Suggestion at a distance: theory, practice and philosophy

As for me, guided by my experience, I do not take the side of those authors who attribute to suggestion in hypnosis the role of an all-powerful factor that can make anything out of a hypnotist. The power of his suggestion in this, as in other cases, undoubtedly depends not only on the ability to inspire and support suggestion, but also on the soil on which suggestion acts, in other words, on the mental nature of the person being subjected to suggestion. Thus, the mental resistance to suggestion produced in hypnosis largely depends both on the greater or lesser depth of hypnosis, and on the extent to which this suggestion is in conflict with the ideas, inclinations and beliefs of the person being subjected to suggestion. In the absence of such a contradiction, suggestion acts strongly and faithfully; on the contrary, when meeting with a strong nature holding opposite views, suggestion may be powerless.

But does this diminish the importance of suggestion as an important mental factor? Not at all. After all, there are not many people with strong character and persistent ideas. And there are few people who are so morally ill-mannered that they do not commit certain crimes, for example, against morality and property, only because of fear of responsibility before the law. Is it not enough, therefore, in one way or another, to lull them into this fear by hypnosis and instill faith in the possibility of avoiding responsibility before the law, while at the same time strengthening in their imagination the beneficial consequences of a crime in order to persuade them to commit this crime, which under other conditions they would never have done?

But we would digress very far if we were to elaborate on this issue in detail. Therefore, without touching on the more purely practical side of the question of the meaning of hypnotic crimes, we will note here that hypnosis is of deep interest to us not only from the practical side, but also with regard to studying the question of the most favorable conditions of suggestion. What really explains the fact that hypnosis is good at suggestion? One can think that hypnosis, as a state close to or akin to normal sleep, in itself already constitutes a favorable condition for suggestion. But experience shows us that the degree of suggestibility does not always go hand in hand with the depth of sleep. There are very deep degrees of hypnosis, such as the lethargic phase of Charcot, which are completely inaccessible to suggestion. On the contrary, in other cases, already weak degrees of hypnosis are characterized by extraordinary suggestibility.

It is also known that ordinary sleep for the most part does not constitute a favorable condition for suggestion, although in some states of natural sleep there are conditions as favorable for suggestion as in hypnosis.

Hence it is clear that the degree of suggestibility is determined not by hypnosis or sleep itself, but by that special state of consciousness or mental activity that we have in hypnosis, and sometimes in ordinary sleep.

These conditions, which favor suggestion in hypnosis, consist in the fact that with a change in normal consciousness, expressed by a greater or lesser falling asleep of the "I" and not excluding communication with the outside world, or at least not excluding communication with the hypnotist, the suggestions produced by the latter enter the mental sphere directly and independently of the personal consciousness of the hypnotized subject in other words, besides his "I". Anchored in those depths of the soul that have often been called and are called unconscious or subconscious and which are more correctly called the sphere of general consciousness, these suggestions subsequently enter by themselves into the sphere of personal consciousness and, without being recognized as extraneous suggestions, since their primary source for personal consciousness remains hidden, subjugate personal consciousness more or less to a significant extent.

Thus, the whole essence of hypnotic suggestions lies in the fact that the hypnotized person experiences a special state of passivity, which is why suggestions act on him in such an overwhelming way.

However, there is no doubt that the state of passivity is only one of the most favorable conditions for the introduction of suggestion into the unconscious sphere. It is only a suitable environment for suggestion, eliminating to a greater or lesser extent the interference of personal consciousness. Since, however, this state of passivity does not go hand in hand with the depth of sleep, but also depends to a large extent on individual conditions, it is obvious from here that the degree of susceptibility to suggestions is not in direct relation to the depth of hypnosis.

SUGGESTION IN THE WAKING STATE

Experience further shows that there are persons for whom the waking state of consciousness is almost as favorable a condition for suggestion as hypnosis. In such persons, any suggestion at all is possible even in a completely awake state, therefore, with the presence of will. In short, in these individuals, suggestions can be made in the waking state as easily and simply as in others in a state of hypnosis.

For the validity of suggestion, nothing is required from such a person except that he listens and does not resist. If he begins to counteract suggestion, it is enough to strengthen the latter, and if this is not enough, then it is only necessary to suggest that resistance is impossible, and the suggestion opens up full scope.

The whole peculiarity of these people boils down to the fact that they allow an extraneous idea to invade their consciousness passively, without interfering with their "I" in the essence and criticism of this idea, in other words, letting it into their consciousness without active attention, just as a person perceives something in distraction.

