Hypnosis and Truth

I would not have agreed with this contract for a second.
The basic problem is not with the premise. But let's start there. Hypnosis will NOT be a substitute of sodium penithal or sodium amital...it is not a truth serum or a lie detector.
Far from it. In fact the words, tone, presuppositions, role, relationship, and setting of the speaker, etc., is shown by research to influence the results of a subject's report. The sources are numerous but you can see Sarbin and Coe and TX Barber's works for more references on this.
The husband should have been so informed before continuing. And, too, the wife should have been encouraged to not be "probed." She stated her case...did she do it sufficiently?
Then the problems should have been identified. These may have been one or all of the following, for instance: the wife's manner of expressing herself on the topic, the husband's guilt for his own affairs or behavior or wishes, the husband's past relationships with women (and mother), the husband's prejudices or irrational biases, the husband's sense of inadequacy, the lack of support shown to each other in the relationship if present, the husband's sense of helplessness (and what is it he used to come to that conclusion), the missing emotional connection between them (tears, tenderness, comforting, supporting, etc.)
By agreeing to his dominance (and her probing) and letting him dodge his own issues you may have reinforced something that is not in the couples best interest in the long run.
What you can do to ameliorate the potential damage of that intervention is to now compassionately and firmly confront the husband on these issues of his (especially, if you recognize that the wife is not doing a poor job of consciously communicating in the first place) and get a viable contract for helping him change the crux of the matter.

Replies:

Re:Hypnosis and Truth, by Katherine Potter, 11/04/01 Re:Hypnosis and Truth, by Steve Lankton, 11/05/01 Re:Hypnosis and Truth, by boo-hoo, 12/24/03

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