Erase Hypnosis. The effects of Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy or Hypnotic suggestion can last a lifetime. Hypnosis can result. permanent change, for example, and in my experience, Quit Smoking Hypnosis up to 98% of people can quit in the first session. Hypnosis can cause temporary amnesia, but it cannot erase memories permanently. Amnesia can occur spontaneously (i.e. without the suggestion of the hypnotherapist) while in the deepest states of hypnosis. In hypnosis, there is often a reddening of the eyes. Though not observable outwardly, a person in a trance often reports fogging or blurring of the vision. Hypnosis can also cause tunnel vision, or even changes in the colors, sizes, and shapes of things. A person in hypnosis will be less distracted by outside sounds. It may not always be possible to forget unwanted memories, but people can use strategies to help them cope with traumatic events. This can include memory suppression techniques, identifying triggers, and contacting a mental health specialist. Learn more about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and coping strategies. Can hypnosis be permanent?|Can hypnosis make you lose your memory?|What are 3 things that hypnosis can do?| I am frequently asked if you can erase bad memories or forget someone with hypnotherapy. The question often stems from misconceptions of the power of hypnosis from the media. Films like “Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind” further reinforce the fantasy of these possibilities that you can undergo some brainwashing process to erase the bad memories of someone. Is memory erasure with hypnotherapy a fantasy? Erase Hypnosis Or maybe the inquiry originated from being a member of the audience in a stage hypnosis show in which the memory of a subject was temporarily “erased”. Witnessing the subject being placed in a “trance” and then forgetting their name can sow seeds of belief into the audience that memory erasure is possible. Then you are faced with a personal trauma. You find out that your partner has been cheating on you…more than once! You’ve managed to break out of the relationship but the trauma doesn’t end there. You are desperate to get your (ex) partner “out of your head”. But there’s another problem: the more you try and forget them, the more the memories of them just rebound back into your consciousness. It’s in those moments of helplessness that what you have “learned” from the movies or stage hypnosis shows can seem plausible. You’re desperate to find a memory-erasing process that can rescue your torment in a “flick of a switch”. But is it possible to erase bad memories or forget someone with hypnotherapy? Or is it just something that exists in fantasy movies and stage hypnosis shows? Erase bad memories or forget someone with hypnotherapy: fact or fiction? To distinguish what happens in the fictional portrayal of hypnosis from what typically happens in a hypnotherapy treatment, it can be useful to redefine what hypnotherapy is and how hypnotherapy works in practice. Hypnotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses hypnosis to create therapeutic change. Various hypnotic techniques are used to enable you to achieve a “heightened state of consciousness” in which you can concentrate your attention on the achievement of your hypnotherapy goals. Depending on the hypnotherapist’s approach, relaxation techniques may also be incorporated into the hypnotic induction without diminishing your focus of attention. The word hypnosis is derived from the Greek word “to sleep”, but the state of hypnosis is not a state of unconsciousness. Ask someone to “role-play” being asleep and they would instinctively close their eyes. When watching hypnosis in films (and in hypnotherapy treatments), eye closure is often promoted to focus the attention inwardly, but the hypnotherapist is not encouraging sleep in that treatment session. self-belief psychology|self-beliefs|self-belief examples\power of self-belief|why is it important to believe in yourself| The state of mind in hypnosis is often compared to states in meditation and mindfulness. In these different practices, you are refocusing your awareness into (or away from) different situations for calmness or re-clarification. Assisted externally by the hypnotherapist, it can be argued that hypnosis is a state of guided “meditation”. Similar to these other practices, it can enable you to perceive your situations with different thoughts, emotions, and beliefs. When defining hypnosis, hypnotherapists refer to being able to access the subconscious mind that holds many of the automated “patterns” of thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and behaviors that can remain hidden from the conscious mind. Some of these patterns are negative and self-limiting. Erase Hypnosis Whilst in hypnosis, you are more receptive to the hypnotherapist’s suggestions to access these self-limiting and negative automated “patterns”. You are then encouraged to re-imagine them in alignment with your positive therapeutic goals. Many conditions like smoking cessation, phobias, weight control, anxiety, stress, panic attacks, and depression can be treated with hypnotherapy. The treatment process requires your active participation in which you can recall some of the therapeutic suggestions used during hypnosis. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot be made to do anything against your will with hypnosis. Having distinguished some aspects of fact or faction, is it still possible to erase bad memories or forget someone with hypnotherapy? Erase bad memories or forget someone with hypnotherapy: reality check Memories might be weighing you down but they can’t be erased As much as you may wish to forget the existence of a person or a painful memory, there is no modern therapy that will enable you to do so. Memory erasing or brainwashing techniques do not exist; nor would it be an ethical practice if it did exist. So when asking whether you can erase bad memories or forget someone with hypnotherapy, it stems from the fictional depiction of what people want to believe about hypnosis at a desperate time of need. The irony of trying harder to forget a recent painful memory A memory of someone or something is not a tangible object; memories are complex and contain far more than just the subject-matter. One memory may lead to countless other memories and associations such as other people, places, thoughts, and feelings. If you were able to simply erase memory from your mind, your mind would be missing lots of gaps and connected pockets of information. Furthermore, whilst studies have shown that you can forget an isolated “emotionally-weak” object that has recently been shown to you in a test; you cannot forget a recent emotionally-charged memory connected to lots of experiences that are typical say, in a long-term relationship. |how to develop belief in yourself|believing in yourself is the first step to success| Bad emotionally-charged memories, in particular, are pushed into your subconscious mind to protect you from re- experiencing pain and trauma. This is termed repression. Whilst you may not be dwelling on those issues, the emotions from those memories can resurface with an appropriate connected trigger causing you to feel distressed .Often, when someone wants to forget a person it’s because you associate negative feelings and behavior towards them. These negative associations make it almost impossible to forget this person, as they are marked as “significant” in your subconscious (or unconscious) mind. Erase Hypnosis When you forcefully try to forget (suppress) a recent painful memory, the memory is recalled. You are then adding more importance to the memory as you re-trigger the painful emotions. By also adding additional emotions like frustration into this effort, you are effectively keeping the bad memory active. To summarise then, vigorously trying to forget recent (or distant) bad memories backfires, keeping the memory active and causing you more upset. But dealing with bad memories can be managed in different, more productive ways.