Everyone knows that, being distracted and inattentive, we can give answers to questions that are completely unsuitable for us; we can admit what we would undoubtedly reject if we treated the question with attention, often we do not even know that this question was asked to us, in other words, we have a real amnesia. On the other hand, when distracting attention, we often do not notice our feelings, we can even drown out sharp painful sensations. In other cases, we experience unaccountable longing or mental pain for no apparent reason, or one or another motive may be imposed on us, one or another idea may be instilled in us, etc

. In short, in a state of distraction, when our "I" is busy with something or distracted in a certain direction, we we get a state favorable to suggestion, as a result of which, being introduced into the psychic sphere, it penetrates into it in addition to the "I" or, at least, without its active participation and cannot be subjected to appropriate criticism and processing.

Thus, there is no doubt that a facilitated susceptibility to suggestions is sometimes observed in a normal mental state. But the bottom line is that in this case, the suggested persons in relation to the suggestions made, believing in their magical power, are unable to detect any mental resistance and obey them completely passively.

Due to this, suggestions easily enter their mental sphere in addition to their "I", more precisely, in addition to their personal consciousness, therefore they are grafted directly, so to speak, into the very depths of the mental sphere, in addition to any participation of the will and act as irresistibly on the subject as suggestions produced in hypnosis.

It goes without saying that in this kind of person, suggestion in the waking state can be used for treatment as easily as suggestions produced in hypnosis.

The following case may serve as an example of the validity of such suggestions produced in the waking state.

In the autumn of 1896, we admitted to the clinic a young man who suffered from severe convulsive hysterical attacks and complete paralysis of the lower extremities, which developed in one of the hysterical attacks.

This paralysis lasted for more than 1.5 months, not yielding to any therapeutic methods at all, and thus threatened to turn into those chronic paralysis that last for years, not yielding to cure.

But during the examination of this patient, together with the doctors of the clinic, his eyes were closed and then, by suggestion, he was immediately completely cured of paralysis and began to walk in hypnosis. When he was woken up, he was surprised to find that he was standing on his feet and could walk freely.

The patient was delighted to go to his room himself and amazed all those who had seen him in a wheelchair in a state of complete paralysis of the lower extremities a few minutes before.

Since then, the patient had only hysterical epileptic seizures, which happened to the patient quite often and often lasted for a very long time, if they were not stopped in time by appropriate suggestions.

Before demonstrating the patient at a lecture in front of students, I examined him again and made sure that suggestions can be freely made to him in a waking state. Immediately, he was impressed with the cessation of convulsive seizures and his recovery.

The suggestion had such an effect on the patient that he completely recovered and the seizures stopped.

The next day, at a lecture, a patient in a completely awake state could be inspired with a variety of convulsions, contractures, paralysis, illusions and hallucinations, in short, anything.

I asked the patient many times how he could explain to himself the effect of suggestion in reality, but he only expressed surprise along with other people present. Over time, however, this patient developed two or three more mild hysterical seizures under the influence of special occasions, but these were only isolated seizures, which then, after new suggestions, were no longer repeated.

In another case, the typesetter, who suffered from clear signs of lead poisoning, had, along with right-sided hemianesthesia and pain in the left side of the head, hemichorrhea on the right side of the body, especially pronounced in the right arm. The patient had to constantly hold this hand with his left hand, as it greatly disturbed him with constant convulsive movements, which were even more intensified with every agitation and examination. The patient, being an insolvent person, had been without any work for many months, being in the full sense a helpless person. But it was enough to convince him once, without resorting to hypnosis, that his convulsions had stopped and he could use his hand freely again, and it turned out that the convulsions immediately disappeared completely. Since then, the patient could at any time cause a convulsion at will, thanks to a simple suggestion, and also simply destroy it. It turned out to be possible to do the same with his pain and with hemianesthesia, which disappeared at a word of suggestion and could be recalled in a waking state any number of times. Upon recovery, this subject reproduced all his painful disorders under the influence of suggestion, among other things, both at a lecture to students and at the same lecture he was freed from them.

Needless to say, we had in the clinic and in its outpatient clinic many other patients who, in their waking state, also easily carry out various suggestions, such as illusions, hallucinations, etc., and who, with these suggestions in their waking state, were easily cured of various nervous seizures. Usually, every year in the lectures I give on hypnosis, I demonstrate a number of patients with excellent suggestibility in a waking state.

The above examples, the likes of which could be cited in many ways, leave no doubt that suggestions in the waking state in certain cases can be just as easily implemented and just as valid as suggestions in the state of hypnosis. But even in cases where there is no such suggestibility in the waking state, there is often no significant need for sleep to influence suggestion. All that is needed is faith in the power of the suggestion being made and complete concentration of thought on the content of this suggestion is possible, in other words, it is necessary for the subject to surrender to the action of this suggestion completely. When the doctor reaches these conditions in a waking state, then he can freely dispense with hypnotic sleep during suggestion treatment, which in some cases even interferes with suggestion, if, for example, the patient, believing in the magical power of only suggestions produced in hypnosis, does not fall asleep deeply enough.

