Memory is a mind-challenging subject that has been eluding scientists for years. There are augments to be made from both sides of the scientific table. But, most people would agree that recovering your memories after many years can be daunting and often times leads to recovering false memories. It has also been proven that memories can be implanted into one's brain and subsequently become part of one's "memory." Recovering memory under hypnosis, however, is the most dangerous type of memory retrieval. Hypnosis has a high chance of leading one produce confabulations and exaggerations. The methods use while one is not conscious may seem like a good idea, but it cannot be proven that the things one remembers under hypnosis came from the source of which one is feeling great pain from. In recent years memory has come into play in adults trying to discover events from their childhood. They often had heard so much about it that they make up a story of their own to give cause for their unhappiness as an adult.
If I were approached by a friend of mine who asked me what I thought about uncovering memories through hypnosis, I would tell him to be careful and be wary of what he "discovers." Under hypnosis a person is very suggestible and that can lead to some interesting "revelations" if you're not careful. Give the hypnotist a list of questions that you would like to have asked to you while under hypnosis. If you are sure that you weren't abused as a child then refrain from talking about it if at all possible. Stories of sexual abuse often come out when one is under the hypnotic trance of a hypnotist. It has been shown that people under hypnosis can be told things and they will believe them to...
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... Strategic. Associative retrieval can be characterized by the triggered by certain automatically by a certain object or what somebody says. The action is involuntary and is epitomized by vivid reactions. Strategic recollection is voluntary and quite laborious. This is the kind of retrieval that you would go through if trying to remember what you did on a Wednesday night six weeks ago.
Overall, I would inform my friend of the dangers of going into hypnosis and that he should really think about whether his past or his childhood is really what is causing him to be unhappy. If he does indeed decide to go through with it, he should think about the results and really consider if they could be possible and if in fact they are. He should do some background work once he has visited the therapist. I would tell him to be skeptical of what he is told about his life.
Although hypnosis might produce increased recall, it also produces more error; quantity doesn't always mean. quality in this case, he said. Through hypnosis it is easy for the interrogator. to implant false information into the mind of the eyewitness. In this way, again memory can be distorted.
The false memory and recovered memory literature is marked by controversy. It examines the phenomenon a variety of patients have exhibited: purportedly “losing” memories of trauma, only to recover them later in life (Gavlick, 2001). In these cases, temporary memory loss is attributed to psychological causes (i.e. a traumatic event) rather than known damage to the brain (Gavlick, 2001). While some assert that the creation of false memories through therapeutic practice is a serious concern and founded associations like the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) in the U.S. and the British False Memory Society (BFMS) in order to advocate against psychological malpractice, other researchers contend that the evidence for “false memory syndrome,” or the recovery of untrue memories, is weak (Brewin & Andrews, 1998; Pope, 1996). The debate arose largely in the 1990s, though a consensus in the literature still has not been reached.
For centuries hypnosis has been around, however many people till this day do not know much about it. Most still believe hypnotist carry around big clocks using them to swing back and forth in someone’s face, controlling their every action. As the one being hypnotized remains unaware as they proceed to act like a chicken with their head cut off. But for the most part, the truth is most hypnotists can be your average doctor, therapist, dentist, psychiatrists, and friend. It doesn’t take much to hypnosis someone as long as a deep state of relaxation is created, where the unconscious mind is “listening” and the conscious mind is “resting”. The meaning of “conscious and unconscious are really just shorthand terms to describe the general characteristics of the human mind. The “conscious mind” is the bit where we tend to “live” – the bit you might think as “you”. If there’s a little voice reading these words out loud in your head, that’s the conscious mind talking. The unconscious mind is everything else” ("About hypnosis"). In fact some doctors don’t use the word trance when describing the relaxed state because the person is very aware in their so-called unconscious mind. They feel that the word trance implies a different mind level or mental lapse and sends out the wrong idea to people who don’t know the subject.
