LEARN ABOUT HYPNOSIS

METHODS OF INDUCING HYPNOSIS

Modern methods of inducing hypnosis are based upon either the method of Braid or that of Leibault, or a combination of the two, and vary according to the individuality of the hypnotist. Some hypnotists still in certain cases employ passes to endeavor to deepen hypnotic sleep, when such deepening is deemed necessary for treatment.

These various methods may be classified as (a) Physical methods and (b) Psychological methods, though in ordinary practice, as we have seen, such varied combinations of the two are used that a rigid classification is not always possible.

Among the Physical methods we might include all those where sleep is induced by holding a finger or any bright object at an uncomfortable angle above the eyes, the operator meantime stroking the patient's forehead and suggesting sleep; or again, the employment of any form of revolving clock which induces sleep by its continuous monotonous noise in the same way that waves breaking on the seashore or the sound of a car's engine have the power to do; or again, the employment of Luy's revolving mirror, a modification of the bird-catcher's device for hypnotizing and snaring birds, which doubtless owes some of its efficacy to the directions and suggestions which are given during its use.


Passes may also be included here, and it may not be amiss to give a word of explanation about them. Passes are commonly used to test a person's susceptibility to hypnosis. In order to do this the operator places himself at the patient's back, and slowly makes passes with both hands from the back of the head to the end of the spine. This causes in many people a distinct inclination to sway backward, which is accepted as a positive indication. When using passes with the purpose of inducing hypnosis, it is customary to first place the patient in a relaxed position on a couch, and then to draw both hands from the crown of the head over the pit of the stomach to the feet, avoiding actual contact. These movements are repeated until drowsiness is induced, this drowsiness being in some people accompanied by a sensation of warmth and prickling.

Under Psychological methods we may include all modifications of Liebault's method, which was as follows. The patient was placed in an arm-chair, instructed to think of nothing and to gaze at the operator. In this way attention was arrested. The phenomena of sleep were now suggested in detail, and if the eyelids did not close spontaneously, they were closed and the following suggestions were given: "Your eyelids are heavy; your limbs feel numb; you are getting more and more drowsy," etc. This was continued for a minute or two till the desired degree of drowsiness was induced.

In all attempts to induce hypnosis for suggestion treatment we would emphasize the following points as being of importance.

It is necessary that all fears and nervousness on the part of the patient should first be dissipated by a frank and friendly talk, and that the operator, by the exercise of all the tact, sympathy and insight at his command, should not only create a sympathetic atmosphere, but should make the patient feel that he has command of the situation, and is capable of not only entering into the peculiar difficulties of each case, but is also confident of being able to give the help which is sought. The further object of such a talk is to allow the operator to grasp the patient's character, so that he may not only get at the causes which the patient puts forward as being responsible for his illness, but may read for himself the deeper causes of defects of temperament and character--the fundamental causes so to speak, which must be attacked if a permanent cure is to be attained.


It is customary to insist upon monotonous environment and absence of noise as necessary to induce hypnosis. While we fully realize that in most cases these are of great help, it has on the other hand been our experience that the majority of patients if instructed to disregard noises are fully capable of doing so, and that deep hypnosis can be induced amid the clatter of pots and pans in a poor dwelling.

It is of the utmost importance to instruct the patient how to relax his limbs and his whole body, even to unclenching his jaw, and to do this in some detail, so that he may realize the importance of practicing such relaxation for himself. There is no doubt that many of us, by our entire inability to relax our muscles and joints, rob ourselves of some of the rest which we so greatly need in this life of rush and hurry.

Of equal importance is it to instruct the patient how to relax his mind, either by attempting to cut off all inflowing thoughts and to make his mind as nearly as possible a blank, or by letting the mind dwell drowsily on a pleasant thought or on the details of a pleasant scene.

These points having been attended to, it is customary and helpful to prepare the patient still further by explaining that gradually as he continues to steadfastly gaze at the operator's finger, his eyelids will become weighted and tired, a sensation of heaviness will pass over his body, and he will finally feel impelled to close his eyes and to rest. Attention is then arrested by making the patient fix his eyes on the operator's fingers and the preceding directions are repeated. It has been found that stroking the skin of the forehead and temples is in most people of great service in quieting any nervousness or excitement and in inducing a state of drowsiness.

Hypnotic sleep is a means to an end, which is the giving of suggestions suitable to the disease for which treatment is sought. As we shall see in a later section, hypnosis greatly increases the suggestibility of the patient and so facilitates the work of cure. During this passive state of body and mind the working of the conscious mind is for the time being in abeyance, and suggestions penetrate direct to the subconscious mind and are received and acted upon.

Varying figures are given in estimating the percentage of people who are hypnotizable, some estimating these at 90 percent, others at 10 or 20 percent; these differences being however readily explained by the fact that the one estimate includes cases showing every degree of sleep, while the other refers to cases of deep sleep only. It is calculated that only about one person in every ten reaches the state of deep sleep or somnambulism.

There have been numerous classifications of the stages of hypnosis, but for present purposes it will be sufficient to give the short and practical classification of Forel.

