Changing Memories with NLP and Self-Hypnosis
August 1st, 2008 by AndyThe Realization
A few days ago, I was lying in bed, relaxing, and trying to fall asleep, playing around with self-hypnosis. Earlier that day, I had had a conversation with a few members of my family about my childhood and an imaginary friend that I had long since forgotten about. So as I lay there going into trance, I decided to go back to that time to see what memories I could retrieve. Very soon I found myself remembering things that I had long since forgotten.
Now I have gone back to my childhood in my past, but this time I was able to keep myself in much deeper trance, yet somehow make and follow my own suggestions perfectly. When I realized how well I was following my own suggestions, I decided to take myself back to the time I had first experienced social anxieties. To my own surprise I found myself at a time years before I had previously believed.
I don’t know why this happened. Perhaps it was the deeper than normal trance, or maybe the fact that I had already dealt with many of the later experiences that had strengthened the anxiety, but there I was, back in kindergarten, counting as high as I could. I thought I was right, and could go on forever, but obviously the teacher knew I couldn’t and told me I was wrong. From that point forward, I’ve been afraid of being wrong.
At this point, something happened that pulled me somewhat out of my trance, and I began to think. If something so small had made such a difference in my life, what else could have happened between then and now? Surely there were hundreds of things. that had happened between then an now. Was there a way I could deal with it that wouldn’t require dealing with each instance individually. Then it hit me, pulling from some NLP and Hypnosis techniques, I might be able to pull of a huge feat and make a huge change all at once.
The Technique
At this point, I once again took myself deeply into trance. I went back to that time in kindergarten, when the teacher told me I was wrong and changed it. now I counted all the way to 1000 and I was right. The teacher even threw a party because I was so smart. It felt great. I associated into this “Memory” and continued on to the next, doing exactly the same thing. At this point I decided to take the NLP technique of asking yourself to handle similar situations in a similar way and redesign it a bit. I asked that part of myself to remember those situations which caused my social anxiety in my dreams, and change those memories such that they no longer cause me anxiety.
Now I realized I had a problem. If I remembered my dreams, I would probably have the same problem I had had before with changing memories. I would remember changing them, and change them back. At this point I realized that in order for the change to be permanent I would have to forget making it. I needed to induce hypnotic amnesia in order to do it, and I had never successfully (that I can remember) accomplished this on myself. If it did work, I must have needed those memories for something because I am able to write this post now.
I figured there were a few things that I needed to forget. First of all I couldn’t remember the original memory, the new memory needed to replace it. I also couldn’t remember that I had acted upon the original memory because that would mean remembering the original memory, so I attempted to induce amnesia of this entire section of my self-hypnosis section. Lastly I needed some way to recall everything should there be a problem, so I set a trigger to remember everything if any part of the original memories were needed.
The Results
In the morning when I woke up I remembered everything that I have written about up to this point. Maybe I did manage to change memories and forget about them, maybe I didn’t. I have had some interesting memories since though. I remembered the party in my kindergarten class as if it had happened, but I also remember that I created that memory as well as the original memory. I remember two copies of other memories as well, but at least think I know which one is the real one, and it makes sense in every case. All of this made me wonder, is it possible to induce hypnotic amnesia in yourself?
At first it seems like it should be possible. The more I think of it though, installing any trigger leads you a path to remembering everything. Even if you were to not use a trigger, leaving out any aspect leading to the amnesia could lead to remembering. I’m not going to try inducing amnesia without a trigger, so I guess I may never know. What is clear though is that I did notice some change.
When I’m in situations that were still anxious for me I find myself with more mixed thoughts. Some of them are based upon the memories I created, others based upon the originals, and yet others confused between the two. In the end it has made some improvement.
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August 1st, 2008 at 6:15 am
I’m not… sure… how I feel about this. Recreating your past is a slippery slope. Those experiences are what make you who you are. Change them, even artificially, and you are … someone else.
I think it’s far healthier to concentrate on changing how you deal with the memories that caused the pain and the issues you are trying to overcome. It’s more organic, more natural and more honest. (By honest I mean honesty with yourself.) Just my 0.02
NotAMeanGirls last blog post..Straight Talk About My Numbers
August 1st, 2008 at 6:46 am
You know, I used to take the same stance on changing memories. Then I read an article on how we remember things. It turns out that we change our memories regularly. We each remember things based on our own reality, and our memories are based on the time where we first remembered them.
So take my kindergarten memory for example. I did a really good job, yet I chose to remember the negativity at that point in time for whatever reason. Changing the memory allows for more positive reactions to similar situations.
In the end, our past doesn’t matter. What matters is how we deal with the present. How you deal with the present depends on our past, so sometimes it’s necessary to “change” the past so you can do what you need to do in the present in order to get to where you want to be in the future.
At least that’s my opinion on the matter.
August 1st, 2008 at 12:06 pm
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August 1st, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Question is, if you induce hypnotic amnesia and do manage to forget you did this, will rereading this blog post render it ineffective?
I’m inclined to agree with NotAMeanGirl above. This is dangerous territory here. I can’t see myself ever trying this technique on my own memories. Sure, something gets locked in as a negative, but I think simply realizing that it was stored that way tells you enough to change your future.
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I can agree that it could be dangerous, but I tend to be the type of person who would take the risk just to see.
And Telperion, if it had worked, I wouldn’t have been able to write this because i wouldn’t have remembered it happening.
August 18th, 2008 at 2:43 am
I don’t think altering memories is always a bad thing. What if these memories are causing neurotic or psychotic behaviors? Is that really part of a person’s identity? What about people who have been seriously tramatized beyond the point of being able to change how they feel about these memories? How can the memories serve in any helpful capacity? Can it really help someone who was molested by their parent as a child to remember such a thing and consider the memory as something that has made them who they are today? How could anyone ever say that this is a good memory that could serve them in any helpful way? I believe that in extreme circumstances, this extreme therapy would be greatly needed. Then we must also take into consideration the fact that our memories are not an accurate or true representation of what actually occured in the first place. They are merely our interpretation of events. Since we are all subjective beings, we can never take our own thoughts or memories as being totally accurate or concrete. A view point is just that. One way of looking at things. For every situation, there are thousands of view points that are all equally valid. It just depends on how you look at it.
August 30th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Thankyou! I find it fascinating how people look at things.
August 30th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I disagree that Andy has done anything dangerous. The old memories and any learnings to be had from them are still there, but he’s laid down a parallel track of memories that perhaps serve his life better. He then has the choice to form a future based on the old memories that made him less resourceful in certain situations, or to go forward from the new memories that help him access more and better resources. His mind will tend to choose the resourceful path as better for the survival of the whole Andy.
Well done, Andy! You go!
August 31st, 2008 at 5:30 am
Thank you for your support Bridget!