Recovering old memories

[brickwalls]

I appreciate that this is a bit of a shot in the dark, but does anyone have any experience with using hypnosis to relive past memories?

There are a couple of things from my past that I'd like to re-live. Both events are ones which seemed rather mundane at the time, but without going into too much detail the people I shared them with have now died, and I'd love to be able to hear their voices again, as I've forgotten what they sounded like.

Like I said, I appreciate it's a bit of a long shot but there's nowhere else I could really ask, as I'm not on any other community websites, and I trust your advice more than I trust a quick google search and a visit to Yahoo Answers.

[Northern Lass]

moved to gen discussion

[MarkCDodd]

I have a huge problem with memory loss due to my narcolepsy and have done quite a bit of reading on how it all works.

Hypnsosis will not allow to recall an event like rewinding a tape.

It will allow you to construct a sequence that seems like a real memory.

Depending on how good the hypnotist is, your memory of the event may be mostly "filler".

i.e The hypnotist may ask you to remember any smells, sounds, landmarks that you associate with the event.

You might say you were having a double choc ice cream at the time when in fact it was strawberry. But your reconstructed memory will make you certain it was double choc!

That is why "hidden" memories are so dangerous at Court Trials.

A person will swear black and blue that the reconstructed memory is accurate even if it is proven to be false.

Hypnostism can help you recall things you normally couldn't but only for a short period after the event.

Things in your peripheral vision or not part of your main focus are still recorded by the brain but given less priority.

Hypnotism can help you find those hidden facts amongst the lesser priority information your brain stored.

Memories are not permanent.

Every time you recall something it is effectively erased and written back again.

Lesser priority information may not be written back.

So your brain might have registered the colour of a tie or jumper but since you haven't given that a priority it may not write the correct information back.

So when asked to recall the colour you may not know or you may substitute a possible but not neccesarily accurate "guess".

i.e If Bill only ever wore plain ties you may say he was wearing one when in fact he went crazy the morning he jumped out the window and was wearing a striped tie.

If something interferes with the writing back then memory loss will occur or you will not be as sure of the facts.

They are now using this sequence to help people with post traumatic stress.

They make them recall the traumatic memory and interfere with the writing back via the use of chemicals and/or electrical impulses.

The more the patient does this, the less synapses fire off when the memory is recalled.

Eventually the traumatic memory remains as an accurate sequence of events but some of the peripheral information, such as the sound of the gunshot for instance, is not "recorded".

So a person who used to jump at a car backfiring and instantly relive the memory of the gun going off may now simply register the car as harmless.

The brain is the most complex machine that we know of and the science is brilliant to a nerd like me.

[brickwalls]

Thanks Mark, by the sounds of it I probably won't be able to get what I want from it then.