First, it is important to understand past experiences from the perspective of Helga Ryan, an inductor of hypnosis. One of her many articles describes how on a spiritual level, we hold the energy of our past experiences and memories in every cell we are made of. Because of this, we are constantly forced to relive these memories and be reintroduced to the energies associated with them (1). Although Ryan tends to focus more on her practice and its psychological benefits, she very clearly and openly describes that our past does indeed affect our future. In fact, her entire practice is based on this principle as she makes a living through helping people heal the negative feelings people experience from their past. This basis of
False memories being created is obvious through many different ways, such as eye-witness testimonies and past experiments that were conducted, however repression is an issue that has many baffled. There seems to be little evidence on the factual basis of repressed memories, and many argue that it does not exist. The evidence for repression in laboratories is slowly emerging, but not as rapidly as the evidence for false memories. It has been hard to clinically experiment with repressed memories because most memories are unable to be examined during the actual event to corroborate stories. Experimenters are discovering new ways to eliminate this barrier by creating memories within the experiment’s initial phase. This is important for examining the creation of false memories during the study phase. This research study will explore the differences between recovered memories and false memories through research and experiments. Other terms and closely related terms will be discussed, while examining any differences, in relation to repressed memories. The possibility of decoding an actual difference between recovered memories and false memories, through biological techniques. Because false memories can be created, examining these creations in a laboratory setting can shed light on facts overlooked. Exploring these issues will also help with the development of better therapeutic techniques for therapists in dealing with memories. This can lead to an easier process for patients and therapists if they must go through the legal system in relation to an uncovered memory.
Hypnosis has many practical uses, and these days it is becoming increasingly popular as a method of behavior modification. The Internet contains many advertisements for self-help programs that use hypnosis to reduce stress, quit smoking, or lose weight. In the area of hypnosis and weight loss, there are many web sites for both products and services for sale that promise to help anyone lose weight. Hypnosis uses suggestions to change a person's behavior and eating habits in order to facilitate weight loss. What are the expected outcomes? There are many different outcomes expected from this type of hypnotic treatment. Most vendors of hypnosis specify that it's purpose is not only lose weight but to also maintain that ideal weight. Some companies also promise that hypnosis will stop cravings for unhealthy foods, such as foods high in salt or fat and also fried foods. http://www.clauser.com/announce3.html Through hypnotic suggestion, the person will learn how to eat healthy and may also become physically fit. Basically, the person becomes subconsciously motivated to eat better food and to become physically active. http://www.biocentrix.com/hypnosis/wghtplan.htm How Does Hypnosis work? There are many different forms of hypnosis used to control weight. A very popular method is the use of hypnotizing tapes. DreamLab, a web site selling these tapes, describes the procedure, and advises customers to start the tape when they go to bed. They claim that the tape contains both music and instructions that "lull you into the right mood." http://www.dream-lab.com/noweight.html While a person is in this mood, they are open to changes in their attitudes about eating habits and exercise through the suggestion of dream i...
I. Introduction II. Dementia Senility is a misused term for the loss of ability to think, reason, and remember in older persons. Senility is not a medical condition; it is not normal, natural, or inevitable with aging; it is not limited to older people either. The term senility is replaced in most of my pertinent research by the medical term dementia, which seems to describe a group of symptoms that represent a change or deterioration from an individual's previous level of functioning (Tueth, 1995). Dementia has specific causes, which impair long-term memory and quite relevantly;: language, judgment, spatial perception, behavior, and often personality, interfering with normal social and occupational functioning.
