False Memory In Therapy Of A High Priestess

In Therapy of a High Priestess, we are taught that memory is susceptible to change based on false beliefs and how they’re presented to us. The authors show us this as we are taken on a journey with one patient’s diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder. After several different treatments and doctors, our patient stumbles upon Dr. Braun, who appears to her as an answer to her prayers. As our patient undergoes many years of treatment with Dr. Braun, hypnotherapy is used to bring forth hidden memories from her subconscious. These memories are drawn out using detailed, suggesting questions to bring false realities to our patient’s mind. In time, this grants our patient the strong belief of her involvement in a satanic cult, something she had no knowledge of prior to treatment. This fact suggests that memory is easily manipulated, specifically to things such as hypnosis in which distorted facts and memories are planted deep within us–enough that they end up taking root.

In fact, we are taught to treasure history, laugh at our past embarrassments, learn from mistakes, and be nostalgic over the good old days. For psychologists to show to us that truth may not be as it seems is a big blow to our ego as human beings. In my research of false memories, it is normal for us to experience these fabricated beliefs in everyday life. The Psychologist World explains different ways we could meet this phenomenon, including how information is misrepresented to us in its details, shaping our memory to the suggestion and not the