Both hypnotist and subject are engaged in a tacitly accepted mini-drama in which they act out prescribed roles. Both try hard to put this agreement into effect. The human imagination is capable of incredible feats, so that subjects under hypnosis can even will away their warts. Guided imagery, visualization, sodium Amytal interviews, relaxation exercises, breathing exercises, and prayers to God to reveal abuse are all actually forms of hypnosis. When someone is relaxed, willing to suspend critical judgment, engage in fantasy, and place ultimate faith in an authority figure using ritualistic methods, deceptive scenes from the past can easily be induced.
Hypnotism entails a powerful social mythology.
Hollywood movies have reinforced this mythology, beginning with a spate of amnesia-retrieval dramas, such as Hitchcock's Spellbound, in the 1940s. One word, one gesture, one intonation puts them on the track. A person who agrees to play the role of the hypnotized subject is obviously motivated to believe in that role and act it properly. This goes double for clients in psychotherapy who are desperately seeking to locate the source of their unhappiness. If the therapist has let them know, either subtly or directly, that they can expect to find scenes of sexual abuse while under hypnosis or through guided imagery, they are likely to do so.