MEMORY  (or 'the process of remembering'),
should not be regarded as the mere revival of previous experiences;  but rather, as the active process of reconstructing previously stored experiences.

      Many people consider the Mïnd to be comparable to a computer in which every memorable experience is accurately stored and is readily available for retrieval.    This, however, is a misconception!   The human mind does not take in experiences and store them in their exact form for accurate recall later.   As is described in the section on The Hûman Mïnd, memories are recalled on the basis of our perceptions, and are therefore subject to the same distortions as those perceptions!

(SeeHûman Memory )

      Some misconceptions about Hypnosis arises from the idea that hypnosis can be used to recall memories of events in one's past, (i.e., childhood memories, or past lives), which are not there!   All too often we have read or have head about people, who were hypnotized, recalling traumatic events in their childhood, implicating others as victimizers, and later recanting such stories.
      This is an age-old finding of Hypnosis which has been the source of debate for many generations!   James Braid (1852), proposed that hypnotism produced it's effects through the operation of an idea implanted in the subject's mind, by such suggestions of the hypnotist.   Later W. R. Wells (1924), went on to state that even the lethargic components of hypnosis were due to the suggestions of the hypnotist.

      People are quite capable of remembering certain events that they did not actually experience.   They recall selected fragments of an experience, and take (unknowingly), bits and pieces of other memories from those things they have read or heard, and combine them into one false memory.

      Hypnosis, when utilized with this idea in mind, can be structured to avoid these avenues, and in the process, can become quite an effective mechanism in recalling long forgotten experiences.    And as a tool for effective study and memory, it has proven to be invaluable!