Hypnosis has been depicted in movies, television, and books as a legitimate way to retrieve repressed memories

Washington State University at Tri-Cities

The myth that repressed memories can be retrieved by hypnosis is still prevalent in college students, academics, laypeople, pop culture, and even mental health practitioners 

Prevalence of 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

- 70% of surveyed introductory psychology students thought hypnosis was useful for helping witnesses remember the details of a crime
- 90% of surveyed college students thought hypnosis enhanced memory retrieval
- 64% of surveyed college students thought hypnosis was helpful for police to use in retrieving witness memories

College students' response statistics regarding using hypnosis to retrieve repressed memories

- 84% of psychologists and 69% of non-psychologists still think memories can be stored unknowingly in the mind and that hypnosis is useful for retrieving these memories
- 75% of surveyed psychologists thought hypnosis helped people remember forgotten memories accurately
- 47% thought therapists could take memories retrieved by hypnosis seriously
- 31% thought memories retrieved under hypnosis were objectively true
- 54% thought hypnosis could be used to retrieve memories from birth

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