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Perceptual reconstruction in the treatment of inordinate grief
1Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, George Washington University Medical School, 1325 Eighteenth Street, NW, Suite 105, Washington, DC 20036-6511, USA. melgra@erols.com
Troubled by continuing emotionally painful memories of her ill mother's face as she struggled to breathe during her terminal days in the hospital, an adult daughter requested hypnosis to "erase" those images from her memory. Since that is not feasible, the subject instead was provided in a single session with a hypnosis-based, imagery-focused strategy in which the disturbing images of her mother were replaced by hypnotically reconstructed positive memories as she had appeared in prior, happy times. This was successful: the restructured images were maintained and grew stronger over time as reported four months post-session. It was concluded that hypnotically restructured memories can be useful techniques in the management of inordinate grief.
Troubled by continuing emotionally painful memories of her ill mother's face as she struggled to breathe during her terminal days in the hospital, an adult daughter requested hypnosis to "erase" those images from her memory. Since that is not feasible, the subject instead was provided in a single session with a hypnosis-based, imagery-focused strategy in which the disturbing images of her mother were replaced by hypnotically reconstructed positive memories as she had appeared in prior, happy times. This was successful: the restructured images were maintained and grew stronger over time as reported four months post-session. It was concluded that hypnotically restructured memories can be useful techniques in the management of inordinate grief.