Thus, for suggestion, in essence, no sleep is needed, even no subordination of the will of the person being suggested is needed, everything can remain as usual, and nevertheless suggestion, entering the psychic sphere in addition to personal consciousness, or the so-called "I", acts on the latter as if magically, subordinating him to the suggested idea.

To prove this truth, there is no need to even turn to one or another pathological example, since we can learn similar and no less vivid examples outside clinics. It is known what magical power the conspiracies of healers have in some cases, which immediately stop bleeding, and the healing value of the so-called sympathetic remedies, which were so readily resorted to, especially in the old days, with the strong spread of faith in these remedies, is no less well known. The well-known healing value of the royal hand, the magical effect of bread pills, the treatment with yellow and red electricity by Matthew, the once famous treatment of Baron V. in St. Petersburg with simple Neva water and other indifferent means, the magic word of Abbot Faria, who healed the sick with one command, the treatment of paralytic patients with one zouave, known in Paris, is based on this suggestion in the waking state., who used only imperative suggestion for this purpose , etc .

One of the good examples of suggestion in the waking state, produced on a mass of people at the same time, are the famous sessions of Mesmerism during the glory period of its founder Mesmer. The latter arranged a special tub, around which more than thirty persons were simultaneously magnetized. The patients, having placed themselves around the tub in several rows and holding on to movable rubber handles, connected with each other with a rope around the torso or connected with each other with their hands. Then the patients remained waiting. During these sessions, complete silence was observed, but the sounds of a harmonica, a piano, or the singing of a human voice were usually heard from the next room. The phenomena that were observed in patients and which were explained by special magnetic currents, according to the description of an eyewitness of the Bailiff, were as follows: "Some patients are completely calm and do not experience anything, others cough, spit, feel slight pain, local or general warmth and sweat; others agitate and fall into convulsions, unusual in their numbers, duration and strength; sometimes these convulsions last for more than three hours and are characterized by involuntary jerky movements of all members, the whole body, spasms of the throat, tremors of the ilium and epiglottis, blurred and wandering eyes, piercing screams, tears, hiccups and uncontrollable laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of fatigue or drowsiness, a special kind of exhaustion, and even sleep.

At the slightest unexpected sound, the patients shuddered, and any change in tone or tempo in playing the piano affected them to the point that some later more intense movement acted in a stunning way and resumed the intensified convulsions.

However, there were also such subjects who, trying to suppress this state in themselves, turned to each other, chatted affectedly, laughed, thanks to which they naturally managed to prevent a crisis. Those who submitted entirely to the magnetizer quickly succumbed to an imaginary sleep, his voice, gesture and even look brought them to themselves.

In view of the constancy of such phenomena, it is impossible to refrain from recognizing the powerful force that dominates the sick and, as it were, emanating from the magnetizer. This convulsive state is called a crisis. It has been noticed that of the patients who fall into crisis, most are women, few are men. It has also been noticed that the crisis occurs within one or two hours and that, having appeared in one, it then gradually, after a short time, is revealed in all the others." Similar examples are possible today. Binet and Fere. Animal magnetism. St. Petersburg, 1890, pp. 15 and 16. So, more recently in Berlin, the authorities were greatly concerned about the spread of occultism, which was expressed, among other things, in peculiar methods of healing. According to the newspapers, two Englishwomen, English teachers, set up a kind of clinic in a Berlin women's lyceum, in which patients were treated without medication with mysterious spells alone. These spells seemed to direct the healing influence of some secret forces on the patient, and even the unbelieving patients recovered. By the way, a lot of ladies of high Berlin society believed in the mysterious gift of the mentioned Englishwomen. Their success was extraordinary both in terms of fame and money.

THE MEANING OF FAITH

Faith in general plays an extraordinary role as a factor contributing to suggestion. One of the clearest examples of such an influence of faith is the recent exploits in America of the German emigrant Schlater, who, starting as a shoemaker in Danver, imagined that his vocation was to enlighten the whole of America with the gospel teaching. Since then, he closes his trade and, turning into a wanderer, pretends to be the messiah and heals many by laying on his hand. Soon, the rumor of the miracles he performed led to crowds of adherents following him, in front of whom miraculous healings were performed. Many patients began to flock to him, eager for his hand, so that he no longer had time to satisfy everyone who sought his help.

To borrow a description of one scene made by a reporter and characterizing in vivid strokes the influence of the Actor on the crowd: "Men, women and children with the stamp of mental suffering on their faces were visible from all sides; every minute the crowd increased, and soon the whole area represented a sea of heads, as far as one could cover with a glance. Then a sudden movement passed through the assembly, and even the slightest whisper died away… Schlater came. As I approached him, I was overcome by a supernatural fear that was difficult to analyze. My faith in this man grew in spite of my reason. The waking, controlling, thinking, reasoning self began to waver, lose its strength, and the reflexive, encouraging self began to strengthen. When he let go of my hands, my soul recognized some kind of power in this man, which my mind and my brain apparently resisted. When he opened my hands, I felt that I could fall on my knees in front of him and call him the lord." B. Sidis. Psychology of suggestion. p. 302.

