Memories' follow up:
How I took notes and thoughts I had at the time

I treated the TEDTalk I watched like I'd treat watching a lecture; I took short hand notes to form the basis of the passage I wrote which reiterated everything said within the video. Here are the notes I took:

• 2005 carol died don't know how
• said she lived in London and wanted to move back to Stockport (phoned her brother)
• pupil nurse photo 1985 aged 21
• strange quiet phone call female
• 'i know you're not one of the ones who harmed her' 
• Richard is brother
• 'carol died of difficult childhood' 
• Carol made allegations of abuse
• Carol Myers new name
• she left life assessment doc- not signed or dated and no specific names
• abused from birth, mute until 5, child prostitute, missed school
• mother murdered another baby, sat Carol on top and set fire to the house
• was a house fire in 1963 on year before she was born put on front newspaper page
• there was another baby with down syndrome Joan Julie defective heart
• she died in front of their dad 2 years before Julie was born
• carol at 21 started to behave weird and moody
• never got contact with family 
• eventually vanished only calling maybe once a year saying she was going after her dreams
• she there developed false memories about whole life
• person on the phone said there was a trail in Manchester about satanic ritual abuse trial that fell through after 3 days
• his dad had no idea where this came from
• he said he'd disprove with police that there was no trial and wanted the life assessment copy
• brother phoned to cancel cremation and coroner's office said yes which was weird cause you cant usually cancel a funeral
• police officer said that carols therapist/ psychiatrist was her next of kin.
• Fleur fisher 
• day after carol died shed gone into her flat taken her property and disposed of it
• 2 weeks later driving carols car
• Fleur fisher wasn't named at the inquest in 2005
• Dr Fleur fisher head of ethics at British Med Association
• following that they knew something went tragically wrong in carols life
• refused to give medical psychiatric records
• came in different batches eventually and put it together
• in 1985 Carol went to GP with headaches
• they couldn't find cause to went to psychology
• seen by 3 consultants- 2 said she was clear with no family history being disturbing
• 3rd said she might be suffering migraines from stress of nursing exams
• she was given hypnotherapy
• carol can't remember details it said of her abuse
• carol then it said to a clinic and Dr who said she saw carol limping in waiting room 
• had further hypnotherapy where it was so severe she was sedated after sessions
• psych records said her mother and father were leaders of a satanic cult 
• responsible for at least 8 murders and 
• said carol had 6 babies murdered by cult even though there were no medical records of pregnancy
• allegations of her being assaulted by a claw hammer by 2 of thatchers government
• false memories didn't occur to them
• applied to quash the inquest 
• 2015 second inquest 
• video recording of first inquest 
• Fisher did a 106 page statement 
• coroner took away - redacted 87 pages 
• open verdict 
• applied to quash again
• given permission to quash again at high court
• coroner wanted to defend the action this time
• grieving families get bad rights against state in court and her family are arguing against that
• trauma is more likely to be remembered 
• some therapists argue EVERYTHING is in childhood and say trauma in childhood must be remembered
• British false memory society was set up in 1993
• set up for parents saying adult accusers were suddenly making abuse claims
• don't agree with regression therapies
• allegations in one case were brought from out of a book
• carol was on heavy meds eg. morphine that said to have stopped her distinguishing faces

It seems like a lot of information to take in but it was a far easier way to get the information from a video into written form as oppose to attempting to write in fully formed paragraphs while continuously pausing the video.

Towards the end of the TEDTalk, I did have a few problems with what was said. The way Kevin Felstead spoke about false memories seemed to disregard every case of recovered memories of abuse as false memories which I personally disagree with. While I do fully believe that false memories can occur in this extreme of a form, I also do believe that it is insensitive to not disclose that sometimes trauma can be remembered after 'forgetting' about it for years.

As a defence mechanism against traumatic memories, it is believed that in some cases people force the memories into their unconscious mind in order to not let it haunt them. This is of course not a purposeful or conscious process. This explains why some people go until adult hood until they discover and remember that they had disturbing childhoods that they repressed. I just personally believe that this aspect of memory was brushed over and made to sound as if false memories are they only explanation for abuse claims in adulthood.

Overall though, the TEDTalk was very informative and takes a lot of courage for the Felstead's to have shared their saddening story through all the mediums that they did. It shed light on false memories in a new way and was a great source for research.