I have dissociative amnesia(spelling?) from age 10 to birth. Has anyone had a T. use hypnosiis to help recover memeories?

[Elli-Beth]

My T has used hyponosis to help with my anxiety/speech issues, and it worked well, and he said it's possible to help with memory recovery, but I think you'd have to be in a state where you're prepared to cope with the blocked memories. I'm pretty sure I couldn't handle mine yet, so we didn't deal with them during the session.

[PreacherHeckler]

Many T's who have been following recent advances in memory research do not use hypnosis for memory retrieval anymore. Even traumatic memories are malleable; information gets mixed with other memories throughout our lives and the intensity of emotion is not necessarily indicative of the factual nature of any memory. Hypnosis is unreliable in that it creates false memories about as often as it enhances recovery of actual memories, and without corroboration it is impossible to know which memories are factual and which are not.

Originally Posted by PreacherHeckler

Many T's who have been following recent advances in memory research do not use hypnosis for memory retrieval anymore. Even traumatic memories are malleable; information gets mixed with other memories throughout our lives and the intensity of emotion is not necessarily indicative of the factual nature of any memory. Hypnosis is unreliable in that it creates false memories about as often as it enhances recovery of actual memories, and without corroboration it is impossible to know which memories are factual and which are not.

I would think that would be a huge problem with recovering memories through hypnosis. I certainly wouldn't trust hypnosis for that purpose.

My T uses hypnosis, but as a relaxation therapy and a way of 'suggesting' things to the subconscious. I personally would be skeptical of anyone claiming to use hypnosis to reliably recover memories.

Okay...I was just looking for a quick fix to regain memories...

Sadly, I don't think there is any quick fix. I did do quite a bit of hypnotherapy (which is distinct from hypnosis, as it is really more guided imagery and relaxation) fifteen or so years ago. But it was not for memory recovery per se, it was more for memory exploration. I had quite a bit of memory already, and we used it more for exploring some of the context and emotional reactions. Sometimes I would remember small details as part of this process.

But I think if you have complete amnesia, that is a different story. If you go in as a blank slate and expect to remember things, I'm not sure that is possible.

Best,
Anne