A first book in psychology / by Mary Whiton Calkins.

  • Mary Whiton Calkins
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A first book in psychology / by Mary Whiton Calkins. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    406/446 page 388
    It is obvious that the main value, as well as the chief danger, of hypnotism lies in just this susceptibility of the hypnotic subject to post-hypnotic suggestion. Physicians and ‘mental healers’ who make use of hypnotism suggest to the patient that he is freed from disturbing symptoms, and that he will remain freed from them after waking. Not merely nervous diseases, so called, but all diseases and symptoms which have no anatomical cause have been successfully treated by hypnotism. In unscrupulous hands the ability to give post-hypnotic sug¬ gestions may, of course, be grossly abused. There are reasonably well-attested instances of crimes committed and of large sums of money given away, in accordance with post-hypnotic suggestion. In such cases the discovery of the guilty hypnotist is made difficult by the fact, already indicated, that the hypnotized subject so seldom remembers the events of the hypnotic state. The best authorities, however, agree in the conclusion that only individuals predisposed to criminal acts can be influenced to actual crime. It should be stated very emphatically that no person can be hypnotized against his will. Hypnosis is induced only when the attention is concentrated on the hypnotizer. On the other hand, the habit of yielding attention, like all other habits, is readily formed. It follows that a person several times hypnotized be¬ comes very readily susceptible. Evidently there is grave danger in a tendency to yield oneself to the exclusive control of others. For these reasons the hypnotic state should be induced only for serious purposes — to cure disease or to extend knowledge; and only persons possessed at once of medical and of psychological training should give hypnotic suggestions. c. Abnormal Experiences in the Waking Life (1) There are countless authentic illustrations of waking halluci¬ nations and illusions. The voices which called to Joan of Arc, the devil who used to argue with Luther, and the daimon of Sokrates are illustrations which at once suggest themselves. It is not always easy to decide, from the descriptions which we have of them,
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