HYPNOSIS, SUGGESTION, AND AUTOSUGGESTION
Much popular misapprehension exists with regard to the phenomenon known
as hypnosis. It may briefly be described as a condition in which the
reason and judgment of the subject are in temporary abeyance, and any
idea presented to him will be accepted without reflection, and take
so strong a hold upon the mind that it will act itself out almost
automatically. This condition of passive receptivity graduates from
slight abstraction, almost undistinguishable from normal consciousness,
to a condition resembling sleep, or the cataleptic rigidity of deep
trance. Its manifestations and characteristics are manifold and most
curious and instructive, but beyond the scope of the present work.
Different hypnotists use different methods of inducing this condition,
but the main factor in all of them is the fixation and arrestation of
the attention and the use of suggestion. It is generally held that it
is autosuggestion on the part of the subject, induced by the hypnotist,
that is the crux of the whole problem, and that without this internal
co-operation, which is often of an unconscious and involuntary nature,
the work of the operator would be unavailing.
Hypnosis is the oldest known method of psychotherapy, and, in
conjunction with psychoanalysis, is coming to the front again in the
treatment of nervous cases and especially of shell shock.
The term suggestion is apt to be used somewhat loosely to denote any
concept offered by one person to another, but in its psychological
sense it is used to denote those ideas which are slipped into the
mind of a person without being submitted to his judgment; in its
psychotherapeutic sense, however, it is reserved for the process
of inserting ideas in the mind while the patient is in a state of
artificially induced drowsiness, but not unconscious under deep
hypnosis.
Autosuggestion, or the insertion of ideas in the subconscious by
the conscious mind of the person concerned, has been reduced to a
therapeutic system by the New Nancy School of psychology, and is
associated with the name of Emile Coué. It is held by this school
that suggestibility, or the faculty of permitting ideas to so possess
the mind that they express themselves in action, is a normal human
faculty; and although it is the cause of many, or even most of the
ills that both mind and body are heir to, it is not in itself a morbid
condition, but is a necessary factor in educability, evil only arising
when wrong ideas exploit this faculty. We can, however, equally well
make use of it for the expression of good ideas, with great benefit
to our character and health. Suggestion, and, in intractable cases,
hypnosis, is made use of by the New Nancy School, not as a direct
remedial method, but to teach the use of autosuggestion whereby
the patient cures himself and is able to prevent any recrudescence
of his malady. It is claimed that this method increases a person’s
self-reliance instead of undermining it, and is of the greatest value,
not only as a therapeutic agent, but as an educational method, and its
use in this aspect is urged. But although it is of acknowledged value
in the cure of disease, it is questionable whether it might not lead
to artificiality and warping of the nature if applied to the growing
mind that was developing along normal lines. Only the most judicious
guidance could avoid this pitfall.
It is impossible in a book of this nature to give a knowledge of the
psychotherapeutic methods that can be of any practical use; the reader
must refer to the many text-books upon the subject if such is desired.
It must, however, be realised that the modern methods of dealing with
the mind are extremely potent, and that it is possible to completely
wreck a nature by their injudicious use. A knowledge, however, of the
principles of mental hygiene can be nothing but beneficial, though the
actual treatment of mental or nervous disease should be avoided by
the amateur, for, whatever his theoretical knowledge, the practical
experience of hospital and asylum work can alone give accuracy of
diagnosis. The beginnings of certain forms of insanity are very hard to
distinguish from nerve trouble, even by the expert, and the amateur who
tries his prentice hand upon such a case by mistake is likely to have
his error painfully and forcibly impressed upon his mind.
Psychotherapy is the youngest of the sciences and in a state of
vigorous and healthy growth, but there is as yet no orthodox body of
doctrine which is regarded as being thoroughly established and accepted
by all schools of thought. The lay reader, for whom this book is
designed, would do well to be on his guard against dogmatic expressions
of opinion which may be presented to him, either in lecture or in
print, for our knowledge is not in a state to warrant them. We have
learnt much, but we do not know all, and until we know much more than
we do now, we must keep an open mind and judge tentatively. The popular
vogue of applied psychology among those who are not in a position to
form first-hand opinions makes this warning necessary. There is no
“truth once and for all delivered” by a prophet on a mountain, but an
earnest band of men and women adding stone by stone to the temple of
human knowledge.
The various methods of psychotherapy outlined here have each and all
their value, but no one of them is a panacea for all the ills that
flesh is heir to; the science is in its infancy, and the percentage of
cure is by no means satisfactory. There is no standard of training for
either medical men or lay analysts and owing to the great emphasis laid
upon sex by the modern schools, the method is open to grave abuses in
inexpert or unclean hands.