LEARN ABOUT HYPNOSIS

MEDICAL TREATMENT

We indicated in a previous chapter that the word psycho-therapeutics, due to the gradual evolution of mental treatment, has at the present day acquired a wide interpretation, and we doubt not that with increased knowledge and insight this interpretation will be still further extended.

It has been seen that, though the hypnotic state is regarded as one in which the subconscious mind is peculiarly receptive to suggestions, it is yet a fact of everyday experience that suggestions have the power to reach the subconscious mind in many other ways. Every year this fact is brought home to us more and more forcibly, and in consequence psycho-therapy becomes proportionately modified. Treatment by hypnotic sleep, valuable and helpful though it is, thus comes to be regarded as but one department of mental healing, and much discrimination and judgement are exercised in the use of it, freer play being given to all forms of re-education by an appeal to the reason.

WE feel strongly and wish to state clearly that all curative attempts are to be deprecated which aim at treating a particular ailment only, without at the same time treating the deeper cause where such exists, since such a cure leaves the patient in unstable equilibrium, and therefore liable to a relapse.


Thus in a case of hysterical paralysis it is possible to effect a cure with or without hypnotic treatment, by persuading the patient that he has more power over the limb than he believes himself to have, by encouraging him to carry our gentle movements and so restoring his walking powers to him. But only half the cure is effected unless hand in hand with such treatment we attack the condition of defective thought-control and dissociated personality, which has permitted an unhealthy self-suggestion rule supreme for weeks or months, thus reducing the individual to a state of invalidism. If on the contrary we concentrate our efforts on attempting to re-educate and reunify such a dissociated personality and to force the patient to work out his own salvation, then indeed we have done work which was worth doing.

Psycho-therapeutics thus comprises every form under which an attempt is made to act on the body through the mind for the cure of various bodily ailments, and also all efforts at re-education by breaking injurious and slavish habits, by inculcating thought-control and by building up a controlled and stable character.

It is self-evident that the more fully one has realized the defects of one's own character in lack of thought-control and deficient of will-power and the keener the fight has been to overcome such defects, the greater will be one's influence, especially in difficult cases. To urge self-control and thought-control upon a patient as moral precepts only, and without the stamp of personal conviction through experience of their great value, mus inevitably hamper all one's efforts. Particularly will this be the case with patients who are sensitive to any lack of genuineness and who are at once adversely influenced by it.

It can only be by carrying on the self hypnosis at the same time that one attempts to give a helping hand in the education of others, that one earns the right to speak with authority. Such is also the surest way to convince the patient that one has an expert knowledge of the difficulties to be overcome through intimate personal experience of them.


A deep and growing knowledge of human nature coupled with a certain sensitiveness to the moods of others is of great value both in guiding one to an accurate diagnosis and in influencing one as to the line of treatment to be followed in each individual case. Beyond this are necessary a big sympathy, much tact, and infinite patience.

As regards the patient we should like to insist again that the fundamental aim of psycho-therapeutics is to rouse every dormant power in him and to convince him that only by drawing upon and developing these powers will he effect his cure. It is in addition of the utmost importance that he should be made to realize the fact that to a great extent he is himself responsible for the state of lowered health and vitality, which he has so far regarded as being due to causes entirely beyond his control. We shall touch upon these points in more detail in discussing individual cases.

In all medical treatment two dangers confront the physician, the danger of overlooking the mind in treating the body, and the danger of overlooking the body in treating the mind; the harm which may result from such an omission being full as great in the one case as in the other. The physician who interests himself in psycho-therapeutics uses at the same time every ordinary method, both for arriving at a correct diagnosis of the physical condition of the patient and for treating the physical condition where such treatment is necessary. He thus in no way regards psycho-therapeutics as replacing other forms of medical treatment, but as an additional weapon in his hands, a weapon that has often proved of incalcuable help in difficult cases. Failures and partial successes there are in psycho-therapeutics, as in every other form of treatment, but great indeed is the joy of being able to effect a cure in certain cases where all other means have been tried without success. As regards the failures and partial successes, the question constantly arises whether, with an increased development of insight and of spirit in the physician using mental healing, fresh powers may not be set free in him and so the number of failures be diminished year by year.

