HYPNOTISM, a term involving all that appertains to that condition of artificial sleep known as hypnosis which is allied to normal sleep and can be induced in many normal persons. At all times individuals have fallen into an abnormal state of mind resembling the hypnotic state, such a condition being deliberately induced by others, through their own efforts, or spontaneously arising, generally under the influence of some special emotional excitement. Hypnotic phenomena were known thousands of years ago to the Persian magi and the Indian yogis and fakirs but scien tific and medical interest in the subject was first universally aroused during the latter part of the i8th century by the work of Mesmer, a Viennese physician, who claimed to be able to cure many diseases by means of "animal magnetism." He enunciated the doctrine of a vital magnetic fluid which became stored up in living bodies, and by its instrumentality one individual could act on another. This method of mesmerism, notwithstanding much remedial success, was adversely reported on by several scientific commissions so that it fell into disuse until a generation later, when interest in it as a form of medical treatment was revived, but unfortunately mingled with much charlatanism.
In the middle of the 19th century Braid, a Manchester surgeon, recognized its validity but denied any magnetic element. He became convinced that there was no mysterious fluid passing from operator to subject, that the phenomena elicited were really sub jective in origin, and it was he who first used the term "hypno tism" in place of mesmerism and laid the foundations for its mod ern study. Before many years the method was practised by physi cians in all European countries. Liebault and Bernheim, at Nancy, laid the foundation of the school of hypnotic suggestion which has since held sway. In the hands of such investigators as Pierre Janet much light has been thrown by hypnotic experimental work on the constitution of the mind.
The usual modern procedure is to place the subject in an arm-chair or on a couch where there shall be absolute muscular relaxation and passivity of mind. The environment should be conducive to sleep. The physician, stand ing at the side, holds up the index and middle fingers of one hand, a little above and away from the patient's eyes. The gaze is fixed on these and verbal suggestions are made to the effect that the eyelids are getting heavy, drowsiness is being felt, the eyes are closing, and sleep approaches. Light sensory stimulation by strok ing the forehead gently or making downward passes over the face may also be carried out. In many subjects the eyelids gradually flicker more and more and then close as some stage of sleep super venes. Self-induction of hypnosis may be possible by fixation of gaze in some people who have previously been hypnotized by another. Repeated hypnotic sitting commonly renders the advent of sleep easier. In specially susceptible patients complete hypnosis may supervene at once on the command to sleep either made orally or in writing. Terminating hypnosis is easily brought about by suggesting the idea of wakefulness, but if left to themselves patients, after a variable time, would spontaneously resume the normal state.
Different stages of hypnosis have been described by different authorities, many of them being very artificial, but it will suffice if we speak of three only. In very light hypnosis there is complete passivity and relaxation with an inability to open- the eyes or resist some simple commands concerning the voluntary muscles. The individual is quite conscious of all that goes on. In a further stage, further phenomena can be produced, but still there is recollection of the hypnotic period. The most susceptible subjects may pass into a deep sleep known as artificial somnambulism. Here they respond to all or most suggestions made by the operator, and on awakening are oblivious to all they have heard, said, or done while in that state.
Hypnosis in some stages can be induced in a large percentage of normal people provided that they willingly submit to the process. Soldiers from active service during the World War were almost universally found easy subjects. For definite psychological reasons the insane are usually impervious to its influence.
A peculiar rela tionship exists between patient and operator in the deep stages. They are said to be "en rapport" ; only suggestions from the latter are accepted. Suggestibility is much increased though there are limitations to what suggestions will be acted upon. As already stated, the memory of the sleep period in deep hypnosis is lost, but this so-called amnesia can be much modified by suggestions. During hypnosis there is a great widening of the memory so that impressions long since forgotten can be revived. Much use of this phenomenon is made in treatment of various abnormalities. Sug gestions made during hypnosis may be carried out subsequently to waking, and at a definitely named hour. This post-hypnotic suggestion is highly important in that it demonstrates the uncon scious calculation of time and also shows that actions may be car ried out without awareness of the source of the impulse. Through suggestion under hypnotism the voluntary muscles may be para lysed or put in a state of tonic contraction, and also the action of involuntary muscular fibre modified so that arterial blood flow and bowel movement can be to some extent controlled. The spe cial senses tend to be rendered more acute, feeling and pain can often be abolished, and positive and negative hallucinations brought about. After repeated hypnosis many of these phenomena can be elicited even in the waking state by suggestion.
The possible dangers of hypnotism have been much exaggerated, and in the hands of an expert physician no fear need be felt. Repeated hypnosis in certain types will tend to increase a mental dissociation which already exists, and there is apt to arise a far too great dependency on the opera tor. Whether criminal action can be suggested is a debatable point, but it may be stated that there is good reason for believ ing that no hypnotized subject will follow a suggestion which is contrary to his fundamental personal character.
The practice of hypnotism as a method of medical treatment has now largely been relinquished and superseded by other forms of psychotherapy. It is a blind method of procedure in that the origin of any disorder is not thereby usually traced, and attacking the cause of illness and not its surface manifestation should always be our scientific aim. Its use has been mainly applied to the treatment of the so-called functional nervous diseases, and in these states of mental disharmony modern knowledge has placed physicians in a position to unravel the causation links by some analytical means. Nevertheless, hypnotic suggestion in appropri ate cases has its distinct sphere of usefulness. It may also be employed for the amelioration of pain, insomnia, stammering, sea sickness, etc.
Various theories of hypno sis have been propounded, and it may be viewed from both a physiological and psychological aspect. The factor of any mag netic or other power on the part of the operator has been long discarded, and that the phenomenon is subjective and due to sug gestion is now more or less universally held. Charcot regarded it as a form of artificial hysteria, and there are undoubted links between the two conditions. Modern authorities would explain it in terms of mental dissociation. In ordinary sleep it is pre sumed that the different nerve cells in the higher parts of the brain are dissociated from each other, and it may be that in hypnosis there is the same relative dissociation but that through the presence of the operator and the special link which exists between him and the subject one part of the nervous system is kept active and awake. Because the rest of the brain is quiescent, no contrary ideas are aroused to prevent the acceptance of sug gestions which are therefore acted upon immediately. The psycho analytic school would base the explanation of this artificial sleep and suggestibility on the idea that the operator symbolically represents the parent in the mind of the subject and that there is therefore an unconscious attitude of blind belief and obedi ence to the suggestions that may be made. The special rapport existing between the two would be thus interpreted.
It must not be forgotten that experimental work in hypnotism has been highly fruitful in adding to our knowledge of normal and abnormal psychology. Through its phenomena we are enabled better than in any other way to demonstrate the process of un conscious motivation, and to see in the mind the probability of a series of levels at which different mental processes take place.
(C. S. R.) See Moll, Hypnotism (trans. New York, 1893) ; Janet, L'Auto matisme psychologique (1889) ; McDougall, Abnormal Psychology.
