Hypnosis to forget: Painful or traumatic memories

During webinars, I sometimes get asked if you can use hypnosis to forget. Actually, I'd rather help you deal with painful memories better than trying to forget and repress them. That seems very unhealthy to me for several reasons. Therefore, in this article I will discuss the usefulness of memories, developments regarding forgetting memories and how hypnosis can help you to be able to leave memories behind. while ago, I watched the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Jim Carrey. In that movie, he wants to forget an entire relationship, but after a while he begins to realize that he doesn't want to lose some memories at all. That there was something good in some memories after all, or that there was something to learn from that memory. So maybe the first question is, are you sure you want to live without that memory? In addition, memories also have their uses.

Utility of your memory

A good memory was important for your survival and it still is today. In the old days, when we humans were still hunting and gathering, you had to know which plant you could and could not eat. If there was a drought for a while, you had to remember the spots where water could always be found.

Have you ever noticed that you tend to have mostly negative memories? That at night, those things keep running through your head—things you ’re now ashamed of, or that you keep replaying over and over because you think you should have handled them differently?

In a small way, this could be that in high school you once crashed into a glass door, just at that moment when that nice person also saw you, but then walked on as if he/she didn't even know of your existence before your unfortunate moment and therefore can't actually be interested in you at all. That from now on you do pay attention to whether a glass door is open or closed!

Even memories that are even more painful, such as bad behavior or drug use, can sometimes remain painful. However, you specifically try to prevent those situations in the future, and that is precisely where the value of the more negative memories lies—you remember them more quickly than positive ones. It all has to do with increasing your chances of survival.

We are social animals and belong to a group. If an argument has ever gotten out of hand, it’s painful, and the memory serves as a warning to prevent you from letting another argument get out of hand, which could disrupt your social relationships. At some point, you learn that “winning” isn’t the most important thing if it could cost you a relationship you’re actually very happy with.

You may also have bad memories from drug use. Maybe you had a bad-trip, that all was not so nice and you thought things were going all wrong. Or maybe drug use actually made you aggressive or sad. Again, this has to do with your ability to survive, in that your body and mind then actually signal that you should never use that stuff again.

Your environment and memory

It’s very frustrating, but to those around you, your behavior determines who and what you are more than your thoughts do. Because others can’t see your thoughts. Forgetting memories doesn’t solve problems—it can even make them worse. Because the people around you still remember what happened and when. If they confront you about it—even if it’s just to confirm that something happened at some point—and you then deny it because you don’t remember, this can lead to a lot of misunderstanding, and you might even be called a liar.

In any case, it can lead to very awkward situations.

Repressing memories

Since sexual violence can no longer be time-barred in the United States, many people have come forward who say they have been victims but have not been able to remember for decades because the memory was too horrific. Since then, there has also been more research on repressed memories in the U.S. and how reliable these memories are, after all, you don't want to put an innocent person in jail.

However, a literature review from Harvard shows that you cannot, on your own and without help, suppress traumatic memories into your subconscious. The idea behind this literature review is that if the suppression of memories has always existed—just like depression and hallucinations—there should be historical records of it. However, they were unable to find any sources dating back to before 1800. In the case of hallucinations and depression, however, they were able to find literature dating back centuries.

Researchers, though, are figuring out how to help people with post-traumatic-stress syndrome or who suffer from other anxieties due to bad memories. Because a bad memory's function is to keep you from repeating certain behaviors, but not to make you think you're in danger all the time when it just isn't.

Research on removing memories

People can become traumatized by war situations. This requires a great deal of care so that former soldiers and refugees can function normally in society. That is why more and more research is being conducted on erasing traumatic memories and on how to cope with those memories so that they do not become a problem. To this end, researchers first mapped out how the brain processes a traumatic experience.

Initially, the thalamus processes what is happening. This sends sensory information to the amygdala, which labels the emotion as emotionally significant and saves it for future use, as previously mentioned to avoid future danger. In the first few hours after the event, the hippocampus begins to contextualize the situation and make connections that strongly imprint the memory in your mind, but it is not something that is fixed. By learning new things, you can influence the memory. Your long-term memory is able to make updates so that you no longer have to suffer from the traumatic memory.

So scientists are also exploring the possibilities of being able to erase memories altogether. For example, they are experimenting with xenon gas on mice. That blocks a certain receptor. The idea is that if you experience something traumatic and you're administered this gas within hours of the event this can reduce fear responses, such as setting the context and going into shock. So this is more about preventing bad memories if the likelihood of that is quite high.

Research in rats has shown that some proteins affect receptors that stop them from getting super loud startles from sound, but this is really still in its infancy and so this does not erase memory. It only changes the reaction to stimuli from the environment that can remind you of the event.

So what can you do about unpleasant memories?

So it is not yet possible to erase memories, but what can you do now to give that memory a place?

External influences, such as a loud noise, can trigger the traumatic memory and, if you are unlucky, you can experience a PTSD episode or relive the memory.

Removing the traumatic aspect requires placing new and safer mental associations to certain outside influences that trigger the memory. A squealing braking car then need not immediately mean an accident, but can also mean that someone is actually doing his best to let another pass safely. With some people it is very difficult to influence when a memory is triggered or not. Additional research is needed for that.

Treatments for trauma treatment

There are several treatments you can receive to better process trauma, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and cognitive hypnotherapy. There is also research on medications that can improve the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy, for example.

However, it is already known that the state of hypnosis can enhance cognitive behavioral therapy. As a result, you can also already get results faster than if you get cognitive behavioral therapy than without hypnosis.

In addition, it appears that for other mental health issues, such as depression, cognitive hypnotherapy is also a good alternative. Furthermore, hypnosis has the advantage of having no side effects—something that can’t easily be said for supportive medication.

In addition, the timing of therapy can also contribute. For example, research has shown that making a memory less frightening in the morning works better than in the evening. This may have something to do with sleep.

Also, in women, hormones have also been found to influence therapy. For example, estrogen has been found to affect the parts of the brain that can reduce anxiety.

In short

Blocking a memory is not always helpful because it also has an important survival function and can play a role in your social life. In addition, it is better to give the memory a place and provide yourself with tools to better deal with the situation.

Hypnotherapy can play a role in processing an unpleasant memory. Depending on the complaint and severity of the memory, this may require a few or more hypnotherapy sessions.

Would you like to learn more about hypnosis and how you can help yourself and others let go of memories and recall them when needed? Then check out the courses and events offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.

Sources:

http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/01/repressed-memory.html

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2015/02/bad-memories.aspx