We propose now to deal with the various types of ailments and mental states for which psycho-therapeutics has been found useful and to illustrate these in so far as space will allow, in order to show the line of treatment which has been followed.

Among the class of cases which have given good results with treatment by psycho-therapy are neurasthenia, hysteria, obsessions, constipation, sleeplessness, drink habits, drug habits, bad habits, stammering, sea sickness, muscular tremors, headaches and neuralgia of nervous origin, and the endless variety of similar affections.

Neurasthenia and Hysteria figure largely in every physician's practice, and in some cases one's resources are taxed to the utmost to restore the patient to perfect health, in spite of prolonged rest treatment, massage, electricity, change of surroundings, etc. A cure has, however, in many cases been fairly rapidly effected once it was realized that all these means were mainly directed to the improvement of the bodily tone, and that a more direct attempt must be made to investigate and treat the mental state.

Miss--first came under observation in the summer of 1908, suffering from a breakdown due to overstrain. She was prescribed a rest cure with massage, and returned to work after six weeks feeling greatly improved in health. The improvement, however, was only temporary, and during 1909 she was forced to leave her work for varying periods. In the interval she had developed symptoms and signs pointing to slight heart disease, and was, therefore, again treated by rest in bed, massaging, electricity, etc and finally sent to the country for a complete change. She then returned to work and succeeded in keeping at it, but presented herself periodically at the consulting hour to complain about her palpitations, sleeplessness, tiredness, and general ill-health. By this time it was fully realized that there was a big mental element in the symptoms she complained of, and several attempts were made to reason with her, in order to lead her to realize this for herself and exert her will-power to pull herself together. She always professed that she felt much better after such talks, and invariably left with a determination to try and effect her own cure, but in a few days relapsed into her former state. On May 14, 1910, hypnotic treatment was begun, the patient never passing beyond the state of light sleep. In all, fourteen treatments were given first thrice weekly, then twice weekly, then weekly, fortnightly, and monthly. At each treatment suggestions were given to meet the various symptoms of sleeplessness, constipation (previously thoroughly treated by ordinary medical means), tiredness, nervousness, etc, after which the patient was left to rest for half and hour. Soon these suggestions were extended, the whole onus of her recovery being thrown upon herself, concentrated effort at self-control and thought-control being strongly urged, with the displacement of self from the centre of her life. Improvement showed itself after the first one or two treatments, the constipation and sleeplessness yielding first. THe patient the ceased to think or talk about heart palpitations, gradually attained to greater and greater control in every direction, and in consequence to greater calmness and happiness. It was commented upon by her friends that she showed more consideration for others and welcomed any opportunity for unselfish acts. During the two years which have followed this course of hypnotic treatment the patient has never lost a grip of herself, though it has sometimes cost her a hard fight not to do so. As she has expressed it herself more than once, the state of mental misery she was in before the treatment began has always acted as the most powerful deterrent, when in moments of depression she has been tempted to let herself fall back.

Miss ---, a typical case of hysteria, was treated entirely without hypnotism, as the only occasion on which hypnotism was attempted, her usual state of excitement was greatly exaggerated. She was first seen on January 17, 1910, when she was most excited and uncontrolled. She was convinced that she was quite incurable and was in danger of becoming insane. She had been going from bad to worse for the past year or more, medical treatment with drugs, scoldings, etc, having been of no avail. The patient was put in restful surroundings in a nursing home for two or three weeks, in order to quieten her and help her to more easily make a fresh start. THe mental treatment she was given consisted entirely of attempts to reason with her in a clear and convincing way in order to force her to realize that lack of self-control has brought her to this pass and that therefore cultivation of self-control was the only way to restore her to health. The question of thought-control and self-suggestions was also discussed with her in detail, and she was given exercises in concentration to be done daily. Every effort was made to occupy her attention and time by suitable work and suitable literature, and she was encourages in every way to interest herself in others so as to displace self from the centre of her life. To do her credit it must be stated that she pretty soon got a fair measure of outward control, and was ashamed of the occasions when this failed her. After returning to work there was however a hard fight to be gone through for about a year before she arrived at the stage when she had full control and objected to have any reference made to this period of un-control. THis fight she for the most part carried out alone, only turning up at intervals of a few weeks or a month or two when the strain became to great.