From what I understood, there’s three levels of memories or the ability to have something imprinted in mind. One, conscious/consciousness. At this state, you are in contact outside the world. You are present in the present situation you’re in. You’re aware of what you’re doing. Second, pre-conscious. At this state, you are beneath the surface of awareness. You’re not fully aware of anything and everything. It’s like you’re half awake and half asleep. The last, third. Unconsciousness. At this state, your memories are repressed and pushed at the back of your mind. You can sense familiarity but couldn’t recall anything about it. this. Under psychoanalytic theory is the defense mechanism. Basically, this means the individual’s hazy contortion of perception of reality that helps them overcome their stress and anxiety. There are ten stages in this section. First, denial. This is means denying what’s already there. You can’t accept it so you deny. Second, repression, this is a memory that’s been erased from a person’s mind. This is often caused by traumatic events happened in a persons’ life. The third, rationalization. A good example of this is a white lie. You’re covering up your wrongful act. You’re making excuses. The fourth, projection. This is the placement of your feelings to another person. You’re not aware that you’re doing it. this can be
Repressed vs. false memories has been a critical debate in criminal cases and daily life problems. Throughout the years many people has claimed to recover repressed memories with the simplest triggers varying from a gaze to hypnosis. However, a large number of repressed memories claimed are considered as false memories because the images were induced through hypnosis and recalled during a therapy sesion. In the film “divided memories” the main intention was to inform the audience the importance of repressed memories and how those memories can change the lives of the people involved, whether the memory was considered repressed or false. It shows different cases of women being victims of sexual abuse in childhood and how they had those memories repressed. Additionally, the film
Although Science and Pseudoscience are evidently two completely different topics, what is considered to be classified as a Science or Pseudoscience is a controversy topic that’s still being debated today. While science builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world through the scientific method, pseudoscience is a claim, belief or practice which is presented as science, but lacks support of evidence and cannot be reliably tested. Hypnosis is one topic several psychologists and those in the field of science are seemingly still debating today, in result to its several different uses. Although hypnosis is shown to work when dealing with certain phenomena’s like stress, there are several uses it is considered to be very ineffective and simply not a science.
An alternative view to this debate, are from practicing therapist who argue that most recovered memories are true, and that there is still some evidence to support the concept of repressed memories (Briere & Conte, 1993). They claim that traumatic memories such as sexual abuse tend to be different from ordinary memories because they are encoded in a way that prevents them from being accessible in everyday life. In addition, they argue that certain procedures during therapy are necessary in order to bring the repressed memories back into conscious awareness, and this is deemed necessary in order to help the patient recover. Despite these claims, there is little evidence to support the validity of reported cases of recovered memories, and most of the theories are mainly based on speculation rather than scientific evidence. However, there have been some cases in which a recovered memory did corresponded to an actual event that occurred. For example, an article by Freyd (1999), reported a case in which a man called Frank Fitzpatrick recovered memories of sexual abuse from childhood. Although this
Danielle wakes up in the morning and doesn’t want to get out of bed. She is wide awake but didn’t get much sleep; and has no motivation to start her day. Reluctantly she gets up, showers, and gets ready for work. She skips breakfast as she has no appetite and heads into work. On the way to her job she has trouble concentrating on her driving; instead she contemplates how useless she feels at work and how helpless she is to change the situation. Once at work she can’t remember what meetings she needed to attend, and forgets about an important appointment with the general manager. To most, this sounds like a bad day. But to her this is just the norm of her everyday life. Danielle is displaying many of the symptoms associated with clinical depression. She is diagnosed with the mental illness and prescribed pharmaceuticals, but when she does remember to take her medicine it seems to cause more problems than it fixes with the multitude of side effects. She wants a different solution or approach to manage her problem. Here is where hypnosis may come into play as a viable option.
Explicit memory is a conscious, recollection of an event or an item of information. It is usually measured using recall or recognition methods. Recalling has the ability to retrieve and reproduce information. Recognizing has the ability to identify information you have previously learned, read, or heard about.
False memories can be very helpful at times. This syndrome can have a good effect by planting it into someone's
Let’s say you have some sort of problem or bad habit (as do most people I know) and you really want to overcome it. Maybe you are addicted to smoking, but no matter what you do, you just can’t resist the urge to go crawling back to your cigarettes and take another smoke. Finally, you see an ad in the paper for a hypnotist that says he (or she, of course) can help break addictions with a little hypnotic suggestion, and you decide that you might as well give it a try. You walk into small, quiet room and lay down on a comfortable sofa across from the hypnotist. He begins to calmly tell you to relax all parts of your body, and tells you to shut your eyes. “You are getting very sleepy.”