ABSTRACT
Hypnosis.has.long.been.a.flash.point.of.contention.in.the.larger.and.long-standing.controversy.about. whether.therapeutic.procedures.can.create.false.memories.(see.also.Bernstein,.Godfrey,.&.Loftus,. Chapter.6,.this.volume)..By.the.late.19th.century,.the.controversy.was.brewing,.stirring.concerns. about.suggestive.techniques.and.pseudomemories.that.mirror.contemporary.concerns..Freud’s.idea. that.traumatic.memories,.like.those.reported.by.his.now-famous.patient.Bertha.Pappenheim,.could. be.repressed.and.forgotten.were.dogged.by.criticisms.that.hypnosis.and.other.suggestive.techniques. that.were.used.to.elicit.traumatic.memories.were.more.likely.to.create.than.to.uncover.them.(Powell.&. Boer,. 1994).. Close. examination.of.Freud’s.writings. reveals. that. he. had. often. used.highly. suggestive.procedures.to.elicit.the.memories.of.traumatic.experiences.and.“childhood.seductions”. from.his.patients..Moreover,.Freud.had.failed.to.consider.alternative.explanations.for.the.evidence. he.presented.when.first.claiming.that.the.recovered.memories.of.sexual.abuse.were.real.(Pintar.&. Lynn,.in.press).