The actor enjoyed special fame in the state of Colorado. Then he went to Mexico, after which he soon disappeared, and no one knew what had become of him. His followers claimed that he had gone to other countries to preach, others that he had ascended to heaven. Taking advantage of this, his imitators, false Hatters, began to appear here and there.

In the end, the skeleton of a real Hatter was found quite accidentally under a tree by two Sierra Madre researchers 50 miles from casas grandes in the province of Chiguaguay.

This striking example, taken from the life of modern society, shows us with all the vividness what the effect of suggestion can be in the waking state, provided blind faith in the power of the influence produced.

The well-known healing influence of faith, to which, among other things, the studies of N. Tuke, Regnard, Littre, Banrneville, Charcot (La foie, qui guerit), and others are devoted, has been pronounced here with all vividness. Among other things, faith is such a favorable ground for autosuggestion that it often performs miraculous cures in this way even where ordinary suggestion proves powerless. In this regard, the example of Schlater makes clear to us many of those sudden healings during religious inspiration that were already known in ancient times (for example, in the Egyptian temples of Serapis or in the temples of Asclepius of ancient Greece), which happened at all times and which are still repeated today. The healings that took place at the beginning of our era, as well as during the Middle Ages (healings at the grave of Louis IX, in the Basilica of St. Denis, etc.), later the so—called Saint-Medard phenomena, are especially well known.

For the sake of illustration, I will cite here a case of miraculous healing that happened several years ago in St. Petersburg.

The boy G. suffered from paralysis of hysterical origin, the nature of which, unfortunately, remained unrecognized by a well-known psychiatrist in St. Petersburg, who recognized him as incurable. The paralyzed boy remained helpless for many years, when suddenly one day in a dream he saw the face of the Mother of God, who ordered him to worship the holy icon, located in the chapel along the Shlisselburg Highway near the Glass Factory and known for being struck by lightning in 1888. everything inside the chapel was destroyed, but only the image of the Mother of God was preserved, and her face turned out to be dotted with copper coins from the national team of the people's circle in the form of a crown. Upon waking up, G. persistently began to ask himself to be taken to the said icon and, when his wish was fulfilled, it turned out that already during the prayer service he was able to stand on his feet and from then on began to walk.

An equally instructive case occurred several years ago in Moscow with a private associate professor D., who was diagnosed by a well-known specialist with an incurable skin disease on his head in the form of sycosis. It turned out that it was enough for him to heal that an old woman took him to church and prayed with him there.

Even earlier, in Moscow, there was a case of miraculous healing of blindness, obviously of a hysterical nature, with one touch to an image that was in a silver robe, as a result of which, during the period of the then fascination with metallotherapy, some doctors tended to explain this case by the action of metal, whereas it was most simply explained by the influence of faith. We still see the healing influence of the latter at the confluence of worshippers, such as in France in Lourdes, in Ireland in M. Unfortunately, we have in Kiev and other places, especially on certain solemn occasions, for example during large religious festivals, when the religious enthusiasm of the flocking people reaches an extraordinary degree.

But is not the influence of faith more or less revealed in relation to the doctor who approaches the patient's bed? Everyone knows what a magical healing effect one comforting word from a doctor can acquire and, conversely, how sometimes the harsh cold verdict of a doctor who does not know or does not want to know the power of suggestion has a deadly effect on a patient in the literal sense of the word.

How many patients, turning to a doctor for the treatment of their toothache, must admit already in the doctor's waiting room that their help becomes unnecessary due to the fact that the toothache disappeared even before the patient could see his doctor.

It should be noted, however, that not all people blindly believe in the power of one or another doctor in relation to their disease, and therefore the mental influence of a doctor on his patients is not the same.

INVOLUNTARY SUGGESTION AND MUTUAL SUGGESTION

In general, it must be admitted that, since most people cannot restrain themselves from involuntary resistance to extraneous mental influences, it is natural that the effect of suggestion in the waking state to a more or less pronounced degree is not possible for everyone. In order to carry out suggestion in these cases, it is precisely the preparatory environment mentioned above that is needed, which eliminates involuntary resistance on the part of the person being subjected to suggestion.

Nevertheless, in everyday life we often encounter the effect of involuntary suggestion produced by the natural communication of one person with another.

This suggestion occurs unnoticed by the person on whom it acts, and therefore usually does not cause any resistance on his part. True, it rarely acts immediately, more often slowly, but it is surely strengthened in the mental sphere.