Whether by accident or on purpose, there is evidence to suggest that therapists putting highly suggestible patients under hypnosis may lead to them inserting into the patient memories that did not happen

Washington State University at Tri-Cities

There are other hypotheses that attempt to explain the possible outcomes of using hypnosis to retrieve repressed memories

Alternative hypotheses to the repressed memory myth

Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2009). 50 great myths of popular psychology : Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior.

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology

Sometimes memories are not repressed but simply forgotten like many others, and can be recalled upon being reminded of them

Regular forgetting versus repression

Richard McNally hypothesized that if the traumatic event happened while the person was a child, they may be confused by it and not understand that it was in fact a traumatic event until later in adulthood

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