LEARN ABOUT HYPNOSIS

THEORIES OF HYPNOTISM

We propose now not only to sum up the various theories of mesmerism and hypnotism which have been touched upon in the preceding chapters, but to elaborate some of them further and to give more recent theories.

Mesmer (1778) believed that health and sickness depended on the flow of a magnetic fluid through the body, and that by the application of magnetic plates of various sorts it was in his power to increase the magnetic fluid in cases of disease and to direct it to various parts of the body by means of manipulations and passes. This view was shared by other workers of his time.

Elliotson (1837) and Esdaile (1845) both held that the phenomena of mesmerism were due to a peculiar fluid or force which they called "odylic." Esdaile expressed the therapeutic action of mesmerism in the following quaint words: "There is good reason to believe that the vital fluid of one person can be poured into the system of another. A merciful God has engrafted a communicable life-giving curative power in the human body in order that when two individuals are found together deprived of the aids of art the one in health may often be able to relieve his sick companion by imparting to him a portion of his vitality."


Braid (1841) made a great step forward in the study of hypnotism by setting himself to study its phenomena in a scientific spirit, as well as to make practical use of it in the treatment of disease. By his earlier method of hypnotizing, by concentrating the gaze on a bright object, he got results which no other worker had got up to that time. He regarded the mesmeric trance as an artificially produced sleep, and invented for it the term hypnosis. He regarded this state as due to mental concentration on one idea, this concentration leading to a suspension of activity of other nerve centers, and so inducing sleep. Later Braid approaching to deep sleep was only got in about 10 per cent. of those who recovered under his treatment, also that volition was not abolished, and that a patient could even resist attempts to hypnotize him. He then elaborated the theory that that phenomena he elicited were entirely due to suggestion, and that the effect of magnets and other such means of inducing the hypnotic state by concentration of the mind and eyes on a bright object, and relied entirely on verbal suggestion just like Liebault did. Braid was the first to note that some people have the power of self-hypnotization. He also laid the foundation of theories elaborated later by Myeres, Carpenter, and others, in which the phenomena of hypnotism are explained by the acceptance of the view of subliminal consciousness. He was led to these views by reason of several experiments which he carried out in the hypnotic state, and which led him to a belief in the existence of "double consciousness." Thus having taught hypnotized subjects Greek, Latin, French, or Italian, he found that on recovering the normal state they had entirely forgotten this knowledge; but on being re-hypnotized it returned to them again. Not only was he impressed with the heightening of mental activity in the hypnotic state, but also with the heightening of the moral sense.


Liebault (1864) advocated the view that suggestion and suggestion alone explains all the phenomena of hypnotism. In order to produce the hypnotic sleep he used neither magnets, passes, nor concentrated gazing. By instructing the patient to gaze at him he arrested his attention, and the induced a state of drowsiness by suggesting in detail the phenomena of sleep. Suggestions were then given to cure the special complaint for the amelioration of pain where neuralgia had to be cured, suggestions as regards the person's ability to walk where a hysterical paralysis was in question, and so on.

Bernheim (1882) has advanced psycho-therapeutics by demonstrating how far the phenomena of hypnotism can be produced without inducing hypnosis, that is to say, he has reduced hypnotic treatment to simpler elements, and shown how far hypnotism can be dispensed with. "Hypnotic trance," says Bernheim, "is ordinary sleep; you tell the patient to go to sleep and he goes to sleep; you tell him to get well and he gets well immediately." Unfortunately it is the experience of all those who interest themselves in psycho-therapeutics that most cures are not effected so readily as this, that in some cases it is only after a long and patient process of re-education that many states of ill-health are thrown off, that bad habits are broken and conditions of slavery are ended.

Charcot and the Salpetriere School (1878).-Although we have shown that the views of this school are now entirely discredited, they must receive a note of mention here. Charcot, as we have seen, believed that all the phenomena of hypnotism were pure "hysteria," and therefore only demonstrable in hysterical people. He also believed with the early mesmerists that these phenomena could be induced by metals and magnets. Were Charcot's views correct it would logically follow that about 90 percent of people are hysterical.

Heidenhain's theory (1880) may be mentioned in passing, though it has not much general acceptance now. He elaborated the view that as a result of the monotonous stimulation of certain nerves by fixed gazing the activity of the higher brain cells is arrested. As a result, actions which are generally performed under the control of these higher cells are in the hypnotic state controlled only by the lower centers, and the hypnotized subject is therefore pure automaton.

Theory of Subliminal Consciousness of double consciousness elaborated in recent times by Frederic Myers, Gurney, Carpenter, and others.



This theory is founded upon the belief which we have already spoken of, that we have as it were two streams of consciousness, the one above the threshold called the supraliminal, and the other below the threshold called the subliminal. We commonly speak of these as our conscious self and our subconscious or partly conscious self, and a combination of the two constitutes our real self. The two halves of us may act in cooperation or there may be independent action of the subconscious half. Familiar instances of the independent working of our subconscious self are best seen during sleep life, as we have already noted. Our conscious self then being in abeyance, the subconscious self has sometimes the power to work out problems, to walk safely in dangerous places, and to act roles which our conscious self would be quite unequal to. By strong self-suggestions before falling asleep, R.L. Stevenson was able to direct his dreams and utilize them as motives for fresh and stirring romances. Certain phenomena for fresh and stirring romances. Certain phenomena in everyday life give an indication of the working of this subconscious self. THus we have the sudden remembrance of a lost name which our conscious self had tried in vain to recall, and which only came when we gave up searching for it. We are so familiar with this phenomena that we often say: "If I stop thinking about it, it is sure to come to me." Again, if we are acquiring a new branch of learning have we not often found, when baffled by a difficulty, that if we put our work away and think n more of it for a few days, when we face the difficulty again it has so to speak resolved itself.

As this subconscious self shows itself in natural sleep, so it shows itself in natural sleep, so it shows itself in that allied state, hypnotic sleep, and its working can, as we have already shown, be studied in the latter state as it cannot in ordinary sleep. After considerable study of this subconscious self during the hypnotic state Myers and others are agreed that it has a greater range of activity, both physiological and psychological, than has the conscious self. It can thus show a quite extraordinary degree of control over the nervous system and over the heart and blood-vessels. More than this, it shows a superior intellectual and mental activity and a heightened moral sense.

What we call inspiration and genius are most likely, as Myers has shown, also manifestations of the working of the subconscious mind, and therefore cannot consciously be called into action; rather we must await the stirring of the pool by we know not what intangible power that uprush of the one stream into the other occurs.

When the conscious half of a subject sleeps in the hypnotic state the subconscious half is alert, and all suggestions are made directly to it, and by it they are accepted and acted out, it may be at the time, it ma be hours or days later.

These suggestions may bear upon physiological changes which we wish to effect, as for example in matters relating to digestion, constipation, or any other ailments. On the other hand they may be directed to increasing mental activity, as in backward children. Still more important, they may be aimed at heightening the whole moral tone of the individual, so that he may live about temptation which previously mastered and enslaved him.

WHile we are fully aware in our own experiences and in the light of the experience of others who are competent to express an opinion, that during the hypnotic state appeals are often made to the subconscious mind with startling success which had been repeatedly made in vain to the conscious mind, we are yet constantly impressed with the fact that similarly, outstandingly successful appeals are often witnessed which are made to the conscious self by appealing to its reason. This fact is of the utmost importance in all psycho-therapeutics.

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