"You're getting veeery sleepy…"
Feeling hypnotized yet? If so, you may be able to retrieve some memories. Maybe even traumatic memories.
I don't mean to make light of traumatic experiences. But memories are different – they're very fickle, tricky things. We don't remember things nearly as accurately as we think we do.
Since digging up every word Brett Kavanaugh has ever uttered is now an urgent, national priority, some have decided to do the same with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. It turns out Dr. Ford co-authored a study in 2008 that cites hypnosis as a way to "assist in the retrieval of important memories."
The study also used "self-hypnosis" in treating patients. I didn't even know self-hypnosis was possible.
Dr. Ford's study references a separate study on hypnosis which found that, "Patients are highly suggestible and easily subject to memory contamination."
Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You mean memories can be contaminated? Even when using hypnosis? Because I thought Dr. Ford's testimony last Thursday was "her truth." It wasn't necessarily the truth, but it was her truth – which according to Senate Democrats carries more weight.
We don't know whether Dr. Ford used hypnotic therapy on herself, nor whether her therapists used it, because her lawyers refuse to provide the Senate with detailed notes from her therapists. However, the shifting details of her story as she tells it definitely indicates some memory contamination (to put it mildly).
Ford told the Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh attacked her in 1982 when she was 15. But she supposedly showed some of her therapy notes to The Washington Post and their exclusive story described the incident as "a rape attempt in her late teens." And in her initial text to The Post, Ford said the attack happened in the mid-80s, which would've meant Kavanaugh was in college.
One thing is clear – with or without hypnosis, "her truth" is much easier to arrive at than the truth.
So, which one is the real time frame? During her testimony, Ford seemed to be trying to distract from her timeline discrepancies by repeatedly saying it would help if we could find out when Mark Judge worked at Safeway. As if the whole case rested on that.
One thing is clear – with or without hypnosis, "her truth" is much easier to arrive at than the truth.