Obsessions or imperative ideas have the power not only to cause such misery and despair that suicide has on more than one occasion been contemplated or carried out, but they may also and often do lead to insanity. The root cause of obsessions is such a lack of thought-control that an idea which in the majority of people would have the power to cause worry for a time and would then be thrown off, becomes instead the dominant idea in a life and eventually leads to a complete loss of balance and of sanity.

Miss -- came for consultation on June 28, 1910. At that time she was truly on the borderline of insanity. She had for some time had a trifling eruption on her cheeks, and with increasing insistence the thought had grown that on account of it she was infecting all those who spoke to her or sat beside her. On attempting to tract back the origin of such a thought to its sources, it was found that one day when conversing with a friend she noticed this friend raise her hand to her cheeks as if on account of some irritation there. The thought then took birth that she (the patient) had some how infected her friend, and from that day onwards she found herself watching for such gesture on the part of any person whom she chanced to be beside. Should even her neighbor in a tramcar raise a hand to her cheek, that patient at once concluded that infection had somehow been transmitted from herself. She was so haunted and obsessed by this thought, that life was a burden and it seemed as if it would be no light task to rid her of her obsession. In the course of a long talk an attempt was made to attack the obsession from every side by making commonsense deductions from facts known to herself, and she was in the end restored to a calmer state of mind and left expressing herself perfectly satisfied of the extreme foolishness of her thoughts and promising to report should there be any relapse. In a fortnight she returned, more miserable and agitated then ever, to report that relief from her obsession had been temporary only and that it seemed now to have taken a firmer hold than ever. It was therefore decided to give suggestions during hypnosis, in addition to attempts to convince by reasoning, but only a very slight degree of somnolence could be produced. She had six treatments on these lines, the point which was strongly and unfailingly insisted upon being that is she had even had an average amount of thought-control she could have kept such an obsession at bay or conquered it. It therefore followed that cultivation of thought-control by every means in her power was the only way to succeed in curing herself, and to this end exercises in concentration were prescribed for her. The unreasonableness of her obsession was also pressed home, as shown by the fact that she had failed to infect a single person of all those with whom she was in daily and hourly contact. In the course of the treatment the patient showed definite signs of becoming more normal in her outlook, and so it was decided, with some hesitation, to allow her to keep to plans originally made for a seaside holiday, on the understanding that she would relax no effort to effect a reliable cure and would at once report a relapse. In a fortnight she wrote to say she was still "keeping all right," and two or three months later reported that she was now not only free from the obsession, but that her powers of thought-control were so much improved that she could even banish pleasant thoughts if they interfered with her work.

Constipation has various causes and so demands a varied treatment in individual cases, and there is no doubt that in some forms hypnotic treatment is of great value, as instanced by the following case:-

Miss --- sought advice on June 7, 1910, for very obstinate constipation. All ordinary methods by dieting, exercises, massaging, etc, had been tried without success, and so hypnotic treatment was suggested and gladly agreed to. In all, eighteen treatments were given--daily for nine days, then twice weekly. At each treatment clear and definite suggestions were given for an evacuation of the bowels at the same hour every day. It was also suggested that concentration of the patient's thoughts on the subject was of importance, and that before the end of the treatment a regular habit would have been acquired which would ensure success after the treatment ceased. At first the results were slightly erratic, very satisfactory some days and disappointing other days, but before the daily treatment was changed to twice weekly, things were steadily improving, and three weeks after the last treatment the patient reported herself as quite normal. Recent reports have confirmed this.

