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         MindNet Journal - Vol. 1, No. 92
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         V E R I C O M M sm                 "Quid veritas est?"
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    The views and opinions expressed below are not necessarily the
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    ARE WE STILL MESMERIZED?

    By James M. Silver

    Copyright 1996 ALL Rights Reserved

    November 1996

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    Many of you readers may be familiar with facts contained in this
    overview.

    If not, then it serves its purpose to inform. That purpose,
    however, is directed primarily at skeptics who FEEL that hypnosis
    or mind control is but a fantasy of an aberrant mind, or mere
    carnival entertainment and doubt the possibility of its use by
    those of malicious, self-important intent. The actuality is that:
    for at least 50 years, there has existed SCIENTIFIC proof of the
    mechanisms of this still mysterious, manipulative power of which
    the human mind is capable...for the common good, or for evil.

    A frog lays belly up in the palm of your hand. Then you tap its
    belly or snap your fingers over it a few times. It remains
    immobile for so long, that unless awakened by tapping or acid on
    its skin, it will shrivel and die.

    You press a fowl gently to the ground. You draw a straight
    chalkline rapidly forward from its beak. It remains transfixed in
    the uncomfortable position until stimulated.

    Place the eagle's head under its wing. Then you swing it to and
    fro several times. Afterward, it remains quiet and stays in
    whatever unusual or uncomfortable position it's placed in.

    The cobra rears upward. You give it sudden blow to the back of
    the neck, then hold it up and straighten it into a rigid staff.
    Other snakes may also be "charmed."

    The shaman or witch doctor chants, making magical passes over
    you, fanning the smoke from the sacred herbs. He tells you the
    evil spirits have been driven away; you are now strong,
    healthy...and you are.

    The yogi says to sit quietly. Close your eyes. Turn your eyes
    upward (crossed) and contemplate your third eye. You all hum the
    sacred sound...AUM. After a time you are in a state of deep
    relaxation.

    Your alarm clock is broken. As you drift off to sleep, you
    remind yourself that you have to be up by 6 a.m. You awaken a
    few minutes before the alarm sounds.

    The mother is asleep, oblivious to the thunderous storm outside.
    Her baby utters a slight cry; immediately she is awake.

    You get home from work and notice a serious bruise or cut. You
    have no idea how or when it happened. That is because your
    attention was elsewhere at the time. You were mesmerized,
    entranced; anesthetized by virtue of concentrating on whatever
    it was you were doing.

    All the above are examples of the phenomena known as hypnosis.
    Until its scientific discovery around 1840 it was occult.
    Throughout history, in all cultures world-wide...usually in an
    esoteric-religious guise...it was privy to but a privileged few.
    The secrets of healing and magical rites were passed on through
    kinship or trial by discipline. Towards the end of the Middle
    Ages (mid-to-late 1400s), there appeared several physicians of
    prominence worth noting in relation to the evolution of this
    discovery.

    Italian physician Geronymo Cardano was also a mathematician and
    philosopher. He published a work describing how he could put
    himself into an unconscious, sleep-like state by staring at a
    shiny object for a long period of time.

    German (Swiss-born) Phillipus Paracelsus' theory was: man the
    microcosm, as part of the macrocosm (the universe), was
    controlled by sidereal magnetism from the heavenly bodies. He
    called his methods "healing by sympathetic magnetism." An astute
    observer, he watched monks heal patients by letting them gaze at
    a crystal ball until they fell asleep. Fascinated by this
    "moon-struck" behavior, he wrote about a Basel tavern hostess.
    For months she had accused her servants of stealing. After
    finding blood on her bed-clothes and broken glass on her table,
    further investigation showed that she was a sleepwalker. Her
    "second self" had hidden the money in the roof; yet her "real
    self" remembered none of it.

