HYPNOTISM AND PERSONALITY
Attention has already been directed to F. W. H. Myers’ theory of a
conscious and a subconscious intelligence--a duality of mind in each
individual. Hypnotism and suggestion operates mostly--and in the final
analysis only--on the subconscious mind.
We have seen how the Countess deLaval could speak fluently the language
of Brittany when under hypnotic sleep, but knew nothing of Breton when
awake--i.e., the language was known only to her subconscious mind, the
seat of memory. Hansen, the Danish hypnotist, having hypnotized an
English officer, was astonished to hear him break forth in a tongue
unknown to him. Later it was learned that the language was Welsh, which
the officer had heard spoken as a child, but which his conscious mind
had long forgotten. The fact that old people often recall occurrences
of many years ago, but forget forthwith an event of but yesterday,
has often been commented upon. All of these phenomena are readily
understood in the light of Myers’ theory of dual intelligence--duality
of mind.
The foregoing theory also makes explicable the frequently reported
cases of amnesia, or of dissociation; i.e., the breaking up of
consciousness into parts which lead separate (independent) existences,
or what is commonly known as double, or multiple, personality. Dr.
Davis recalls the rather recent case of an elderly gentleman, of good
position, who was accused of having sent offensive anonymous letters to
a young lady, charging her with thieving, drunkenness, immorality, etc.
So strong was the evidence against him that he was committed to jail,
and was later admitted to bail only on the condition that he should
not come within forty miles of the city. “At the eleventh hour it was
discovered by the merest chance that the young woman had unconsciously
written these most abusive letters to herself, and on receiving them
in her normal state of mind knew absolutely nothing about their
authorship.”[9]
[9] Davis, “Hypnotism and Treatment by Suggestion”, Page 41.
The reader may remember the case of Claire Beauclaire, of Brockton,
Massachusetts--made public in 1922--who possessed two distinct
personalities, one that of an apparently normal girl of eighteen years,
the other that of a child of five. Better known, however, is the case
of Bernice Redick, of Cleveland, Ohio, a high school graduate, with a
decided love for music. In the midst of a conversation she suddenly
nodded, fell into sleep for a moment, then awoke. But during this
moment she had “slipped back” fifteen years, as far as her mind was
concerned.
The girl was taken to Columbus, and placed under the care of Dr.
Henry Herbert Goddard, alienist, head of the Ohio Bureau for Juvenile
Research.
Asked her name, she told Dr. Goddard that it was “Polly.” “How old
are you?” inquired the alienist. “I am four years old,” she replied.
Mentally, she was indeed but a child of four. She could neither read
nor write, and knew nothing of music, of which she was formerly so
apt a pupil. She could not even distinguish colors by name, merely
exhibiting the childish desire for bright ones. She could not count
above ten. Her chief diversion was sitting on the floor playing with
dolls. But she did not remain “Polly” for long at a time. “During her
first day,” says Dr. Goddard, “she changed from Polly to Bernice and
back eleven times. The reversion was just as sudden one way as the
other, and just as inexplicable.”
Psycho-analysts would explain the case by assuming that the girl had
been unhappy at home, or had had an unfortunate love affair, and wished
to escape from reality--to have an easier time by becoming someone
else. If this were the real explanation, why change so frequently back
to Bernice?
Dr. Goddard was at a loss to know how to proceed. There were at that
time fewer than 25 such cases in the medical records of the world.
Any competent hypnotist could have prescribed the appropriate remedy;
but probably hypnotism was not in good repute among the physicians
consulted. At any rate. Dr. Goddard adopted the plan of bringing Polly
up to her normal age and previous intellectual status by educating her
as he would any other four-year-old child--for the Binet test showed
Polly to possess normal intelligence for a child of that age. “We
thought,” he explained, “that by bringing Polly’s mentality up to the
age of Bernice the two personalities might automatically become one.”
Eventually, as we shall see, he had to resort to hypnotism after all;
but first he tried this educational plan. Polly was first taught to
read, which she learned more readily than most four-year-old children.
The usual kindergarten courses were included in the curriculum. The
lessons, however, were frequently interrupted by the reappearance of
Bernice, who knew nothing of any such person as Polly. The dissociation
was complete.
As this case has never appeared in book form anywhere, let us quote Dr.
Goddard’s own words:
“One day, when Polly was engrossed in a conversation with an attendant,
a pencil was placed in her hand, and she was told to write a letter
to a nurse she liked. A magazine, held between her hand and her eyes,
kept her from seeing the paper on which she wrote. The conversation
continued and kept her attention from the letter, but her hand moved
mechanically across the paper, and the letter was finished. It was a
letter such as would be written by almost any girl of ten or twelve
years.
“When it was finished we showed it to her, and then asked suddenly,
‘How old are you, Polly?’
“‘I am eleven years old,’ she replied instantly.
“From then on she consistently admitted being eleven years old. Success
seemed to have crowned our efforts.
