What You Remember And How You Act

You know you can think of happy memories and feel the happy emotion, if you let yourself. Just like you can think of a scary or sad memory and feel that emotion.

There is a definite connection between what our memories have stored and how we generally feel. If there is very strong emotion associated with a memory, a person may tend to feel that emotion in some way, constantly, below the surface.

Memories with traumatic emotions can cause disorders like post-traumatic stress and depression. They can also cause other disruptions in your life like problems with anger, fears, and stress.

Medication commonly prescribed for relief of these issues, but it only attempts to address the ’symptoms’ rather than address the cause. The problem is rarely ‘fixed’ with medication.

The key to long term help with these issues would appear to be the emotional association with the memory. What would happen if that association could be erased, reduced or even changed?

There is a medication being researched called propranolol that acts as an “amnesia drug”. It is being used to directly disrupt the connection between our memories and the emotions associated with them.

The study, described in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, talks about psychiatrists at McGill University and Harvard University using the amnesia drug to interrupt the memories of trauma victims. The drug reduces the emotional part of the memory while leaving the conscious part of the memory.

This resulted in people that can remember the memory, but have a sense of detachment or dissociation from the event. The permanence of this process and potential side effects are not yet known.

There are other ways to reduce and change the emotion connected to memories. Other processes that are well tested, well established and without side-effects.

In particular, hypnosis. Hypnosis seems better suited for this process since, when in hypnosis, you are using the emotional part of your mind. This is very evident when working with traumatic memories from childhood. When re-experiencing memories from childhood a person often ‘feels’ younger than their current age. You tend to experience memories with the same age of mind that you originally experienced the situation.

When using modern hypnosis to re-experience a traumatic memory, the hypnotist needs to be properly trained for the process to be quick and effective. When these conditions are met, the client can experience the memory with the perspective of adulthood. This alone will often reduce or negate the emotions involved.

This process is essentially about gaining perspective on the experience and the client’s part in the experience. This process will often create a sense of distance and separation from the memory. A memory, minus the negative emotions.

About the Author:

Patrick M Glancy, National Guild of Hypnotists Board Certified Hypnotist
Stress Management
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