Brain blocking out childhood trauma

[Cockney_si]

Would hypotism be able to reveal a childhood trauma that your brain has chosen to forgotten?

Say you knew someone that suspected they had been abused as a child and since then that person ( abuser) had died.

If they wish to know one way or another, would hypnosis be able to reveal anything so they could put the past behind them, move on and "grieve" in their own way.

Thanks in advance.

[ummmm]

But they can't remember it?

[Cockney_si]

They suspect it, it is suppressed, wondering if hypnosis could bring it out.

[ummmm]

It claims to be able to.

[Ann]

Why would they want to remember it? Surely something like that is better forgotten. Discovered memories could haunt them for the rest of their life.

[Cockney_si]

To one way or another see if the person was an abuser, then forget and grieve if they were not.

[Cockney_si]

As it is, the not knowing has been haunting them for 23 years already.

[Canary42]

And what if it doesn't come out ? Are they going to be satisfied it didn't take place ? Highly unlikely I would have thought.

[bibblebub]

"repressed" memories are most likely to be false; at best they are modified memories of what really happened, if indeed anything happened at all

[Meg888]

If hypnosis could bring to the fore some painful memories, I would maybe consider counselling prior to it, to help deal with it. Counselling may even help the person to move on, without any need to know for sure, therefore leaving the grieving process out of it. I'm sure if these memories are supressed, they are for a reason and counselling in my humble opinion, would be more beneficial than hypnosis.

[ummmm]

I agree with Meg. If their brain has blocked out the memory then it blocked out the memory for a reason.

[NOX]

I'm fairly sure if the brain could block out horrific memories form childhood then my memory would be a complete blank prior to the age of 12- as it is, if you or your friend are lucky enough not to be able to remember some abuse then stick with that it's infinitely preferable to constantly rehashing it in your mind and wondering why people did certain things, if it was your fault, their fault, could you have done anything differently, were they metally ill, alcoholic, psychotic, sadistic etc because although you can certainly 'grieve' for it as you put it and draw a line under it, you can never actually be free of it, so I personally wouldn't entertain trying to dredge it up, as I think you'll open a bigger can of worms than you could ever possibly anticipate.

[chas2008]

read articles where this has been done in the past and it threw up all sorts of false memories leading to break up of families etc.
Ended up with fathers being accused of abuse which was totaly false and unjustified...

[daffy654]

No reputable hypnotist would offer this as a treatment/therapy.

[chas2008]

http://en.wikipedia.o...False_memory_syndrome

http://www.skepdic.com/falsememory.html

[RATTER15]

"They" would be treading on very dodgy ground, that kind of thing would need to be done under medical supervision and probably by a psychiatrist or similar.

[sandyRoe]

I wonder if the medical profession ever gave much credence to theories that repressed memories could fester in the sub conscious and continue to influence the life of whoever was 'denying' them?

[daffy654]

What makes 'this person' think they may have been abused at all?

[Cockney_si]

I have to say also at this point, that when the person was clearing out their dads posessions, there were lots of sickening photos of children doing things that were clearly not right.

Sorry, I got the time wrong, person is 43, as in the above, gave rise to possible suspicions of abuse. From a fragmented childhood memory of say 10 years old of father in bedroom after lights out.

33 years on, person still trying to draw a line under it after the father been dead for 15 years.

I do agree that the mind does block out traumatic events and obviously there is some sort of issues because don't know whether to love or "hate" the father. I believe he mind is protecting my friend, it's all very sad, but she just wants to be able to let go.

Do you continue to hate the father for being a suspected abuser

[rowanwitch]

Ask for a referral to a clinical psychologist with expertise in abuse as a first step to explore the implications befoore making the jump into hypnosis this sort of repressed memory work has had some very bad press false memory syndrome etc...

[daffy654]

Did your friend report the photographs to anyone when he/she found them?
I would say that your friend should just seek counselling help, regardless of whether abuse happened to them or not. Stay away from the hypnotists though!