I wanted to write a little more about the phenomenon of hypnotic amnesia, because it’s something that a lot of subjects struggle with. People who don’t experience amnesia can feel like they’re “not really hypnotized”, because of the cultural expectations around it. But selective amnesia is just one particular skill related to hypnosis, and it’s very possible to experience all the other deep trance phenomena without it. It just adds fun.
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In fact, I’d say that there are multiple paths to selective amnesia, that show up really differently in hypnosis sessions when subjects are asked to forget something like their name or a number. For some people the forgotten item is there, on the tip of their tongue, but just out of reach. For others, it exists inside their mind, but they can’t say it out loud. (Stage hypnotist will often give instructions telling people explicitly that they can’t name the item to reinforce this.)
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What I find interesting is what happens the day after a subject is told to forget something. Post-hypnotic suggestions fade over time, so the question is – after the instruction to forget fades, does the person remember? This would suggest the memory was suppressed or avoided. Or, is the memory gone for good? This would suggest that the memory was never transferred from short-term memory to long-term storage. I’ve seen both, which tells me different subjects use different strategies.
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There are also people who dissociate completely under hypnosis. These people will generally, without instruction, not remember anything of their sessions, even the first time they are hypnotized. Their hypnotized self will maintain its own memories, though, that are just not available to their conscious mind. It’s like they’ve been partitioned. There is an unproven theory (which I hope is wrong) that this ability comes from experiencing deep trauma, such as childhood abuse or war.
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Despondent subjects will complain to me that they never forget, even when they want to. But we all have the capacity to forget selectively – it’s an everyday thing. Like when you wake from a vivid dream, but 30 minutes later you can’t recall it. Or when you walk into a room to get something and can’t remember what it is when you arrive. Or when you drive home while thinking about something else, and get there without remembering the drive.
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So how do you activate this ability on demand? How do you Not Think of a White Elephant? From conversations I’ve had with my subjects, I think most importantly, you need to not care about forgetting the things you are asked to forget. And second, you have to think about other things. That is, fill your mind with something else, unrelated. If you are worried about whether or not it will “work”, the anxiety itself will draw your attention back, and guarantee you remember.
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NLP suggests a bunch of other things that you can try, involving playing around with your internal representation of a memory, which can be unique to individuals. For example, if you think of your own name, then another name that is not yours, how are they different in your mind? Is there a different feel or look or placement or sound? What if you imagined ‘moving’ your name far away or behind you where you can’t see it, or inside a box that says “I CAN’T REMEMBER” on it in big letters?
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Like many things in hypnosis, there can be a certain fake-it-till-your-make-it element to improvement. But what’s important is *how* you fake it. The trick is to imagine ‘what thoughts would be in my head right now if I actually couldn’t remember?’ and conjure those thoughts or visions up. Fill your mind with them. Notice what it feels like the next time you actually can’t remember something you are trying to, and remember that feeling. You can use it later to your advantage.
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@northeyes I am getting better at not remembering and you are right the cultural expectation that trance = not remembering was strong in me as well and made me have a bit of imposter thoughts.
The first amnesia play Master @HairyHypnotist and I did resulted in me remembering everything but the forgetting suggestion was changed by my brain into not being able to articulate the memory. My mind going if you cant tell anyone about yiur memory, is then really there. Very clever brain 1/2
@northeyes later tries went from the memories being there initially to fading very quickly to at the moment memories still being there but ‘boxed up’. I know there is a memory and i vaguely know whatnot is but when i try to remember the box slips away.
I know i will progress further and can feel the next stage already happening a bit: momeries not being there but being very aware of the gap.
I look forward to train it more as sometimes “it is better to forget” 😵💫🫥 2/2
@northeyes oh… what made it work for me..
Like with many things hypnosis: not try so hard. I was/am very eager to not remember and be ‘blank’ or ‘turned off’ and I tried really hard to achieve deep trances (or my expectations of those i should say) and to forget.
As i wrote my brain seemed not okay with forgetting but found a loop hole which was great.
Now i don’t try hard anymore but go with the flow and what happens happens. I just follow Masters suggestions. Much better!
@northeyes Psychedelics, you say?
🧐 📝
@northeyes I totally believe people can develop the 'skill' to dissociate on command, in order to compartmentalize. I don't think it has to be as extreme as you mention, but it is sort of a survival mechanism. It doesn't have to be objectively extreme, because individual perception can shift what is deemed 'survival'
Also, oddly, I think I finally understood what dissociation meant (to me) when I started an SSRI med and realized it wasn't letting me cope w/ my feelings the same way
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