"Hey Beck, you want an update on the search for Bill this week?"

"Okay, have you found him yet?"

"No, but I've met the doctor that works with recovering memories. She's nice, but I'm a bit concerned."

"How so?"

"Well, it seems that it's possible for her to implant memories in addition to pulling them out of hiding. It all has to do with how things are done."

"That's not good honey! I don't want her changing you into someone else!"

"Nor do I. I want MY memories back, not some imaginary fiction of a memory! But, in my chat with Dr. Flynn today, she indicated that there are protocols and other controls that a reputable doctor will follow, so I'll be asking some probing questions on Wednesday I assure you! I won't go forward unless I'm satisfied!"

"I'm still a bit concerned by the idea that false memories can be made to happen. Maybe you should call this all off."

"I'm not ready to yet. I want to hear what the doctor has to say about avoiding this. Besides, I want to hear what the Neurologist had to say on Monday. And, if I still have concerns after I talk to her, we won't do anything, and I'll talk to Flo and Dr. Flynn. This seemed like such a good idea when we started."

"Okay, but I'm still not happy about this Bill."

"I know honey. I love you more than anything, but you know how much this has bugged me over the years. I don't want to quit before I know whether any of this has a chance. Okay Hon?"

"Okay you knucklehead. But let me know please!"

"Always!"

Monday Morning

"Hi, I've an appointment with Dr. Johanson."

"Oh, you must be Mr. Wyman. Please take a seat, the Doctor will be out shortly."

Then, a few minutes later. "Mr. Wyman, the doctor will see you now." She said as she indicated the door. I headed over and went into the same office we'd chatted in last week.

"Hello Dr. Johanson."

"Hello Mr. Wyman, we've gotten some interesting results from your CAT scan."

"Oh? Interesting good or interesting bad?"

"Neither in and of themselves. But before you worry, let me tell you what I've found. First, I found a mass of scar tissue near the base of your brain. It's an area about the size of a nickel. The scar tissue should have no effect on memory loss but, it might point toward some event that occurred. The second thing I wanted to mention is the pattern of brain development. Are you sure you're right handed?"

"Yes, I've always, as far back as I can remember, used my right hand. Why?"

"Well, your brain growth pattern is not consistent with a right handed male. Is there any history of left handed ness in your family?"

"Sure, my younger brother, and my mom's Dad. Would being left handed account for the difference?"

"Not completely, but I've seen some of the pattern the scan showed on individuals that had been left handed and forced to switch to right handed. They used to do that a lot, but if your younger brother is left handed, it's not likely that they forced you and didn't force him so I'd tentatively rule that out."

"What does it mean doctor?"

"Not much by itself. The brain is a very complex object, and no two grow exactly the same way. Handedness and sex are both big drivers in how the brain develops. But, there are a myriad of other factors as well. In addition, even those two big areas show great variation. So the pattern of growth doesn't directly tell us anything. When combined with something else, it may give you some useful information."

"Oh, okay. Like it could provide a direction for research, but not answer the question itself. I can go with that."

"At this point Mr. Wyman, I don't think additional testing, an MRI or more blood work makes sense. If you find some more information in your other approaches, it might provide us with more avenues to search."

"Thanks Dr. Johanson. Is there any way to tell how old the scar tissue is?"

"Well, I can tell it's not recent. I'd have to guess at least 30 years based on healing pattern, but I can't be more explicitly than that."

"Thanks again Dr. Johanson. What now?"

"Well Mr. Wyman, first I wish you good luck and escort you on your way. Then I come back here, and slave over the report I'll provide Dr. Broadhurst as the referring physician. Is there anyone else you want me to copy on the report?"

"Could you send it to Dr. Flynn in the same office as well? I'm seeing her more than Flo since Flo is a long term friend."

"Sure. Well good luck Mr. Wyman!"

Wednesday Morning

I hope she has some good answers for me. I'd hate for this to have all been for naught. Well, here goes nothing, I thought to myself as I walked into the office. There she was behind the desk again.

"Hello Dr. Wong."

"Hi there Mr. Wyman, I'll be right with you." She said as she bent back down and wrote a few more things in a chart. "Okay, shall we head back?"

"Sure."

"Well, do you have any questions for me based on what we talked about last week?"

"Actually, I've got a lot!"

"Really, that's actually good. I prefer my clients to think about things, and I know I gave you a LOT to think about! What do you want to talk about first?"

"Well, my regular therapist was a little surprised when I said you'd told me about your history. She said it was not a normal approach."

"That's very true; in school we're taught that the sessions are about you, the client not us. And, in most ways, I agree with this. However, I've found that many people find that my having been through the loss of memories due to a traumatic experience, in my case seeing my parents blown up and recovering some but not all of my memories around that event, is reassuring. It lets you and my other memory clients know that I understand personally what it feels like to know intellectually that I was there, to look at pictures showing me there but not be able to recall it. I believe this is one step in establishing the trust you must have for me for our work to be productive and ultimately helpful to you."