    Heinrich Agrippa, a contemporary of Paracelsus, was Court
    Physician to Franz I and Louis of Savoy. Even so, he found
    himself imprisoned for conjuring; bewitching men and animals;
    disdaining the science of his time. He was released though
    because, while imprisoned, he worked cures with his magnetic
    (hypnotic) methods. Agrippa observed, "The fluctuating emotions
    of the psyche, springing from phantasy, not only influence our
    own organism but take strong effect on others... They can bring
    about the cure of others as well as induce mental and physical
    sickness in them."

    Both Agrippa and Paracelsus achieved great stature as physicians,
    even though "nature conjurers." They used natural methods of
    healing including hypno-suggestion, herbs, chemical drugs and
    rituals. Paracelsus, considered by many to be the father of
    modern medicine, wrote, "Medicine is not merely a science, but an
    art. The character of the physician may act more powerfully upon
    the patient than the drugs employed."

    For most of the late 1700s and until about 1850 it was known
    as "animal magnetism." This was the name Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer
    gave to the mysterious force with which he had cured so many
    people's ills; 60 to 70 percent, it was said. His notoriety
    spread. Mesmer's dissertation at the University of Vienna in
    1766 caused a wave of interest in unusual phenomena that lasted
    for decades. The cultural impact of his life is apparent; from
    it came the word "mesmerized," meaning hypnotized.

    Mesmer believed, "Man should live and die, healthy and free, in
    harmony with God and the universe." He was to have been a
    theologian, but a dramatic personal experience altered his life's
    path...and ours. As it was told, he came across a wounded man;
    and, noticed that the severity of the man's bleeding changed
    with the distance of his presence. He approached, made several
    passes over the wound with his hands; the bleeding stopped
    entirely. He went on to study at University of Vienna with
    world-famed astronomer, Jesuit father Maximillian Hell. Father
    Hell did "magnetic" healings, using steel magnets shaped like
    the afflicted organ. Mesmer also studied the ecclesiastical
    exorcisms and laying-on of hands.

    Mesmerism, though theoretically false, was the first world-wide
    trend to combine biological and therapeutic aims. He and his
    students tried to clarify the phenomena, both animal and human,
    as concrete concepts of natural science...not along mystical,
    super-natural, magical lines. They applied these practices to
    the methodical healing of body-mind distresses. "This in turn
    became the source of the scientific psychotherapy of the present
    day," according to research neurologist and psychiatrist F.A.
    Volgysei.

    Other methods were brought to Paris in the late 1700s by Abbe'
    Faria, a priest and scholar who had lived in the Orient for many
    years. One method he used was to sit opposite, staring at the
    subject, then suddenly and energetically shout "Sleep!" Another
    involved rigid fixation of the gaze for a lengthy time, then
    stroking movements, similar to those of Mesmer. Faria attributed
    the effects he elicited to be psychic, not magnetic, in origin.
    He wrote specifically that, "Healthy subjects could be charmed
    into sickness and sick ones into health" through spoken
    influences. A tropical disease and premature death ended this
    gifted man's research.

    Credit for the scientific discovery of hypnosis belongs to
    Dr. James Braid, an ophthalmic surgeon. In 1841 he saw a stage
    performance by a Frenchman who practiced magnetism. He was struck
    by the common eye activity of the subjects; the eyelids
    quivered...the eyes rolled up...then "sleep." Probably because
    of his background, he concluded that the essence of animal
    magnetism was eye-fatigue; later, fatigue of the "inner or
    psychic eye." He was first to use the technical terms "hypnosis"
    (from the Greek word "hypnos," meaning sleep), hypnotism,
    hypnotist, suggestion, and mono-ideation, in the sense they are
    used today. Even though the name is the same today, hypnosis is
    not sleep.

    Braid's chief objective was "not to exploit those elements that
    give rise to superstitious and magical belief, but to ensure
    that everything mystical is excluded from the circle of
    scientific hypnotic practice." His theory legitimized the various
    phenomena observed, whether in animals or humans, by noting the
    similarities. Two examples were rigidity through fright and
    autonomous behavior with restricted consciousness.

