The dissociation of a personality : a biographical study in abnormal psychology / by Morton Prince.

  • Morton Prince
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The dissociation of a personality : a biographical study in abnormal psychology / by Morton Prince. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Q. “ What prevents you ? ” A. “Nothing.” Q. “ Do you mean you can’t fix your mind ? ” [As al- ready stated by her when awake as Miss Beauchamp at the interview of the previous day: page 30. ] A. “ Yes, that is what I mean. I can’t read — can’t fix my mind at all.” Q. “ What happens ? ” A. “ I begin thinking of all sorts of things the minute I try to read. Sometimes I throw the book down on a chair or table. I throw it down hard and closed after try- ing to read.” [Illustrates at my request] Q. “ Have you ever been so before this past week ? ” A. “ No, never.” When pressed for an explanation of her unusual action her answer was characteristic of subjects exhibiting phe- nomena which they cannot explain: “People do not always have a reason for everything they do.” This ap- parently simple action had more significance than would appear on the surface. Though not open to absolute proof, it is morally certain that it was an example of a suggested post-hypnotic phenomenon and the prelude to many similar exhibitions which I actually observed. For the benefit of the uninitiated it may be explained that in suitable sub- jects if a suggestion is given in hypnosis that a certain action be performed later after waking, the subject will, at the appointed time, carry out the suggested idea; or perhaps more correctly, the suggested idea will complete itself without the subject knowing why he does the action, which sometimes is performed in an absent- minded way without his even knowing he has done it. Sometimes the subject enters a semi-hypnotic state at the moment of carrying out the command.^ 1 The following is an amusing example of this well known phenomenon. I told a subject, Mrs. R., in hypnosis, to put on her bonnet and wear it during