Telling / hiding the truth under hypnosis, Elman

[inavalan]

Can a patient lie or conceal facts while in hypnosis? And if so, how would the doctor know, and what could he do about it?
 
ELMAN: A patient can lie under hypnosis as easily as he can lie, distort or withhold facts without hypnosis. I have found a very good way to detect a lie or an incomplete statement is to tell the patient in somnambulism, that if he deviates in the slightest from the truth, the left side of his face will flush. He will be unable to control or prevent it. Now watch the left side of the patient's face and notice when he deviates from the truth, how the color changes, while the right side remains perfectly normal.

A variation that I have found equally effective and on some occasions even more effective, is to put the patient's finger under the control of his inner mind. If he deviates from the truth or doesn't reveal complete facts, the finger will move. Otherwise the finger can't be made to move, no matter how hard the patient tries to move it. This technique has been found of great help in hypnoanalysis. However, there is nothing in hypnosis that can help you make a patient tell the truth if he doesn't want to. All this technique will do is to let you know that you are not getting the truth, and you can then be guided accordingly.