Orne, M.T. The use and misuse of hypnosis in court. International ...

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Orne 1979 IJCEHhttp://www.sas.upenn.edu/psych/history/orne/orneijceh19794311341.html10 de 23 19/03/2012 17:24relevant and important, it may be sufficient simply to inquire at critical times, "Did you hear anything?" inorder to lead the responsive hypnotized subject to create the desired "memories."Lifting of Amnesia versus "Refreshing Memory"Traditionally, hypnosis has been a widely used procedure to treat spontaneous amnesia. Similarly, whenhypnosis has been used to treat324 MARTIN T. ORNEtraumatic neuroses, previously amnesic material would suddenly become accessible to consciousness,usually accompanied by profound affect as the patient relives the experience. As abreaction proceeds, thepatient's sudden awareness of a myriad of details becomes clear from the manner in which hereexperiences the events. The therapist, seeking to help the patient become aware of feelings, encouragesthe process of reexperiencing and allows the expression of affect to run its course. The therapist is carefulto avoid interrupting the largely spontaneous experience of the patient; though he may well want to knowmore about some important details, questions are postponed in order not to interfere with the process.It is characteristic of repressed memories that they suddenly come to consciousness as an entireexperience rather than emerging detail by detail. In short, the procedure leads to a narrative exposition asthe patient relives the experience. While there is no certainty about the historical accuracy of thesememories, when they emerge largely spontaneously and without undue pressure, they are more likely tocontain important and accurate information.Since these instances involved pathological conditions, the approach--even if legal issues were atstake--was essentially therapeutic, and hypnosis was carried out by psychologists or psychiatrists in thecontext of a traditional doctor-patient relationship. In contrast, hypnosis has more recently been used incircumstances where there is no evidence of pathological memory loss. Here, based on the assumptionthat every memory is somehow recorded, hypnosis is purported to be simply a means of "refreshingmemory." As such, it is claimed that there is no issue of therapy involved.As a consequence, hypnotic technique is typically altered to prevent the subject from expressing intensefeelings that would raise therapeutic issues and would tend to be frightening to lay observers. Thus, it issuggested to the subject that he can visualize the events that he seeks to recall on a special televisionscreen; this screen can, as in televised sports events, move forward or backward through time, allowingevents to be seen in instant replay, slow motion, or frame by frame. Further it is explained to the subjectthat he need not experience any discomfort, that he can merely observe the screen and see the eventsunfold--as if he were a spectator rather than a participant (e.g., Reiser, 1974). Suggestions are given, suchas, "It is just like watching a television show except that you not only can see it but you can control andeven stop the motion; you can be there, but you need not experience pain or fear." Since hypnoticsubjects who have been emotionally affected are wont to take the opportunity to relive the experience,there is often some struggle between the hypnotist attempting to keep the affect bottled up and the subjectseeking to express it.325 USE AND MISUSE OF HYPNOSIS IN COURTThis type of "objective" reliving, rather than the "subjective" reliving generally encouraged by trainedtherapists, seems to bring forth fragmentary recall based not so much on the subject's reliving theexperience as upon the hypnotist's detailed questions about what is occurring. Typically, the subject isrepeatedly asked to "stop the film and look at the face carefully," and is then asked further questionsabout the details of the face. The same is generally done in relation to all potentially important details.Since this type of procedure involves a great many questions about details, it will, of course, elicit many
Orne 1979 IJCEHhttp://www.sas.upenn.edu/psych/history/orne/orneijceh19794311341.html11 de 23 19/03/2012 17:24more details than a narrative. By the same token, as the work summarized by Hilgard and Loftus (1979)has indicated, it will result in vastly lowered accuracy of the material that is obtained. Further, such aprocedure maximizes the potential input of the hypnotist about what is wanted, making it even more likelythat the subject's memories will more closely resemble the hypnotist's prior conceptions than wouldordinarily be the case.7Unfortunately, no meaningful research is available to document the relative merit of facilitating thereliving of a traumatic event versus the attempt to prevent the affect from being relived by using specificsuggestions and questions to increase the amount of memory-like material being brought forth.Considerable experience in the clinical and forensic use of age regression and related techniques suggeststhat the patient has a higher likelihood of producing uncontaminated memories if allowed to initially relivethe events without much questioning by the hypnotist. Further details can then be elicited by questioningthe second or third time the material is brought forth. It is interesting that the interrogation techniqueadvocated by Loftus (1979), based on an entirely different body of data with waking eyewitnesses, isremarkably similar to that which evolved with hypnotic subjects.The Effect of the Hypnotic Context on Refreshing of MemoryWhile the effect of hypnosis is most clear-cut in the realm of memory when one is dealing withcircumscribed areas of pathological amnesia, the dramatic lifting of amnesia (with which most laymen arefamiliar from its portrayal in films, novels, and the media), is the exception rather than the rule. With theincreasing use of hypnosis, particularly with individuals without any obvious memory disturbance andwithout the ability to enter profound hypnosis, the clear demarcation between effects specific to hypnosisand what may occur in everyday interroga-7 It is, of course, quite useful at times to use metaphors such as "stopping a videotape" and "instantreplay" when working with hypnosis. However, no competent hypnotherapist would, in using such ametaphor, confuse it with the manner in which memory is organized. He would also recognize that he isputting great pressure on the subject to produce something, and the greater the pressure, the more likelythe development of guided confabulations.326 MARTIN T. ORNEtion with unhypnotized individuals becomes blurred. While there is no doubt that the kind of processesinvolved in hypnosis can also be shown to occur under many other circumstances and that the basic lawsgoverning human memory are not negated because the individual is hypnotized, it would be quite wrong,however, to assume that the hypnotic procedure brings about no important changes.Some advocates of the wide use of "forensic hypnosis" have argued that we need not be concerned aboutthe kinds of issues that have been described earlier, because these problems occur even in the wake stateand are certainly negligible if the subject is only relaxed and not deeply hypnotized. It is ironic that thiskind of disclaimer is made by the very individuals who tout the unique effectiveness of hypnosis as an aidto criminal investigation. One cannot have it both ways! The reason why hypnosis is used as a forensictool is that it is effective in eliciting more details. This is so even with individuals who are not particularlyhypnotizable, but who cooperate in the hypnotic situation. It is being in the hypnotic situation itself thatmay profoundly alter some aspects of the subjects' behavior and experience (London & Fuhrer, 1961).Thus, there is a strong expectancy that hypnosis will facilitate recall. The subject in the hypnotic situationfeels relaxed and less responsible for what he says since he believes that the hypnotist is both an expertand somehow in control. The hypnotist in turn makes certain that the subject cannot "fail." Hypnotictechnique involves the extensive use of reinforcers through frequent verbalizations, such as, "Good,""Fine," "You are doing well," and so on, which are novel, satisfying, and reassuring, particularly in apolice interrogation situation. Not surprisingly, the subject wants to maintain the level of approbation;consequently, when the hypnotist stops his expressions of approval (simply by omitting to say "Good"), he
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