Drink Habit

In no class of cases has hypnotic treatment shown more striking results than in those associated with the drink habit. For such cases every kind and variety of treatment is to be welcomed, since not only individual lives but homes are wrecked though slavery to drink. The following two histories illustrate the line of treatment which has been followed in such cases:

Mr. --- was seen in his own home on December 14, 1911. He had been drinking heavily for some time and was in a state of great distress and misery, and suffering in consequence of the heavy drinking from symptoms of palpitation and breathlessness due to heart disease, which he had know himself to have from boyhood as a sequel of scarlet fever. He stated that he had begun to drink in a mild way as a boy of sixteen, but that during later years (he was then thirty-four)it has taken such a hold of him that in spite of many a hard fight, a month or six weeks was the longest time he had managed to keep sober. Treatment by hypnotism was commenced the following day, the patient falling into a fairly deep sleep, though not to the degree of somnambulism. Suggestions were given to the effect that he would not only lose desire for drink, but that the smell of it would create a feeling of repugnance and disgust in him. It was further suggested that he must avoid every place or person associated with drink, and in order to entirely free himself from the power of temptation he must live above it by creating a higher moral atmosphere as regards his home obligations and his obligations to his brother-man. At each visit these and all other suggestions given were discussed with him and his criticism of them invited, and fresh incentives were thought of and given in the form of suggestions. From first to last it was insisted that, in spite of the help he got from the treatment, assured success would only come as a result of personal effort. He had in all nine treatments, and from the first treatment completely lost all desire for drink in a way and to an extent that he could not explain. On his word, verified by that of his wife and others, he has never touched it since.

Mr. --- was first seen on January 19, 1912, in his own home. He had begun drinking in a moderate way as a young man, and even after the drink habit had fairly taken hold of him he had on more than one occasion been able to pull himself up and keep free from it for varying periods, the longest being tow years. Of later years however (he was forty-two years at the time of commencing treatment), he realized that his physical state was getting steadily lowered, and that the control which he had once been able to exercise was completely forsaking him. When first seen he was so thoroughly ill and unstrung from heavy drinking that he had been forced to remain in the house in an attempt to pull himself together with more drink. After a preliminary talk, in which he agreed to give himself up to the treatment, all drink which he had in the house was thrown away before his eyes and with his consent. He was then hypnotized, falling at once into a state of somnambulism, and the usual suggestions were given. In all, eleven treatments were given. He stated that the day following his first treatment , when he still felt physically ill and depressed, he hurried home from town on a car rather than risk having to face temptation in any form. From this time on he felt that the desire fro drink was gone, and when a few weeks later temptation (as a mental picture) once presented itself definitely and vividly to him, it vanished in a way he could not explain the moment he faced it. Still later he went through a period of depression in his business which would in former times have most certainly led him to seek relief in drink, but he now felt no such temptation, realizing rather that the only way to face his difficulties was to keep sober. As in the former case, drink has never been touched since the first treatment.

Sleeplessness.-- In treating sleeplessness by hypnotism the same line has been followed as in other cases, combining the giving of suitable suggestions with an effort to rouse the dormant powers in the patient. Thus it is not only suggested that the patient will experience a desire to sleep at a certain hour, but that he can by concentration learn the art of sleeping, so that in the future, should sleeplessness recur, he has learnt how to treat how to treat and overcome it.

Miss--had been a bad sleeper more or less all her life, almost regarding it as her usual habit to lie awake till two or three o'clock every morning, and was therefore given special suggestions for sleeplessness while undergoing hypnotic treatment for other reasons. She was counseled not to worry about sleeping badly and not to retire to rest dreading lest she should lie awake, but rather to adopt an attitude of indifference. Suggestions were given during hypnotic sleep to the effect that sleepiness follows complete relaxation of body and mind, that she should therefore deliberately practice relaxation of her body and mind every night on lying down, and that in consequence sleep would come quickly to her, and that she would so realize that it was in her power to acquire the art of always sleeping well. Great stress was laid on the necessity for complete relaxation of the mind by so to speak switching off the current of worrying thoughts or of any definite train of thought, and allowing the mind to dwell restfully on a pleasant thought or a pleasant scene, should it not be possible to create a state of absolute mental blankness. The first night after treatment began she felt sleepy before bedtime came, slept at once on going to bed, and did not awake till her usual rising time. Such a result was not kept up to quite the same pitch on succeeding nights and she once or twice even had a wakeful night again, but she nevertheless gradually acquired the art of sleeping well, which has stood her in good stead through periods of stress and worry.

The above suggestions have often been found of great help when given as ordinary directions for sleeplessness and without the aid of hypnotic sleep.

