Forensics

The application of hypnosis to that of forensic sciences is one that has gone up and down with extreme beliefs both for, and against in the past recent years.

It seems that whenever at a loss for evidence, the police turn towards esoteric or holistic practices for help. Both psychics, and practitioners of hypnosis have often been brought in to help solve crimes, quite successfully at that. It is due to the success rate that holistic measure have secured that keeps those trying to help coming back for more.
Unfortunately throughout the eighties and early nineties, incompetent therapists put a stop to the acceptance of hypnotically obtained testimony. Misguided leading questions have unfortunately created what is termed “false memory syndrome”, and many lawsuits have been filed in turn against these ignorant, and severely incompetent therapist, most of which have been both psychiatrists, and psychologists.

The primary assumption was that almost everything from odd eating habits through consistent migraines were attributed to childhood sexual abuse, and these incompetently trained therapists, made out to prove their belief. As unfortunate as it seems, these inadequately trained therapist offered unwise suggestions to their patients while in hypnotic states creating these false memories. In turn the American Medical Association (AMA) passed a resolution warning doctors that hypnosis and other types of memory enhancement techniques may produce stories of events that never really occurred. Following this, the AMA made the following statement in their “Report of the Council of Scientific Affairs”, CSA Report 5-A-94 titled “Memories of Childhood Abuse”. “The AMA considers recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse to be of uncertain authenticity which should be subject to external verification”.

Dr. Michael Yapko has stated that, “human memory is a distortion of experience – an internal representation of an event. The process of experience and then remembering is regulated by previous experiences and ones inner makeup. Variables affecting memory include: one’s values of what is important to notice, mood, internal or external focus, expectations, previous experiences in similar situations, and a variety of other factors that must be considered” (Michael Yapko “Trancework”, 1990, pg 78.). This states that memory is quite volatile, and merely interpretations of events which are easily clouded. In turn, every memory we have becomes adjusted with added experiences and is not necessarily the truth.

The ability to distort memory is not restricted to hypnotic techniques and trancework alone, but everyone’s conscious memory is also distortable just as easily during the wide awake state.

Beyond its discrepancies, and challenges, hypnotically obtained testimony can be extremely useful, especially since most memories are state dependant (see imprints for further clarity). That is to say that under normal circumstances many memories are irretrievable. With hypnotic techniques and other special means, the required states can be easily achieved, and important information accessed. What must be addressed is the training of the questioner, and the language used to obtain the required information during times of hypnotic recall. The therapist or questioner should be well versed with the understanding and importance of ones wording to those in the state of hypnosis. Similarly it is my belief that not only should incompetent therapists be prosecuted for misleading their patients, but also courtroom lawyers. I don’t believe there has ever been a case presented in which the attorneys didn’t use leading questions in order to guide their witness’s testimony, and over embellish the minds of jurors.

Beyond the use of gathering evidence, hypnotic techniques are also useful for helping the victims of crime, along with innocent bystanders in the healing process, and in the acquirement of new perspectives for their unfortunate experience. Further more it must also be noted that most traumatic memories are also state dependant and might require special treatments to bring forth results.

A typical example of how state-dependent memory, learning and behavior can be utilized in forensic hypnosis is provided in a verbal report by clinical psychologist Lee Pulos from Vancouver, Canada:
"I do a lot of forensic work for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) using hypnosis to assist witnesses in recalling details associated with crimes.
Two weeks ago a 16-year-old nude female was found lying in a lot adjacent to a home just outside of Vancouver. The autopsy indicated that the victim had been choked from the rear.
A 36-year-old woman and her husband were returning home from a dinner party with friends a little after midnight on the evening of the crime. The reported seeing a van with hazard lights flashing right next to the lot where the body was found (though at the time of their sighting, they did not know that a crime had been committed). The woman got "a funny feeling in her gut", and told her husband to drive around the block again so that she could take another look at the van.
When I conducted my hypnotic interview with her, I first established her baseline memory by asking her to recall as much as she was able before I used hypnosis with her. She wasn't quite certain of the color of the van, and she wasn't sure if there were one or two occupants. However, after she entered a hypnotic trance state, she reported with certainty that the van was red and that it had a yellow trim in the writing of the letters E-M-C-O; she also picked up that there were three lines of cursive slanted writing underneath this yellow trim, but she wasn't able to discern the name of the company. She did recall that the right headlight was brighter than the left, that the van had "a brand new cherry red paint job" with no dents, and that there were two people inside it. The driver had long wavy hair, but she was unable to retrieve any specific facial features.
I learn that she and her husband had consumed 2 1/2 ounces of hard liquor and a glass of wine at a friend's house. I gave them the "homework assignment" of consuming the exact same amount of alcohol - 2 1/2 ounces of hard liquor and a glass of wine - in order to stimulate a state-dependent memory experience of the conversation that they had had on their way home. They carried out this assignment and, in fact, were able to retrieve the additional information of the name of the company written on the car.
The RCMP have brought the owners of the vehicle in for questioning, and although they are denying any involvement, there is a strong suspicion that they will be charged."

The above presented case distinctly points out that in order to retrieve a state dependent memory the subject must be put into the same condition (e.g. drunk as the couple initially was) in order to experience the memory.

In summary, it is my belief that hypnotic techniques should be used in forensic sciences, with the same judgments and assumptions taken upon regular consciously acquired memories, and that all testimony should be verified in due course.

email: dr_frank@hypnoticadvancements.com

Mailing address:
Dr. Frank Valente Ph.D.(c)
Hypnotic Advancements
3126 McCarthy Court
Mississauga , ON
Canada L4Y-3Z5

© 2004, Dr. Frank Valente Ph.D.(c)

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