“When she awoke as ‘Polly,’ she at first, each time, became the
four-year-old ‘Polly’ we had originally known, but in a few minutes
passed to the eleven-year-old stage. These transitions were frequent
and irregular. One day as she was preparing to go for a walk she
suddenly changed to ‘Polly.’ She remained thus for six days, babbling
and playing as any child would. Bernice reasserted herself at about the
same hour of the day, whereupon the girl began looking about for her
coat to go for the walk, resuming her conversation with the words she
was saying when ‘Polly’ drove her out.
“Having brought her to the age of eleven we continued the treatment
until she admitted she was fourteen. Then we held a party, celebrating
her fifteenth birthday, with candles and presents. A succession
of birthdays followed within a few weeks, the girl apparently not
realizing that she was being tricked. At last she became nineteen and
admitted that was her age.”
But the automatic fusion of the two personalities expected by Dr.
Goddard did not occur. Bernice was quiet and modest, reserved, timid
and ambitious. “Polly” was careless, boisterous, disobedient, and “hail
fellow well met” with everyone.
“Just as Dr. Jekyll in the story gave way more and more readily to
the encroachments of Mr. Hyde, so did Bernice give way more and more
readily to the self-assertive ‘Polly.’ Even yet, when she awoke, she
was often ‘four years old,’ and had to pass through the successive
stages, which she now did very rapidly.”
After months of educational work, without success in merging the two
personalities into a unified Bernice, hypnotic treatment was introduced
at last--a modified form of mesmerism--with a view to driving out
“Polly.”
“Both personalities were told of the existence of the other, but each
knew of it only as a normal person would know of someone he had heard
of but never seen. ‘Polly’ in particular declared there was no such
thing, and that if there was she had no room for her. Later she said
Bernice was a friend that I had told her about, who was coming to see
her some time.
“Hypnotism again came into play. I placed ‘Polly’ in a sleep, first
telling her that she was going to meet Bernice. Somewhere the two minds
met, in one of the strangest introductions I ever hope to make. It was,
of course, impossible to observe any reaction that took place, as our
only method of observation was of necessity through bodily actions, and
for the time being there were none.
“Awakening, ‘Polly’ said she remembered Bernice, but that she lived
in Cleveland, and would come down to see her some time. She resented
the idea that she might be stealing Bernice’s body, but declared that
this was her own, and she had always possessed it. Polly was banished
by hypnotism and Bernice came into control. She, too, remembered the
strange introduction. From that time, however, there was a conscious
effort by each personality to drive out the other. ‘Polly’ was very
strong. Even with the aid of hypnotic influence, which I called upon
to banish ‘Polly’ at every appearance, it has been difficult going for
Bernice.
“The mental aspect of the case has been closely related to the
physical. When the body was fatigued, ‘Polly’ nearly always came into
power. After a night’s sleep the girl nearly always awoke as Bernice.
“Now, although we have established Bernice permanently, it must be
admitted ‘Polly’ may yet gain permanent control.”
On January 12, 1923, Dr. Goddard announced through the daily press that
“Polly has not appeared for nearly a month.”
Later there seem to have been relapses, in which a third personality
appeared, “living,” Dr. Goddard was quoted in the press (March 7th)
as saying, “only in the imagination of ‘Polly.’” On this date it was
announced that Miss Redick would be discharged from the Ohio State
University Hospital a week later as permanently restored to her normal
self.
This case bears many interesting likenesses to the famous case of “Miss
Beauchamp,” reported by Dr. Morton Prince in his “The Dissociation of a
Personality.” The intrusive personality, younger but not a child, was
here known as “Sally.” “Sally” hated “Miss Beauchamp,” between whom and
herself there existed the same differences of temperament as between
“Polly” and Bernice. She would play tricks on her--walk miles into the
country and wake up as “Miss Beauchamp,” without carfare home (“Miss
Beauchamp” disliked to walk); pile up the furniture, climb on top, and
let “Miss Beauchamp” climb down; write abusive letters for the other
personality to find, tangle her embroidery silks, etc. “Sally,” like
“Polly,” was finally “murdered” by being hypnotized out of existence.
In this case, however, “Miss Beauchamp” herself was not the original,
normal personality; but a final fusion into the normal woman was
finally achieved.
From this brief study the power and scope of hypnotism and suggestion
may be comprehended--their value in the hands of a skilled physician,
their danger in the hands of a charlatan. As a herald of their use and
a warning against their disuse, let me conclude by quoting the opening
stanza of Browning’s poem, “Mesmerism”:
All I believed is true!
I am able yet
All I want, to get
By a method as strange as new:
Dare I trust the same to you?
Entrusted to the exploitation of a showman, the subconscious may avenge
its abuse in a grievous manner; but entrusted to the understanding
sympathy of a trained and experienced practitioner, there is no more
efficacious alleviant for many of the ills to which the body is subject
than the hypnotic or suggestive method of treatment.
Transcriber’s Note:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Erroneously placed or missing quotation marks or punctuation have been
silently corrected.
The following printer error has been changed:
p. 39: “implictly” changed to “implicitly” (implicitly believe they
have founded on fact)