# Christopher Barden

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{{Short description|American psychologist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}}
thumb|Christopher Barden
'''R. Christopher Barden''' Ph.D., J.D., L.P. is an American lawyer and psychologist.

Barden has participated as an attorney or consultant in lawsuits against "[recovered memory](/source/recovered_memory)" therapists.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.memoryandreality.net/barden.html |title= About R. C. Barden |publisher=False Memory Syndrome Foundation}}.</ref> A ''amicus curiae'' brief to the [California Supreme Court](/source/California_Supreme_Court) drafted by Barden and signed by nearly 100 international experts in the field of human memory emphasized there is no credible scientific support for the notions of repressed and recovered memories.<ref>Barden, R. C. Amicus Brief in Taus v. Loftus, Supreme Court of California, Feb. 21, 2006.</ref> 

In the 1990s, Barden sued therapists who facilitated the development of [multiple personality disorder](/source/multiple_personality_disorder) and [false memories](/source/False_memory) in clients. According to [Mark Pendergrast](/source/Mark_Pendergrast), Barden "won multiple million-dollar judgments and settlements... against psychiatrists and other therapists who encouraged clients to believe that they housed destructive internal alters".<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Pendergrast |first=Mark |title=The Myth of Multiple Personalities and Satanic Cults |date=2017 |work=The Repressed Memory Epidemic |pages=135–183 |url=https://rdcu.be/fgwvM |access-date=2026-05-02 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-63375-6_4 |isbn=978-3-319-63374-9 |url-access=limited}}</ref> Psychologist [Richard McNally](/source/Richard_McNally) described Barden as "the man who did more than anyone to stop the madness of MPD".<ref name=":0" />

Barden has degrees from [University of Minnesota](/source/University_of_Minnesota), [Harvard Law School](/source/Harvard_Law_School), and [Stanford Medical School](/source/Stanford_Medical_School).

Barden was the Republican nominee for attorney general of Minnesota in the [2010 election](/source/2010_Minnesota_Attorney_General_election). He was defeated by incumbent Democrat [Lori Swanson](/source/Lori_Swanson).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130916033616/http://minnesotaelectionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20101102/ElecRslts.asp?M=S&Races=0335 Statewide Results for Attorney General] (2010) Minnesota Secretary of State</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Libraries |first=University of Minnesota |title=Minnesota Historical Election Archive |url=https://mn.electionarchives.lib.umn.edu/ |access-date=2026-05-02 |website=Minnesota Historical Election Archive |language=en}}</ref>

Between 1995 and 2005, Barden served as the director of the National Association for Consumer Protection In Mental Health Practices.<ref>{{Cite web |last=JD |first=R. Christopher Barden, PhD |date=2026-05-02 |title=Reforming Mental Health Care: How Ending “Recovered Memory” Treatments Brought Informed Consent to Psychotherapy {{!}} Psychiatric Times |url=https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/reforming-mental-health-care-how-ending-recovered-memory-treatments-brought-informed-consent |access-date=2026-05-02 |website=www.psychiatrictimes.com |language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist|1}}

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Category:American lawyers
Category:21st-century American psychologists
Category:Living people
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:University of Minnesota alumni
Category:Harvard Law School alumni
Category:Stanford University School of Medicine alumni

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Christopher Barden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Barden) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Barden?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.