I see, and occasionally get, the same question over and over again:

Someone has had a bad experience. Perhaps a rough breakup or an emotionally abusive boss.

They have lost the rebound in their step… and they want to recover it.

So they ask, quite rightly, if hypnosis can erase these bad memories.

The answer is:

Yes.

It would be quite simple, given enough time and evidence, to use hypnosis so that you never think about that memory.

But you absolutely should NOT do that.

I don’t care how disturbing the memory is, it’s a terrible idea.

How?

For a few reasons:

First of all, hypnotic amnesia is not reliable. There is no guarantee that the memory will not reappear in your mind a day, a month or a decade later. We hypnotists can use some tricks to control it, but it’s not perfect.

But even assuming that cutting off a part of your mind is as permanent as cutting off a part of your body…

I admit I don’t understand how memory works, not quite. That’s an easy confession to make because no one does. We can do some cool tricks with it, including erasing memories. But we have many unanswered questions.

For example, some people believe that we unconsciously remember everything. And I mean everything. From the moment our neurons begin to function in the womb, they register every sensation. We cannot consciously remember everything, because even a fraction of a percentage would overwhelm us.

Others think that your unconscious mind forgets many things.

Either way, one thing most people in the field agree on is that your unconscious mind remembers a lot.

And remember the important things.

So while you can consciously forget whatever is bothering you… subconsciously, it’s still there.

Only now, you can’t consciously access it.

Let me put this in a nutshell:

Let’s say you used to be happy and vibrant. Then something bad happened, and now you’ve lost your mojo. While it might erase the memory of the bad… that won’t help you. You’ll still be mojo deficient, only now you won’t remember why.

What if you meet the person who hurt you? Doesn’t not remembering it leave you vulnerable to it happening again?

Which brings me to the main reason why you shouldn’t ask for this:

You are asking for the wrong thing.

Is the problem that you have a memory of a bad event?

Really?

Because it seems that the problem is your reaction.

What if you could remember the event in full photorealistic detail… but it doesn’t bother you anymore?

In fact, it becomes a useful souvenir for you. A reminder of who not to trust…and how tough you really are.

That’s what you want hypnosis for: a solution to your problem, not a gimmick that will do more harm than good.

And you want to know what’s funny?

It is much easier to use hypnosis to process bad memories and undo their damage than it is to erase them.

So choose the option you really need, not the one you think you want.