1. Somnolence or sleepiness, in which the influenced person can resist suggestions and open his eyes.

2. Light sleep, in which the eyes cannot be opened and obedience to suggestions is obligatory, but there is no loss of memory on awakening.

3. Deep sleep or somnambulism with amnesia (loss of memory), and fine post-hypnotic effects.

The first stage is as a rule all that is required for medical treatment, and with this degree of hypnosis alone, many cases of marked benefit and of cure have been reported. So slight are its effects, that it is common for those who have experienced it to maintain that they have not been in the hypnotic state, as they heard and remembered everything that was said, though they were conscious of a quieting and soothing influence. Two points may be mentioned which differentiate this slight state of hypnosis from ordinary restfulness: (a) that during it the patient shows an extraordinary immobility, making no movement of his limbs nor attempting to change his posture, and (b) that during it suggestions are accepted and acted upon which were not accepted in the waking state.



It is so commonly believed that people can be hypnotized against their will, that we feel it necessary to state clearly that this is not so and that on the other hand any resistance on the part of the patient must first be removed--he must, so to speak, be encouraged to give himself up--before the operator can hope for success. Equally erroneous is the belief that susceptibility to hypnotic influence is the sign of a weak will, the truth being rather that the best subject for hypnosis is the person who is willing to be hypnotized, who has the intelligence to understand what is asked of him and the ability to concentrated his mind upon it. Insane people are for this reason notoriously difficult to hypnotize, since they are quite unable to concentrate their attention upon the desired train of thought and action. The idea that it is possible to learn to hypnotize oneself is novel to most people, but Dr. Hollander has shown that many people do this habitually without their own knowledge, and that the "vacant" state with which some of us are familiar in ourselves and from which we are conscious of suddenly rousing ourselves with a start is but self-hypnosis. The practical value of the point is that one can cultivate such a tendency by placing oneself in a relaxed position, until one gradually drops into a state of what Dr. Hollander calls "fascination," and that one can utilize such a state for allowing helpful self-suggestions to sink deeply into the subconscious mind.

What is hypnotic sleep? And what is it's relation to natural sleep?

To the first question no satisfactory reply has yet been given, and this is hardly to be wondered at when we think that similarly no adequate explanation can be given of ordinary sleep. Hypnotic sleep in some points is very dissimilar from ordinary sleep, but in other respects shows great resemblance to it. It can be induced by suggestion alone at any hour of the day, and is quite independent of fatigue or physiological changes in the brain such as make ordinary sleep a necessity for every person. During it consciousness is never entirely lost, although there may be complete amnesia on waking, and this fact is proved by the ready response to commands given by the operator to be executed either at the time or later. Ordinary sleep on the other hand is so deep that consciousness is entirely lost, and it is not only impossible to have commands carried out, but the phenomena of hypnotism (catalepsy, anesthesia, etc.) cannot be elicited. We have a great point of resemblance between hypnotic and ordinary sleep in dreams and in sleep-walking. It would seem that in both there is a great heightening of the faculties, with ability to perform feats which are beyond one's power in the waking state, as we shall see in section III. This heightening of the faculties can be more readily demonstrated in the hypnotic state, as the subject though apparently asleep, responds to commands given with the purpose of eliciting such a heightening, and by means of post-hypnotic suggestions we can still further amply prove its existence.

The great value of hypnotic sleep lies in the fact that during it there is a state of heightened suggestibility, and that the conscious mind being in abeyance, suggestions are accepted without criticism by the subconscious mind and are put into action.

A few words may be said here about the dangers of hypnotism. The argument most commonly used against hypnotism by those who have no knowledge of its medical use is, that a hypnotist acquires complete control over his subject, destroys his will-power and reduces him to a mere automaton. The aim of all hypnotic medical treatment, however, is to develop and strengthen not only a man's will-power but his whole moral fibre, so that he is enabled to rid himself of slavish habits which had previously mastered him. This will be clearly shown in section VII to be not only the aim but also the practical outcome of hypnotic medical treatment, as shown in the results of drink cases and also in those illustrating re-education, where slavishness to thoughts and emotions has by constant effort and practice given place to an increasing mastery over them. Our disputant may then argue that while this is quite possibly the case as regards to the medical use of hypnotism, it is nevertheless true that there is nothing to prevent unprincipled people from using it for the perpetration of crimes. To this we reply that in order to avoid any such risks, it is the duty of the State to limit the use of hypnotism (as it has already limited the use of chloroform), so making its employment for public entertainment illegal and limiting its use to purposes of re-education by those duly qualified to exercise it.

As regards to the element of danger which may in the lay mind be associated with hypnotic sleep itself in its deeper forms, we would point out what has been already mentioned, that light hypnotic sleep is now preferably used for medical treatment by all hypnotists, the deeper sleep being induced on rare occasions only. Even if it were customary for hypnotists to use deep hypnotic sleep without reservation, this supposed risk is negligible in comparison with that associated with the employment of chloroform. In spite of every care and precaution in the administration of chloroform, no one attempts to deny the element of risk in every case, the existence of such a risk being brought home practically by an occasional death, whereas not a single death has been reported during hypnotic sleep in spite of the fact that it has been extensively in use since the eighteenth century.

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