"That sounds reasonable right now anyway. I wish you'd said that last week though. I prefer to not go into that except with the clients that bring it up. It's rarely an issue with the vast majority, as they are just trying to recover some details surrounding an accident or crime that was perpetuated on them. What is the next area?"

"I understand that Hypnotism and NLP is it, well anyway, that they can as easily implant memories as they can help one recall things that they thought were forgotten."

"That is very true. Those of us that use these techniques have developed quite a number of protocols and techniques to avoid that. I'm afraid we can't completely eliminate the possibility, but we can reduce the likelihood and we can increase the likelihood of recognizing when an episode is not a true memory, but something the brain developed based on some outside stimuli."

"I don't want to over minimize the danger of an unethical practitioner! There HAVE been cases where people’s personalities have been significantly changed and entire pasts changed as far as they were concerned. While brainwashing, as it's called in literature and the movies, isn't as easy as some would have you believe, it is possible to achieve much the same results."

"Whoa. That's really scary!"

"It should be. Luckily, at least I think so anyway, you don't have to worry about anything that extreme." She said smiling. "There are several reasons. First, I follow the protocols very carefully, and I record all sessions for later review. Here, I'll show you what I mean." She hopped up, becoming me to follow." There in another room was what appeared to be a couple of web cams and microphones. "Here's where we would have your sessions where we used hypnotism or NLP to try to get to your memories. The cameras and microphones record everything that goes on in the room and transmit them to the servers in the next room where they are written to optical media. That way it can't be erased, and a permanent record exists. Only one client per disk set so your sessions would never be linked with anyone else’s."

"Doc, how does that recording help stop the false memories."

"It doesn't. What it does is help us recognize when an apparent memory might have been prompted by an injudicious use of words on my part or is likely a true memory. The protocols are what help us avoid giving you a false memory."

"What do you mean by protocols? In the pharmaceutical industry they describe how a trial is to be performed."

"It's basically the same here. The protocols describe how we attempt to get you to recall an event or fact that you knew at one time but have forgotten. For example, if you'd gone on a big vacation to Hawaii 15 years ago, and while there you were mugged and didn't recall who did it and facts around the event, we might start with asking you to describe your trip to Hawaii. Then what you did when you got there, then describe your hotel. All of these being non threatening things that you would know and are easily verifiable. We might ask you to describe the person that handled your check-in at the hotel. Following events like this we could work toward the actual event itself. All this time, you would be in a semi-trance state, and I would be monitoring your appearance, breathing and such to see if you appeared under stress. If we were concerned that the event in question was particularly stressful to you, we might monitor some extra things like blood pressure and pulse." She walked over to what looked like a comfortable lounge chair and beckoned me over. "See here's the sensors we would connect if we needed to be even more careful. The outputs of the sensors are displayed over there." She said pointing. "They're also stored with the verbal and video information."

"Um all that sounds nice, and thanks for showing me this."

"I just want you comfortable with the process Mr. Wyman. If you're not, it's very hard for us to work."

"I see that. If we do this, and I'll tell you I'm still very nervous, can you give me a quick rundown of what we would try to do?"

"Sure. We'd start out talking to help you get comfortable. Then we would induce a light trance state to help you relax, specially your conscious mind. Some folks use similar techniques on their own for relaxation. But back to what we would do. Once in this state, I would guide you to finding a place, for lack of a better term, where you are safe. This will be something/somewhere that you’re subconscious believes you are safe. Once this is established, we would work on getting you to your safe place and leaving it a few times just to make sure you can get there easily. We'd finally come up with a trigger phrase that would cause your sub conscious to take you directly to your safe place while in this state. This is VERY important, if you start experiencing a bad physical reaction to some memories you may be experiencing! In any event, every session would start with you going to your safe place, and end back there at the end. And then, I'd talk you back out of your place to the current and out of the trance."

"How does hypnotism and NLP fit into all of this?"

"Well, sometimes hypnotism is used to help a client achieve the trance state. It's used more as a relaxation tool. NLP is used to help guide the session. One example is the trigger phrase that returns you to your safe place. For example, you know what I would mean if I said 'go home'. NLP works that way by directing your sub conscious using words and phrases that you easily understand and react to in a predictable manner. That's also how it can be abused. Is that making things clearer for you?"

"It's making more sense. I think I need to think some more on this though before starting. It sounds a bit scary. I'd also like to talk it over with my wife."

"That's quite understandable Mr. Wyman. Why don't we call it a day then, and schedule some time next week after you've thought this through and talked to your wife and I'd suggest your therapist as well."

"Thanks for your understanding Dr. Wong. I really hope I'm not wasting your time!"

"Oh, it's not a waste Mr. Wyman, I think we'll be able to work things out, and if not that's the way things go. Have a great week."

"Bye." I said, on my way out of the office. "Oh boy is Becky going to love this... It sounds good, but it's also a bit nervy. Well, I wonder what Dr. Flynn will say on Friday.