To successfully effect hypnosis some co-operation on the part of the patient is necessary. This may be essentially passive, but it is the inability to resist that constitutes the neurotic stigma. A. A. Eshner (Phila. Polyclinic, Dee. 11, '97).
[The first person whom I ever hyp notized I did so without intending or thinking of hypnotism at the time. The subject unintentionally and involuntarily went into a profound state of hypnosis. J. T. ESKRIDGE.] The effects obtained by using the method of SalpOtrikre and that of the school of Nancy compared. To produce hypnosis the method of verbal suggestion is much more quickly and permanently active than mere fixation of an object without verbal suggestion. A Hoffman (Dent. med. Woch., Sept. 14, '99).
Realizing the dangers that may result from practicing hypnotism by the phys ical method (although, as is readily seen, no method is purely physical) and the unpleasant medico-legal questions that might arise against the hypnotist in the employment of this method, I have adopted almost exclusively the follow ing: I first explain to the patient that hypnosis, as I endeavor to induce it, is nothing more than a condition into which the person voluntarily places him self by allowing his mind to follow my suggestions to the exclusion of every other thought. That I have not and never shall have any power to put him to sleep without his consent and desire.
That after I get him to sleep I can make suggestions which he will carry out in his normal or wakened state without thought or voluntary effort on his part, and by this means I shall, to a great ex tent, be able to keep his mind off himself or his ailments. After the patient has comprehended what I desire, he is placed in a comfortable posture, either sitting or reclining, preferably the former, when I request him to close his eyes and think of sleep as I suggest the phenomena to him, telling him that the whole matter is in his hands and I have nothing to do with his sleeping except as I suggest its phenomena which he must try to realize that he is experiencing. I endeavor in every case to free the patient's mind of any thought of the mysterious. I now request him to think of sleep, of his going to sleep, and repeat two or three times: "Your eyelids are getting heavy; you begin to feel drowsy; your head feels full and heavy; you experience an increased sense of drowsiness and a stronger in clination to sleep; your eyelids are get ting heavier; you are feeling more and more drowsy; your arms begin to feel numb, sleepy, heavy, and powerless; a sleepy sensation is passing over your entire body and legs; my voice seems far ther and farther off; now it appears to be far away, and to come from a great distance; your eyelids are now decidedly heavy, and you are going into a deep and soothing sleep; now you are asleep and cannot waken until I tell you to do so; you cannot open your eyes." If the patient does not succeed in opening his eyes on my requesting him to do so, but at the same time positively assuring him that he cannot open them, I begin to make the necessary therapeutic sugges tions in regard to his ailment.
A combination of two or more of the different methods of inducing hypnosis is often desirable and may be necessary to hypnotize the very nervous, the ap prehensive, the self-conscious, and the hysterical. I have not employed any but the suggestive method for a number of years, although I have frequently failed by this means in hypnotizing subjects that I am sure could have been put into an hypnotic state by the use of other methods. Many of these, I am equally sure, would have been benefited by thera peutic suggestions made while they were in a condition of hypnosis.
[I hesitate to use any means that may be employed to deprive a person of con sciousness against his will. I have never hypnotized a woman except iu the pres ence of a third party, and for a number of years I have refused to hypnotize any one unless a third party was present. After I have hypnotized a woman I al ways suggest that she will never come to my office alone. J. T. ESKRIDGE.] Four rules formulated by Bernheim and Beaunis, which should always guide • one in the application of hypnotism to the treatment of all disease: (a) Never use hypnotism without the consent of the subject or the legal guardian. (b) Never hypnotize except in the presence of a third party, who represents the subject. (c) Never make suggestions without the patient's consent: those necessary to effect a cure. (d) Never use authority over a patient to secure his consent, if you have reason to expect disagreeable effects from the experiment. J. R. Rose (Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., May 20, '99).
Awaking the Subject from Hypnosis.
—The patient should never be awakened suddenly or in a state of agitation., One of the simplest methods is to suggest to the patients that they are gradually awaking and that within twenty or thirty seconds they will be wide awake with eyes open and feeling first rate, etc. One may suggest that the subject will grad ually awake and then blow gently on the face. The eyelids may be raised and the patient called by name.
Susceptible Subjects.—All persons are not equally susceptible to hypnotic in fluences and some apparently cannot be hypnotized at all. A number partially yield to hypnotism, but to an insufficient degree to make them follow out sugges tions. When hypnosis is attempted by the operator suggesting to his subject the natural phenomena of sleep, those that are ordinarily termed hysterical and those that are intensely self-con scious are not easily hypnotized. On the other hand, when the physical, or Char cot, method of inducing hypnosis is em ployed, the hysterical, provided they are not at the time greatly agitated by their own thoughts and apprehensions, are readily hypnotized. The somnambu lists, or sleep-walkers, yield most readily of all subjects that I have encountered. Those trained to unquestioning and im plicit obedience, such as sailors and sol diers, make excellent subjects, as a rule.
[I have found that the Latin races are more easily hypnotized than the inhab itants of the northern portions of con tinental Europe, or the Englishman, Scotchman, Irishman, or American. J.