Wade Robson's Nervous Breakdown Led To Memories Of Michael Jackson's Sexual Abuse
![Wade Robson](https://d.medicaldaily.com/en/full/227551/wade-robson.jpg?w=247&f=f68701193527e33fabb9c4186718a334)
Wade Robson, an award-winning choreographer, dancer, director, song-writer, and producer, claimed in sealed court documents last week that he had been molested by Michael Jackson, TMZ reports. Insiders say Robson was struggling in 2010 and his problems came to a head in March 2011, when he experienced a "deliberating nervous breakdown," during which he struggled to fulfill work commitments.
Although "nervous breakdown" is not a medical term, it has been commonly used to cover mental disorders, such as episodes of psychosis, or when a person loses contact with reality. People also employ the term "nervous breakdown" to express an episode of depression or extreme anxiety.
Multiple sources are claiming that Wade said he "repressed" the seven years of alleged abuse. At the time of his breakdown, he began to see a psychotherapist, under whose care he uncovered memories of his molestation by Jackson from age seven to fourteen, TMZ reports. After revealing his memories to family and friends, it was decided Robson would sue Jackson's estate.
According to Charles Brewin, from University College London, prolonged trauma in childhood can produce severe identity disturbances that may interfere with the retrieval of event information. "High levels of emotion either at encoding or recall can also interfere with the creation of coherent narrative memories," he wrote in a paper delivered at Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. "For example, high levels of shock and fear when memories are recovered unexpectedly may lead to the experience of vivid flashbacks. Recovered memories, although unusual, do not contradict what we know about how memory works."
Although repressed memory is associated with trauma, it often confounds psychologists. "Repression is one of the most haunting concepts in psychology," wrote Elizabeth F. Loftus, distinguished professor at the University of Washington, in "The Reality of Repressed Memories." "Something shocking happens, and the mind pushes it into some inaccessible corner of the unconscious. Later, the memory may emerge into consciousness."
Robson met Jackson when he was only five and apparently slept over at Neverland Ranch until the age of 14. He has appeared in three of Jackson's music videos. During Jackson's 2005 trial for molesting children, a then-22-year-old Robson took the stand and claimed the singer had never sexually abused him. Now, seven years later and four years after Jackson's death, Robson has recanted his testimony and further claimed that Jackson did, in fact, molest him during the years they worked together.
"This is a young man who has testified at least twice under oath over the past 20 years and said in numerous interviews that Michael Jackson never did anything inappropriate to him or with him," said Howard Weitzman, a lawyer for the Jackson estate told the New York Daily News.
In 1993, Robson, who was then 10 years old, interviewed with CNN and stated, "We sleep in the same bed. We're both fully dressed. He sleeps on one side. I sleep on the other."
A popular choreographer who has worked with Britney Spears, Pink, Demi Lovato, and N'Sync, Robson reportedly has not been working since the breakdown, though sources claim he has "substantial savings" and insist money is not the motivation for filing the suit.