MAY 2000, VOLUME 28, NUMBER 1, Abstract 2
Remembering Trauma or the Trauma of “Remembering”?
Richard A. Bryant, University of New South Wales
Perry’s review of the interrelated issues of hypnosis, memory, and repression raises issues that practitioners and researchers in Australia and elsewhere need to take seriously. Many people who read Perry’s review will respond with either joyous agreement or vehement anger. This response will depend in part on the reader’s “established position” concerning the repressed memory debate. Adopting a polarised response to this issue, and to Perry’s appraisal of memory and hypnosis, will result in the most critical issues raised by Perry being overlooked. This is unfortunate because his overview provides an important perspective on clinical, forensic, and social developments that have occurred over the last 20 years. Whether one agrees with Perry’s conclusions or not, it is essential that we all learn the important lessons from these developments because they extend beyond the domains of memory and hypnosis, and are fundamental to scientific and ethical practice.