New directions in forensic hypnosis: Facilitating memory with a focused meditation technique

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Jul 2004 by Hammond, D Corydon

Wagstaff, G., Brunas-Wagstaff, J., Cole, J., & Wheatcroft, J. (2004). New directions in forensic hypnosis: Facilitating memory with a focused meditation technique. Contemporary Hypnosis, 21(1), 14-28. Some limitations and disadvantages to the use of forensic hypnosis are often discussed. As a consequence, hypnosis is treated more cautiously and skeptically by authorities, including the police.

This paper re-examines some of the procedures employed in hypnotic interviewing that may be useful in the development of brief memory facilitation procedures. In particular, the authors describe a brief focused breathing meditation (FM) technique that uses elements common to hypnotic induction, but divorced from the context label of "hypnosis." They describe an experiment using this technique as an aid in face identification. This procedure showed a memory facilitation effect, but without the increase in false positive errors found in some hypnosis research. In fact, the trends were for FM to produce fewer false positive errors. Implications are discussed, and the verbalizations for the "focused meditation instruction" are provided. Address for reprints: Dr. G. F. Wagstaff, Dept. of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool L69 7ZA, United Kingdom.