    Based on his theory, Braid developed a simple technical procedure
    called the "fixation technique." He would place a bright, shiny
    object in front of the subject's eyes (human or animal). It
    would be just above the bridge of the nose, about forehead level.
    He found that usually, with no other influences at work, eye and
    mental fatigue would follow. The consequence was a simple
    hypnotic dynamic, under which all of Mesmer's experiments,
    including cures, could be demonstrated. Being primarily a
    surgeon, Braid recommended and used hypnotic anesthesia on his
    patients. There were other physicians who had been using
    mesmeric-magnetic techniques to bring about insensibility. Some
    integrated the two methods and achieved remarkable success rates
    (80 to 90 percent). In those days, when the only alternative was
    to be totally drunk or knocked out with the ever-present "blunt
    object," it was quite a miracle. But, while animals were
    uniformly responsive to Braid's method, humans reacted unequally.
    So, medical journals closed their pages to him. Physicians who
    favored Mesmer, along with members of the clergy, attacked the
    reformer. The essential nature of Braid's hypnotic procedure and
    the underlying physiological mechanisms have since been
    clarified and vindicated by Ivan Pavlov's work.

    After about 1860, there was an increasing interest in the role of
    suggestion. More important was the biological trend of
    comparative research into hypnosis; animal experimentation
    flourished. University professors of biology were finding many
    examples of pseudo-sleep in animals could be brought about in
    ways unrelated to Mesmer's or Braid's methods. J. Czermak of
    Leipzig and W. Preyer of Berlin showed that certain elements of
    fright and anxiety brought about inner inhibitions of the
    nervous system in sensory and motor areas...followed by
    stiffening and paralysis of the muscles.

    R. Heidenhain of Breslau recognized the importance of monotonous
    stimuli; preferring to use a metronome on his subjects. Along
    with his colleagues, professor of neurology Berger and professor
    of physiology Grutzner, they made it clear that animal and human
    hypnosis were, indeed, the same process. Then physiologist Max
    Verworn showed that the difference was only a matter of levels;
    in both cases certain obvious inhibitory processes come into
    play. Verworn's thesis of the physiological identity of the
    inner inhibitory processes in hypnosis and sleep made him a
    direct forerunner of Ivan Pavlov's School of Neurophysiology
    (1904 onwards).

    For humans however, until 1910 hypnosis based on suggestion and
    psychotherapy were synonymous; officially blessed by both
    clinicians and academicians. Pavlov's contemporary, Sigmund Freud
    (1856-1939; the father of psychoanalysis) vied to win backing
    from the medical school of thought. Besides the Russian political
    situation, the language barrier and Pavlov's neurophysiological
    approach were not conducive to an exchange of knowledge.
    Psychoanalysis, clever and controversial, was successful in
    dominating for a time, and still has many advocates. But
    ultimately, psychoanalysis has lost to a massive body of
    empirically proven neuro-physiological evidence.

    Pavlov's remarkable achievements heralded a new era for the
    fields of physiology, psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and
    the whole field of clinical and experimental medicine. From
    1876-1884, he advanced our knowledge of the heart and circulatory
    system. From 1884-1903, he demonstrated the decisive importance
    of the primary instinctual drive (hunger and food) on our
    psychic and somatic life, for which he was awarded the 1904
    Nobel Prize. From 1913-1925, he studied the digestive tract.

    His most familiar experiments are those using dogs. A dog's
    innate, natural, "unconditioned reflex" is to salivate if an
    "unconditioned stimulus, whether meat or sand," is put into its
    mouth. He found, however, that if a definite "conditioned
    stimulus" (like a bell or light) preceded the meat, a
    "conditioned reflex" could be entrained. Their research got
    interesting, specific responses from the dogs. A dog conditioned
    to a metronome would salivate only at 100 beats...not 98...not
    102. They also found that their dogs discriminated between 50
    shadings of black and white; not salivating if the shade was 1/50
    brighter or darker.

