Hi Psychotheosophy,

It may be useful to understand how memory works in the mind. Memory is found in our vast interconnected neural networks. Everything we experience moves through various types of awareness, memory, and encoding. At the base level we have the short term memory that is strongly supported by our conscious mind. This is like if you've ever tried to memorize something like a phone a number. The information first goes through short term memory. if you don't do anything with it beyond there then the information will eventually dissipate. That phone number you were memorizing- after you put it in your mobile there is no need to remember it anymore so one of two things happens. You either have already moved it to long term memory or you have forgotten it.

Now when you're talking about repressed memories, your referring to information that is encoded in long term memory. When information becomes encoded in our memory it is not recorded like a video camera documenting everything that happens. It is encoded through neural connections that rely on association. So in reality you never remember things how they actually happened. Instead you recall your own mental representation of things based on the network of associations that is lit up when you go searching for the information.

Repression is a way through which the mind keeps consciousness from accessing particular information. When this happens naturally it is most often a protective mechanism. The information/ associations tied up in the memory event pose some particular threat to a person therefore the unconscious mind has safely moved it somewhere else.

When we do things in hypnosis like regressions to unlock those consciously forgotten memories it doesn't matter at all if the event actually happened the way it is remembered or if it even happened at all. Instead what we are looking for is the trigger point in the person's emotional experience. As long as whatever images and story they pull up gives them the emotional release and clears up the problem it makes zero difference if it actually happened.

You can use hypnosis to induce hypernesia which is heightened recall. Forensic hypnotists do this. In these cases they aren't going after repressed info though, they are looking for more detail in the individual's experience.

Research suggests that hypernesia through hypnosis does in fact improve recall. However, as far as I know, there has not been extensive objective research done on the "accuracy" of recovered memories. And as I said, from the therapy stand point, it makes little difference either way.