About Forensic Hypnosis
When we use the term 'Forensic Hypnosis' in respect our our sessions we are refering to specific Forensic and investigative memory-enhancing techniques ('FIMET') that may or may not include the use of hypnosis (depending on the local laws/rules governing the use of hypnosis).These techniques are used in order to either (a) enhance and clarify a memory or memories that the person is already aware of, or (b) to recover a memory or memories that the person is currently unaware of... it is essentially about establishing FACTS and DETAILS about events that have occurred in the past - whether that past was two weeks ago, or twenty years ago.
These memory-enhancing techniques fall under the category of 'forensic', when the facts or details may be used in a police investigation or criminal/civil court case. An example of such a case is where a person is the victim of a hit and run accident... the whole thing is over in seconds and the victim only remembers (consciously) that the car was blue. The use of Forensic (memory-enhancing) techniques may be able to retrieve the make and model of the vehicle, the colour of the driver's hair, whether there were any passengers or even the registration number of the vehicle!
Forensic and Investigative Memory-Enhancing Techniques can, also, be extremely helpful in allowing the victim/witness of a traumatic or stressful incident to process, or resolve, and 'move on' from the experience. Indeed this is often even more important than obtaining information from the witness'/victim's perspective.
The first recorded use of techniques resembling Forensic Hypnosis was in 1845. A clairvoyant was put into a trance to identify a thief who stole money from a store. She gave the police a description of the thief and the direction he headed after the theft. When the police found the thief he was so surprised that he confessed.
Two of the most famous cases involving the use of Forensic Hypnosis occurred in the USA. In 1976, an entire school bus of children and their driver were kidnapped in Chowchilla, California. The victims managed to escape, but remembered very few details relating to their captors. As a consequence, the bus driver was hypnotised, during which time he was able to recall all but one of the digits of the number plate of the vehicle used in the kidnapping. As a result of this information and other leads, the kidnappers were arrested as they tried to escape to Canada.
In the San Francisco Bay area, in 1977, two girls, aged 7 and 12, were kidnapped and raped. Initially, neither could remember any significant details about the ordeal. Under hypnosis, however, the older child was able to remember rust spot patterns on the perpetrator's car along with items in the car. In addition she recalled that they had stopped at a petrol station that a 'red, white and blue' credit card had been used to pay. When the kidnapper was caught the details of the girl's hypnotically refreshed memories were confirmed as being true.
Our FIMET Sessions
In the UK, the vast majority of the time we are asked to consult for a FIMET session (or sessions), hypnosis ISN'T used - we use relaxation techniques instead to allow the client to relax into the FIMET process more. We specifically don't use hypnosis on these ocasions, because of the negative view that British Criminal Courts have upon testimony revealed under the influence of hypnosis. (Based on guidelines issued by The Home Office in 1987)
There are a great many cases where FIMET has successfully assisted in police investigations and court cases. Professionals trained in the use of Forensic Techniques by Rob Kelly are able to bring a totally new and extremely effective approach to memory-enhancing consultations by combining tried and tested memory-enhancing techniques with proven psychotherapeutic ones. Our sessions enable clients to enhance memory recall, without creating inadvertent distortions or inaccuracies, in addition to allowing them to process and resolve any trauma relating to the incident(s).
A recent case in Sept 2009, involved a 24 year old girl 'Hollie' who had been raped earlier that year whilst on holiday in France. Due to the traumatic nature of the incident, Hollie couldn't remember the whole event and could only give vague details to the Police on return to the UK. After a single 60-minute session with Rob
Kelly, Hollie was able to remember everything that happened, in great detail. This enabled Hollie to go back to the Police and add to her original statement... it also helped her to resolve the PSTD (post traumatic stress disorder) symptoms she had been suffering from since the incident.
Hollies post-session comments are below:
"I no longer have the recurrent flashing image of him any more, which was my main concern as it was as if there was a trapped memory needing to be released but I hadn't felt ready or in a safe environment to explore the recurrent flashing image. This image was of him holding me down and me feeling violated. It felt like my brain wouldn't even allow me to access this information/images/emotions, when I did try to access this information to make sense of the images, for example I tried to relax but it felt like there was an emotional/pyschological even a physical resistance to processing these images. I wasn't sure at this point whether the session would work if I had such a resistance to even beginning to think about the incident or the images.
Therefore for the session to enable me to release this information and emotion is so significant to my recovery.
The session enabled me to access these repressed images/emotions as I imagined that I was there before, during and after, it helped me to cry and release the supressed emotions. I hadn't cried properly since the incident, therefore the process of imagining I was there in the situation, to talk about the fears I had, what was happening physically, emotionally and mentally enabled me to piece together the night and release suppressed emotions and images.
It was important for me to know the missing pieces of information to explain my physical symptoms but also to understand and process the recurring images. I definately felt a lot lighter and more at peace within myself after the session.
The session also triggered my memory with regards to what had happened before, conversations and other key parts to the night which may help if taken further with the police.
Overall, this experience has enabled me to trigger and process the trauma, to make sense of the night and importantly to release suppressed fears and emotions attached to the night in order to begin to come to terms with the trauma, to fully recover and live a fulfilling life without reminders from trapped memory or nightmares.
Thank you Rob, thank you so much for your help. All the best, Hollie"