    Pavlov and his school PROVED that there was NO essential
    difference between a "conditioned reflex" and a "suggestion." The
    digestive organs responded whether the stimulus was real or not.
    They showed by experiment how almost all our organs could be
    influenced indirectly by neuro-physiological means. In man,
    spoken suggestions provide the conditioned stimuli with the
    richest variety of content. When Pavlov published his lectures on
    their work with cerebral hemispheres, he said, "Suggestion,
    therefore, is to be regarded as the simplest, most typical
    conditioned reflex in man."

    Until his death in 1936, Pavlov applied his previous discoveries
    to human welfare and neuro-psychic methods of treatment;
    exploring hypnosis, sleep, schizophrenia, hysteria, neurosis,
    anxiety and obsession. The exactitude of his lifetime of
    research and the extent was so significant that they have become
    part of the common consciousness of science.

    The experiments led him to the following final conclusions:
    inner inhibition, hypnosis and sleep are the SAME physiological
    process, and, that monotonous, repetitive stimulation of ANY
    single area of the cortex would eventually induce inner
    inhibitions, then sleepiness, then hypnosis, and finally, deep
    sleep. Pavlov said that, "Through all our 25 years of work I
    never saw any single phenomenon that ran counter to these
    conclusions."

    Of predominance to hypnosis is the core of his teaching, taken
    from research: the sharp distinction drawn between inherited
    unconditioned reflexes and conditioned reflexes acquired through
    living. Aided by the idea of conditioned reflex, experimental
    exploration of the human unconscious began anew. Throughout the
    first half of this century, many studies were published in
    American journals of psychology, psychiatry and medicine.

    In 1943, a rock solid case for Pavlov's view of hypnosis was put
    forth in a most readable book, "What Is Hypnosis" by Andrew
    Salter. A consulting psychologist from New York City, Salter
    also wrote "Conditioned Reflex Therapy" and "The Case Against
    Psychoanalysis." His books were translated into German, Italian,
    Spanish, Swedish and Japanese; and acclaimed as scientific
    contributions.

    Salter points out in "What Is Hypnosis" that conditioned reflexes
    not only in animals, but in humans, DO NOT involve volitional
    thinking. He refers to a "significant and splendidly
    constructed" experiment using Pavlov's method by C.V. Hudgins,
    who conditioned the human pupillary reflex (which is normally
    involuntary). Merely saying the word "contract" would cause his
    subjects' pupils to do so. Another important study with humans,
    by R. Menzies, proved that just saying the word "crosses,"
    caused an actual physical drop of temperature only in ONE hand.

    "In short," Salter said, "conditioning can produce physical
    changes. The conditioned reflex is the essence of hypnosis.
    Words are the bells of conditioned reflexes." He felt though,
    that "associative reflex" might be a more appropriate term. This
    would take into account modifying aspects such as inflection,
    nuance, tone and gestures. Therefore, "Hypnosis is not the
    production of a state. It is an eliciting of one."

    Salter's mentor, professor Clark Hull of Yale University, said,
    "The conditioned reflex is one of the most primitive of all
    learning and memory processes. Words...are assumed...to have
    acquired during the previous history of the subject, through the
    process of association or conditioning, the capacity to evoke
    the reactions of which they are the names."

    Salter scoffed at the idea that the trance was a fundamental
    phenomenon of hypnosis. Working with W.H. Gardiner, M.D., they
    conditioned subjects to be completely insensitive to pain and
    deaf to gunshots IN A WAKING STATE. In 10 seconds they could
    anesthetize any part of their body by themselves...a powerful
    demonstration of auto-suggestion (self-hypnosis).

    Extensive experimentation showed no differences between the
    physiology of the hypnotic and waking state. Some of the
    similarities studied were: brain electrical potentials, cerebral
    circulation, respiration and oxygen consumption, respiration and
    heart action, blood pressure, blood count, blood analysis and
    knee reflex. This showed many conditions (e.g., hysteria) were
    the result of auto- or hetero-conditioning.

    Hull noted definite advantages for auto-hypnosis: First, it
    completely surmounts the diminution of post-hypnotic suggestion.
    Second, the subject does not have to revisit the therapist
    persistently for help. And, third, and most important, it
    weakens the feeling of dependency upon the therapist.