Indigestion is so often due to an underlying mental cause that time and money may be wasted without effecting a cure, unless such a mental cause be sought for and removed. The two following cases illustrated this truth:

Miss--, who had had hypnotic treatment for neurasthenia two years previously, sought advice for ill-defined symptoms of indigestion. She allowed that she was having rather a worrying time at her work, but did not think it was sufficient to cause the indigestion, as she felt she was quite able to keep her worries under outward control. She was put in ordinary medical treatment, but as she could report no improvement on two subsequent visits, she agreed to try hypnotic treatment, on the assumption that the mental influence was greater than she was capable of appreciating. During hypnotic sleep it was suggested that therefore she must face her work with greater calmness, since the most that could be expected of her was to genuinely do the best she was capable of. Two days later the patient reported herself as greatly improved, both as regarded the indigestion and also as regarded her attitude to her work, and after a second treatment complete recovery was reported.

Though the cure in such a case might have chanced to be pure coincidence, it was accepted by the patient as a clear indication that she had still something to learn about the extent to which the mind is capable of influencing the body.

Miss--, sought advice for very acute indigestion with occasional vomiting, which had lasted for some days. After a careful physical examination, inquiry as to diet, etc, was coupled with an inquiry as to any mental worry. The patient was, as a result, put on ordinary medical treatment, but reported no improvement on two subsequent visits. The possibility of a mental cause was then still more closely investigated, when a big and genuine worry was acknowledged. The patient was therefore advised to face the worry and talk it out at home, and then try to put it from her as being the possible or even probably cause of her indigestion. She came a day or two later to say that she believed the advice to have been on the right lines, since talking over things had considerably cleared the atmosphere and the indigestion had vanished.

The following two cases, treated by Dr. Milne Bramwell, are of great interest, as showing practically that hypnotism can be and is of immense value in treating defective and difficult children and in enabling them to grow up to be useful members of society.

"Miss--, aged fifteen, January 22, 1894. Her mother, who had a family history of insanity, was morally insane and lived a vagabond drunken life. Her father and uncle both drank and died insane. I was informed that the patient was deceitful, rebellious, and mischief-making. She frequently complained of queer feelings in her head, but it was difficult to tell how much was real and how much pretence. She was impatient of restraint; she had been sent to two or three families and one school, but in each instance had been dismissed as she was so insubordinate and unmanageable. I was also informed that the patient lied, stole, and had frequent outbursts of violent passion. I found her strong, muscular, and well-developed; palate normal, menstruation regular.

"On January 22, 1894, after consultation with the late Dr. Hack Tuke, she was placed in a nursing home and regularly treated for a month. This was followed by marked improvement, and for the next three years she was seen occasionally but at distant intervals. She grew into a bright, healthy, attractive woman, who in 1903, with the exception that she was still somewhat emotional, showed no trace of her former defects. Recovery confirmed by later reports."

"Miss--,aged 13, March 1894. Bad family history. Before the patient was born her mother suffered from melancholia. The child herself had been mentally peculiar from infancy; she was persistently untruthful, deceitful, insolent, and dirty in her habits. She had been addicted to self-abuse since the age of seven. On several occasions she had stolen money from servants and others, sometimes considerable amounts. She had been expelled from school, and had to be kept at home. She was strong, healthy, and well-grown, with nothing abnormal about the head or palate.

"After consultation with Dr. Savage the patient was treated three times a week from March to may 1894; this was followed by marked improvement. She was seen at intervals during the next two years, and complete recovery took place. Up to the present time (1909) there has been no relapse."

These cases, though few in number owing to lack of space, serve to illustrate the lines on which mental treatment is carried out, sometimes with the aid of hypnotism, at other times without it. They also serve to show how hypnotic treatment has sometimes proved of immense value in cases where other forms of medical treatment and all attempts at reasoning had failed. At no time has the value of psycho-therapeutics been more insistently felt than in attempts at re-education, whether it be the re-education of difficult and defective children or the even more difficult task of re-education of those who have allowed themselves for years to go through life blind to the fact, that in themselves lie formant powers which, if drawn upon at every moment of the day, can effect a profound change and lead to the development of a sane and controlled character.

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