International Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis - E-Lib FK UWKS

HYPNOSIS AND RECOVERED MEMORY 103
some satisfaction as you leave here, that your prayers to resolve issues that
you've seen can be answered. You are a Christian, are you not?
bt: Yes.
hypnotist: Yes. So through Jesus Christ, you can pray for this, that these issues
be resolved for yourself, as a previous victim and now a survivor, for your sister,
the victim but hopefully a survivor, through the grace of Jesus Christ. And you
can say Amen.
bt: Amen.
hypnotist: I'm going to count up from zero to ®ve. On the count of ®ve you will
be wide awake, feeling really good. Really alive on the count of ®ve. Knowing that
through courage, through revelation, you can proceed on with your life.
BT subsequently made a detailed statement to police about various sexual
assaults on her sister by her father. The prosecution, however, considered that the
judge would not allow testimony by BT because of the way in which her memories
had been recovered. This case highlighted not only how clinicians can get caught
up in events, but also how they can have dif®culty looking critically at their own
behaviour in the clinical setting. Moreover, it highlighted the creativity, if not the
recoverability, of memory; BT constructed a personal meaning around a possibility
of unremembered events. When one looked at the processes that were involved in
BT moving from reporting no memory to reporting exceptionally detailed events
from 10 years hence, substantial doubt could be cast on the accuracy of BT's
memory reports. Nevertheless, BT developed a strong belief in the accuracy of her
memories, and this changed the way in which she thought about her self and other
members of her family McConkey & Sheehan, 1995).
The impact of hypnosis on memory and on self-representation can be seen
clearly in cases involving the intentional hypnotic falsi®cation of memory for
therapeutic bene®t. For example, Janet 1889/1973) believed that successful treatment
was based on not only uncovering a traumatic childhood event, but also
reconstructing or replacing the original memory with a false, and more acceptable,
memory; that is, changing the way in which the client thought about themselves.
Janet's famous case of Marie exempli®es this treatment approach Janet, 1889/
1973; see also Ellenberger, 1970). Marie suffered from anaesthesia of the left side
of her face and blindness of her left eye, both of which had been present for many
years. Janet determined through hypnotic age regression that as a 6 year old, Marie
had slept with a child of the same age who had impetigo on the left side of her face.
After this, Marie developed an almost identical impetigo as well as blindness. Janet
hypnotically age regressed Marie to the time of the incident and reconstructed the
memory. This treatment was successful, and ®ve months later there were no signs
of hysterical symptoms. As Janet 1889/1973) put it, `I put her back with the child
who had so horri®ed her; I make her believe that the child is very nice and does not