Hypnosis and Memory

Questions like “can hypnosis make me forget about my ex-wife?”, or “can you help me to remember where I left my car keys?” are ones that hypnotherapists receive frequently, which suggests that there are some misconceptions about the connection between hypnosis and memory, which I will attempt to sort out below.

Hypnosis For Memory Loss

Unfortunately, hypnosis is not as simple as a magic memory wipe that can remove a person from your memories.

However it can help you to change your perspective of your painful memories of the person, leaving the memories less painful and yourself less desperate to get rid of them.

Part of the misconception that hypnosis can wipe your memory may come from the phenomenon of temporary amnesia which sometimes occurs during a patient’s hypnosis session, where the patient experiences a significant loss of personal memory.

However this amnesia will not last beyond the hypnosis session and the patient’s memories will return once they come out of their hypnotic state.

And although in some cases there is a more lasting type of memory loss which sometimes occurs following hypnotherapy sessions as a result of suggestions left by the hypnotherapist, the memory loss in these cases tend to be about less significant and everyday things like forgetting a person’s name or forgetting what you were just about to tell someone.

In other words, there is no situation in which a patient’s significant personal memories can be permanently deleted by hypnotherapy treatment.

It can, however, change the way you interpret a memory and accordingly how it affects you emotionally.

This is actually a better and more natural form of healing than simply making the problem magically disappear.

Hypnosis For Recalling Memories

The opposite, less commonly used, term to “amnesia” is “hypermnesia” meaning the recovery of forgotten memories.

There are different forms of hypermnesia that can take place during hypnosis.

Regression is the most common form, in which the patient is generally speaking aware that they are reliving past events from their current point of view.

This method is something like letting the patient return to “the scene of the crime”, so to speak, so that they can relive significant moments that had a major impact on them, or to find misplaced objects, or even to review a literal crime scene.

Another form of hypermnesia is called revivification, in which the subject relives the past event as though they were happening all over again rather than from the point of view of an onlooker as in regression.

This form can be much more dramatic if the patient is reliving a painful or highly emotional memory and so this is the version that is most often represented on television and in popular culture generally.

However the much less dramatic form of regression is actually by far the more common practice.

Hypnosis is also sometimes used for people who want to boost their memories for the sake of writing tests or memorising their lines for a performance.

This can be done through the suggestions of the hypnotherapist but also simply through stress reduction which is in itself a great help to memory.

As a final reminder, however, we should mention that in both the cases of regression and revivification, the memories recalled will not necessarily be completely accurate.

It is very possible for a person to lie to themselves under hypnosis, or for the therapist to suggest something that is taken up by the patient as if it were true, and so this kind of memory recall cannot be taken as a sure-fire guarantee of reality.

Change your mind; Change your life

We have seen first hand that hypnosis can be a powerful tool to help clients overcome issues.

We know that we can help you if you are ready to take that first step to taking back control of your health and well-being – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

We pride ourselves on being honest, thorough and highly ethical. Life experience has given us a natural empathy for those who seek my help.

You can start to change your life now.

Take back control of your health call
Perth Hypnotherapists
Linda 0409 079 435 or Jan 0423 936 933 today.