    "First they tell you you're wrong, and they can prove it. Then
    they tell you you're right, but it's not important. Then they
    tell you it's important, but they've known it for years."

    - Charles F. Kettering, American Engineer, inventor of NCR
    accounting machines, automobile self-starters, ethyl gasoline,
    quick dry lacquer, two-cycle diesel train engine,
    high-combustion automobile engine.

    Salter included the above quote, noting, "That is the usual fate
    of scientific ideas, and my own have been no exception." He
    ended by writing that, "Fortunately, the conditioned reflex is a
    stick with two ends. It can be used to punish us...or it can be
    our MOST powerful weapon."

    Neurologist and psychiatrist F.A. Volgysei has to be considered
    the preeminent contributor to modern medical hypnotherapy.
    Dr. Volgysei was one of the pioneers that studied the hypnosis
    phenomenon objectively. Besides working with Pavlov, his
    interest in hypnosis was strongly fueled by two world-famed
    Swiss researchers, A.M. Forel and E. Bleuler. He cited his two
    personal meetings with Professor Bleuler as having "...the most
    significant, exciting and inspiring effect. Bleuler was a
    pugnacious, charismatic personality. Equally impressive were his
    newly coined technical terms and interpretations...schizophrenia,
    psychoid, neurobiological psychology, psychiatry; his treatment
    of alcoholism and somatic disorders with hypnosis...above all
    his therapeutic success."

    In 1921, Volgysei wrote to Albert Einstein, pointing out how
    closely his strictly physical theory of relativity and the
    empiricism of hypnotherapy resembled each other in their social
    significance. Hypnosis can easily show by experiment that human
    feelings, whether emotional or physical, are relative. Einstein
    objected to the generality, but years later recanted.

    As of 1966, Volgysei had done over 50 years of scientific
    research and hypnotherapy practice. During that time he acquired
    his clinical views of "The Patient's Nervous Typology, The
    Principle of Intra-Individuality" and "The Vasomotor Reversible
    Decerebration Theory of Hypnosis."

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    Infograph -- Volgysei's Patient's Nervous Typology:

    1) Constitutionally and developmentally psycho-passive.

    2) Constitutionally psycho-passive, but developmentally
    psycho-active.

    3) Constitutionally psycho-active, but developmentally
    psycho-passive.

    4) Constitutionally and developmentally psycho-active.
    (psycho-passive = extravert; psycho-active = introvert)

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    Infograph -- Volgysei's Principle of Intra-Individuality:

    "In all phenomena of waking life, hypnosis and sleep, the
    following play a part:

    1) innate conditioned reflexes,

    2) acquired conditioned reflexes,

    3) close interactions with the current environment, and,

    4) (as a basis for all these constituents) the degree of
    phylogenetic (evolutionary) and ontogenetic (biological)
    development of the central nervous system."

    "By reason of this, there is a complicated preparedness to react,
    which leads each person and animal to react individually in
    every manifestation of its life, whether awake, asleep or under
    hypnosis, in a manner correspondent to the related thoughts of
    its inner and outer world and to the differences that in the
    course of time arise within itself. This...seems part of the
    universal principle that everything flows, all is in movement,
    all things change; only one thing is constant, the uninterrupted
    process of change itself."

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    Below are selections of provocative insights based on Volgysei's
    unique lifetime of research. The foremost, numbered listing
    outlines his view of the evolution of human consciousness.

    1) "The most primitive human thinking may be said to be
    anthropomorphic causality (natural phenomena are personified).

    2) "At the next stage primitive man thought the driving forces
    of human life (good health, success, love, prosperity, sickness
    and death) were the operations of natural and supernatural
    forces.

    3) "Further development brought about 'single causality.' Every
    philosophy, religion and branch of science arrived, so far as
    their theory went, at the terminal of the original cause.

