Amnesia resulting from direct suggestion is a phenomenon that occurs in everyday life most commonly in relation to children, though it also
Amnesia in Waking & Hypnotic States 63 occurs in relation to adults. One of the most typical examples involving children would be the case of the child who comes dashing into the house to complain bitterly about a violent disagreement with a favorite playmate and is told casually but sagaciously by the parent, "Oh, forget it and go out and have a good time with Milly." An hour later, when the child is questioned at length, one frequently discovers that the child reacted literally as told and even looks blankly as the playmate relates the quarrel.
Upon hearing the story retold, there is often a slow recovery of the forgotten quarrel.
A typical example of this type of amnesia among adults is the situation that occurs within a social group dining out in a restaurant. When the tab arrives, one of the group usually says, "Oh, forget it, boys. This is on me." Then, if the group goes for a social hour after the dinner to the home of someone other than the man who paid the bill, the various guests can be casually asked, "Who paid for the dinner?" Frequently the answer is,
"I was going to, and so was everybody else, but I just don't remember who did. I only know I didn't pay the bill." However, if the wives present are asked, they invariably remember (they are not one of the boys). Also significant is the fact that if the social gathering is held at the home of the man who paid the bill, the dinner host is usually remembered without fail.
In teaching nurses, social service workers, postgraduate psychology students, medical students, interns, and residents in psychiatry, a certain experiment has been conducted repeatedly both verbally, and by mim-eographed material. The procedure is simple. One selects 10 or 20 items of any subject matter judged to be of equal value. All of these items are explained in equal detail, but to the explanation of some items there is added the casual statement, "This is just for your general knowledge, so you can forget about it now."
This can also be carried out in written form, using mimeographed sheets with that parenthetical statement appended to the chosen item. The experiment can then be repeated in many different ways: using different groups of subjects and altering the choice of item for each group;
repeating the same procedure both verbally and with mimeographed material; and by using different sets of comparable items, with one item always marked by that casual admonition. Tests given on the various series of the items always show a higher percentage of failure on the item carrying the instruction to forget it for both instances of verbal or mimeographed presentation.
A comparable experiment was conducted in which the casual statement was appended parenthetically to one item: "This is for your general information, and now that you know it you might as well remember it."
Tests given some three months later yielded higher percentages of recall on this item. This experiment was repeated many times with different groups of subjects, always with similar results.
64 Hypnotic Investigation of Psychodynamic Processes It was also observed that if the tests were given too close together in time, the admonition to forget or to remember would be remembered from the previous occasion. Under these circumstances the admonition to forget had an opposite effect and the one to remember led to even higher percentages of remembering. Over ihe long period of years during which the author taught, there was adequate opportunity in which to space these experiments over relatively long intervals.
Still another type of direct suggestion witnessed by the author on more than one occasion concerns a group of teenagers at a local hangout. A police officer, sensing something about to happen, authoritatively says,
"All right, boys, break it up and move along." More than once the author has subsequently questioned one of the dispersed gang and received the resentful reply to the effect that they were planning some fun when the cop came around and spoiled their plan. When asked what the proposed fun was, quite frequently a surprised look followed by one of resentment developed, and the answer given was, "I just got so damn mad that I forgot what it was."
Interviews with teenagers who have a tendency toward delinquency have frequently elicited the complaint, "We were just minding our own business planning something when Old Baldy [the high school principal]
came along and said, 'No loitering in the corridor. Just forget what you're about to do and go to your respective classes.'" Asked what had been planned, the reply would be, in effect, "It was plenty sharp, but Old Baldy got me so mad that I can't remember."
In the ordinary state of awareness, then, direct suggestion can be given to elicit amnesias. In this author's experience, however, such suggestions are most effective if given in a casual, nonrepetitive fashion and under circumstances involving some form of increased emotion. Too frequent a repetition of the word forget will usually have the opposite effect. Thus, when the following conditions were present and mimeographed material was given to the subjects, the opposite of what had been admonished would occur: The item chosen for them to forget was prefaced by the statement, "This item you may forget if you wish, since it is only for your general information," followed by the material chosen for them to forget.
The admonition was repeated at the end of the test. Repetition of the instruction to forget produced a better recollection of it than of the other
"neutral" items. In this way direct suggestion to forget in the ordinary waking state can be effective—particularly if it is given in a casual manner.
Moreover, such forgetting is characterized by considerable difficulty in recall. The person usually "puts it out of mind," and when told to remember "that which is forgotten," responds with a blank and wonder-ing look. However, if the material that is amnesic is identified in part.
Amnesia in Waking & Hypnolic States 65 there is an immediate and complete recall often followed by the explanation, "Do y o i know, that slipped my mind completely/'
In hypnosis the matter of direct suggestion to forget is of another character. It can be given directly, emphatically, and repetitiously as a specific instruction rather than as an incidental, casual admonition or suggestion. Furthermore, the amnesia that develops is effective in both the trance state as well as posthypnotically. For example, a female subject may be told to forget what she had eaten for breakfast that morning. As she accepts the suggestion, she can then be questioned by naming a variety of possible foods, among them those she actually did have for breakfast. She may reject each one readily, or she may thoughtfully consider each one and recall previous occasions on which certain items were eaten. But those of the morning's breakfast are not recognized. They do not "come to mind" when mentioned as they do in the waking state.
Additionally, the duration of the directly suggested amnesia can often be easily determined, and its recovery can be made contingent upon any chosen cue or even a minimal nonpertinent stimulus at some later time.
This is not true of the forgetting that occurs in the waking state.
Then, too, such a recovered memory can be hypnotically abolished immediately upon a direct request—almost an absurdity in the waking state. It can also be abolished by minimal nonpertinent posthypnotic cues which can be repeated indefinitely. Such amnesias are dependent upon external stimuli rather than upon inner associative processes.