Why don’t you work with false memories or people who know they have been the victim of false memories?
For those who have wondered why I don’t like working with people who already claim to have false memories, I would like to tell a story about the reason that this came about…
When I was still in training, I had this girl who wanted to me to help with an issue with a water phobia. After she was already in session, it turned out the history she provided me prior to my agreeing was incomplete. She felt her therapist (who I had a referral for, which was also likely fake) might have suggested there was an association between a parent and her phobia in a level of detail that was certainly suggestive of a false memory. We spent 15 minutes hearing the discussion about how it could have been a false memory implanted by accident, just like how Freud did to many of his female clients. I also mentioned I was worried about doing this because by meddling with a known false memory, I may end up getting the blame somehow unless I was very careful.
She goes into trance, figure out that it was almost certainly a false memory and even if it was not, this is the type of memory that someone would rather forget, so she accessed the false memory without my prompting and we went backwards before it was inserted since it seemed to be quite clear. The only way to try to avoid the memory was to put in a mental detour so one could excise the wrong memory later. I bypassed the memory to make it fade like a dream and had her as an adult give comfort to her teenage self and express incredible amounts of love to her and to give her confidence that she could handle washing her hair which she had not done in years. This is a form of inner child work which is a staple of hypnosis. Because it was a situation where someone else had also worked on the client and I suspected this was false memories, plus that I was in training (and thus was still being supervised), I sent a copy of it for analysis. One of the supervisors checked and said this did sound like a false memory was already there, my attempt to excise it was reasonable and it did the right thing by trying to replace it with love and confidence.
When she emerged I spent more time making other suggestions which how I helped people get over their fear of the water without hypnosis. Even though I grew up in Florida, I am not the best with water (self disclosure, I almost drowned as a toddler which I remember very clearly and I had a water phobia for years), I helped a few others with water specific fears to the point they ended up loving water.
I received this review after the first session on a site where you pretty much have to leave a review after every deal you make.
“Melvin was incredible. He made sure to make me feel comfortable and calm before engaging in our trance state. The fact that I was able to have a full conversation before delving into my emotional block was very helpful in allowing me to slip into a state where we could work on my blocks. His voice is incredibly soft and soothing while guiding you though your session. I had an incredible release which enabled me to awaken from the session with greater clarity; I gained a stronger sense of self, and I also had a chance to pull together other visuals and symbols which came to me during the release for interpretation. My session was highly valuable, I definitely recommend Melvin. Highly accommodating, totally sweet and he really, really cares for you. Thank you so much!”
Then she asked for another session since she finally was able to wash her hair for the first time in years (which I reported to the supervisor) and her confidence was built up and etc. I strengthened her confidence a bit more and did some of the easier work she asked for as she was starting a new business, so we future paced her success. She was able to stand up for herself and knew she was going to be a success. I received this review.
“Again Melvin helped me to uncover an area of my life that needs further personal development. As someone who spends a lot of time working on the self, it always feels great to find out that I don’t know everything yet there is to know about my inner world. He helped me journey this evening into an area of my psyche I hadn’t considered exploring and it taught me an immense amount about my executive functions. He really helps to calm me. I really trust his guidance and his ability to keep me calm and grounded during and after sessions. I highly recommend Melvin!”
Her business picked up like lightning and she continued to do what she wanted. I also gave her some business advice for free since I was also a small start up at the time.
I periodically reach out to former clients and heard from her several times over the following year in passing.
Imagine my surprise when she went after me last Sunday discussing all the problem associations that I created which had come up false and was incredibly hostile to me claiming I did things that were not done and that had been reported to me prior to the session. They had in fact been done by her prior therapist which she claimed she had the recordings of. The only recording of our session was recorded by me and had been sent to be reviewed by multiple licensed and unlicensed providers in accordance with the agreement she signed as I was being supervised still and this was being used for educational purposes. All of which had come back as outstanding and was used in training other people. I did not provide her with the recording because for anything with trauma or phobias, why would you want to review that information? You could put the problem back in!
I apologized and said I believe she had the wrong therapist and pointed out the information that she exchanged in writing (it was on the same thread which had been going on for years). She was convinced it was still me yet there is no record of any recording which she claims I had sent through the website and certainly not on the thread. Since it was through the website we were working on and exchanging through and I did not in fact have her email address or anything else, that was more than a bit of a problem since how would I have been able to send anything?
Because I identified the problem and bypassed the false memory to make it fade, as she returned back to her therapist, they changed the narrative to get me to have the blame which she took because I was the last person to work on her and found the falsehood which I rerouted, now she is convinced it was me. The one who works on future pacing and the closest thing one does as far as age regression is tell people they have an inner child inside of them and to love them. Instead that is the false association. I provided my malpractice number and said I would love the opportunity to have the courts decide and if she was truly correct, she could make a lot of money, but if it was found to be false, I may have a case. She said she was not going to mention it off the website… and then continued to badmouth me even further.
Your guess is as good as mine as to why she does not want to go to court or sue.
However it was after her when I first saw her that I made it an unofficial policy to reject anyone who said they feared false memory implantation immediately and if they decided that they told me during the session, that I was going to refer out the second they mentioned it as a possibility. She is also one of the reasons I have a more extensive intake form than most hypnotherapists.
Melvin S. Marsh is a certified hypnotherapist serving Atlanta GA, Aiken SC, Augusta GA, Blairsville GA, and Cary NC. He performs hypnotherapy appointments both in person and worldwide virtually. He can be reached at www.afterhourshypnotherapy.com .
