Forgetting Something?

Did that really happen? Where did I place my necklace all those months ago? These are common questions that people pay hypnotists to answer. Why would people pay hundreds of dollars for such a thing? Many of these people share the belief of that being hypnotized enhances memories once repressed or forgotten. Over the years, hypnotism has been used in psychological therapies, eye-witness statements in trials, and in the aid of recollection. These practices have been found to be faulty, and no one wants a faulty method.

The myth that hypnosis aids in recollection of memories began as early as the practice came about. As Jean Piaget, Sigmund Freud, and Joseph Breuer started their works with hypnosis-induced memory recollections, people were fawning over how effective the methods were and how vividly people started to remember events they had forgotten long ago. In 1889, Piaget participated in a famous case study that caused a patient not only to remember a past event, but to age regress, or remember events from early childhood (Lilienfeld et al., 2010). This sparked the beginning of hypnoanalysis, which continued to be used in later time periods. Post World War I, and even after today’s wars, hypnosis has been used to treat veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. In using this method, they help these heroes come to terms with triggers of their disorder and move past the horrendous events they have went through.

Today, from all the hype about these methods and how effective they are, it has become “common sense” that hypnosis useful in remembering the past. All over the internet, people can find hypnotists who are famous for their methods. They can also find self-hypnotism guides to help hypnotize themselves if they choose not to see a hypnotist. Yet, there is evidence of how ineffective these methods really are. Research proves that hypnotism only increases confidence in false memories, causes reconstructed memories, and even creates the false memories (Loftus).

Therapists who improperly used hypnotism in treatment have caused memories to appear in their patients that never truly existed. Such practices have led to even led to accusations of horrific abuse and crimes that never happened. People trust their therapists who use hypnosis; if people truly believe that they will recall forgotten events, they are likely to believe that what they are “remembering” is valid (Lilienfeld et al., 2010).

Yet, people still rely on hypnotists to recall important information. The issues with this is that memories are only remembered as well as they are encoded, or processed, into memory (Kihlstrom, 1994). Is it really so hard to believe that hypnotism cannot aid in recollection? Other memory recollection techniques are just as subject to these faults. So should the common people use hypnotism as a method of recollection? In the end, it ends up being about the same as any other memory aid.

References

How to improve your memory with hypnosis. (2013). Retrieved , from http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Your-Memory-With-Hypnosis

Kihlstrom, J. F. (1994). Hypnosis, delayed recall, and the principles of memory. Retrieved  from http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/HypDelRec.htm

Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). Hypnosis is useful for retrieving memories of forgotten events. In 50 great myths of popular psychology (pp. 69-73). Wiley-Blackwell.

Loftus, E. F. (n.d.). Creating false memories. Retrieved  from http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm