Expert Guide to Hypnotism: Techniques, Phenomena, and Scientific Understanding (G.H. Estabrooks, 1943)
Unlock the secrets of the hypnotic trance with this detailed explainer video, based on the seminal work "Hypnotism" by G.H. Estabrooks. This comprehensive guide explores the science of hypnotism, drawing clear distinctions between popular myths and psychological facts prevalent through 1943.
Core Concepts and Induction Techniques
This video breaks down the process of inducing the hypnotic state, emphasizing that suggestion is the key to hypnotism. Learn the favored methodology of the psychologist, which relies on quiet relaxation and a formula where the operator “talks sleep”. The standard induction proceeds through definite steps, beginning with influencing small muscle groups like eye-closure, progressing to tests like the stiffening of the arm, and induced paralyzes involving larger muscles.
Only about one in five individuals reaches the deepest stage, known as somnambulism. Estabrooks, noting that susceptibility does not relate to “will power” or intelligence, outlines techniques for identifying good subjects, such as observing individuals who talk or walk in their sleep, or those who exhibit lethargy and unwillingness to exert themselves during initial challenges.
Explore alternative methods, including the high-pressure attack used by the professional stage hypnotist. This method, which rejects the quiet relaxation preferred by laboratory scientists, employs dramatic tests like having the subject fall backward or locking their hands together. The video also covers specialized approaches, such as changing normal sleep into hypnotic sleep (sleep transfer), and the disguised technique utilized for sensitive situations like the detection of crime or warfare, often using psychological apparatus like a lie detector or blood pressure device as a “front”. You will even learn how the voice of the hypnotist can be recorded onto a victrola record to induce the trance.
Key Phenomena and Research Insights
Dive into the bizarre and complex phenomena of deep hypnosis:
Hallucinations and Visions: Discover how an operator can suggest the subject sees a black dog or an elephant. Estabrooks notes that the final test of hypnotism is generally the hallucination, requiring the subject to be in deep somnambulism.
Waking Hypnotism: See how phenomena, particularly muscular interference, can be achieved with the subject fully awake, a concept extensively researched by Professor W. R. Wells of Syracuse University.
Anaesthesia and Analgesia: Understand the ability to produce a loss of sensation, or analgesia, used historically by doctors like Esdaile in India for thousands of operations. Estabrooks discusses the use of a variac to test pain resistance, noting subjects in somnambulism can withstand high voltage without flinching.
Rapport and Dissociation: Explore the curious condition of rapport, where the subject supposedly listens only to the operator, although experiments reveal the subject hears everything and may even engage in “acting” or “fraud” to cooperate. The concept of dissociation—where consciousness is split—is introduced as potentially key to understanding the nature of hypnotism and related automatic phenomena.
Contradictory Research: Learn about classic scientific disagreements, such as the debate over muscular strength in hypnosis, highlighted by the conflicting results of N. C. Nicholson (Johns Hopkins) and P. C. Young (Harvard). For sane and critical discussion of these phenomena, reference is made to the work of Clark L. Hull of Yale University.
Advanced Applications and Related States
The video thoroughly investigates the power of posthypnotic suggestion. These delayed commands—such as telling a subject to call Professor Fowler about a phantom black dog after awakening—are characterized by a compulsive force and the subject’s tendency toward rationalization. Illustrative cases include a Harvard graduate student attempting to resist handing Professor William McDougall the ace of spades.
Furthermore, the relationship between hypnotism and other unusual states is explored:
Autosuggestion: Learn techniques for self-induction, associated with figures like Coue and discussed as a method for self-improvement and developing abilities like concentration.
Automatic Phenomena: Review states like automatic writing, table tilting, and the ouija board, all attributed to dissociation and highly correlated with hypnotic susceptibility.
Multiple Personality and the Psychotic Complex: The source material connects hypnotic suggestion to mental disorders, suggesting the Freudian “complex” is literally its twin brother. Famous, highly complex multiple personality cases—such as the Beauchamp case studied by Dr. Morton Prince (B1 the Angel, BIII Sally, BIV the Woman) and the similar Doris Fischer case studied by Dr. W. F. Prince—are detailed, showing how dissociation leads to separate personalities.
Historical Context: Trace hypnotism from the “magnetic fluid” of Mesmer, who was famously pronounced a fraud by a commission including Benjamin Franklin, through the establishment of modern psychological practice by Liebeault and Bernheim at Nancy, France. Contrast their work with the highly criticized “major hypnotism” theory proposed by Charcot and supported by his pupil Alfred Binet.
Hypnotism and Power: Finally, the video stresses the broader sociological importance, arguing that leaders like Hitler utilize techniques nearly identical to the stage hypnotist, leveraging emotion to sensitize the brain and create powerful, non-logical mass suggestion.
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