    4) "The so-called exact scientific way of thinking originally
    embraced no thing but empiricism in everything. Today, empiricism
    provides the basis for all scientific thinking, although every
    expert is clear in his own mind that, as a result of
    multi-causality, every fact is something other than what we
    humans think it to be with our incomplete powers of perception,
    and,

    5) "The more doctrines we have, the more data we collect, the
    wider and deeper the knowledge, the greater and deeper must be
    the faith. The more we materialize what is psychic, the more
    matter turns into psyche; the more natural laws multiply, the
    more miracle there is, since natural law is the greatest miracle
    of all."

    "It is of universal significance that all the anabolic
    regenerative mechanisms, such as sleep and hypnosis, are
    primarily a function of the unconditioned reflex transmitted
    to us by a million years of evolution.

    "Human life is always in flux. Wakefulness, hypnosis and sleep
    continuously interweave and transform into each other
    uninterruptedly...so too we find no water-tight division
    between intellectual influences, hypnotic suggestions and
    simple mechanical stimuli.

    "Our nervous system dominates our entire somatic-psychic
    (body-mind) existence... The brain is the organ of psychic
    function; man is its subject imprisoned in his contemporary
    environment. The empirical critique of hypno-suggestive
    experiment and therapy reconfirm from a new point of view that
    essentially man is a creature not with a relatively free will,
    but a relatively restricted one.

    "There is no individual function, no reaction of our organism,
    however obscure -- be it serological, hormonal or psychic --
    where Pavlov's methods cannot demonstrate the physiological
    importance of suggestion... With humans in hypnotic catalepsy,
    the musculature can sustain for hours certain postures which the
    experimenter has devised and which otherwise could only be
    maintained for a minute at most.

    "The activity of the cortex or neocortex is matter moving in a
    highly organized way... The main task of modern medical hypnosis
    is to correct any irregulation in the psycho-organic sphere and
    then ensure the rest necessary for regeneration."

    Harvey Simon, 16-year researcher and expert clinical
    hypnotherapist, studied at Dr. Milton Erickson's Institute in
    Toronto, Canada. Simon has lectured at colleges and medical
    seminars on the value of hypnosis: "A lousy name for it because
    it has nothing to do with sleep." At present, he is at work on a
    book about his treatment of multiple personality disorder using
    hypnotherapy.

    During his private practice, Simon also taught auto-hypnosis to
    post-cardiac-trauma patients at the University of Toronto
    Rehabilitation Centre for three years. The results were
    impressive. Hypnosis is more acceptable as a medical practice in
    Canada and Europe. Simon said that even the worst of migraine
    headaches can be cured with hypnotherapy.

    "Hypnosis is the only way to reach the autonomic nervous system
    and control it...the body will respond to suggestion (that water
    is alcohol, for example) with corresponding metabolic changes."
    Simon has cured alcoholics; not just shifted their dependence to
    "a regimented kind of spiritually-oriented police
    system... Alcoholics that don't drink...are not recovered."

    Another instance he cited was a study published in "The American
    Society of Clinical Hypnosis Journal." Women that felt
    dissatisfied with their small breasts were hypnotically
    regressed to their time of puberty. They were kept regressed for
    several months through the use of post-hypnotic suggestion.
    Their body metabolism changed correspondingly, their breasts
    grew. All achieved measurable success [NO pun intended].

    Simon says that the hypnotic state is "an altered state of
    consciousness and can be created (elicited) by and in ANY
    emotional state." He tells of an incident in his experience that
    illustrates not only the power of suggestion, but his expertise
    as well. A hysterical woman was waving a gun around, ranting and
    raving about killing some guy. He got the gun away from her, not
    by trying to reason with her, "which would have gotten me shot,"
    but by changing her frame of mind (altering her state of
    consciousness).

    "You have to inject yourself into their mind-set and say, 'Geez,
    what did he do to you?' Get them to communicate with you and
    bring yourself into that state with them. I got into her state
    and said, 'son-of-a-bitch...tell me some more...you're kidding?'
    Then she'd go off again, waving her hands around, with the gun
    and I said, 'Hey, you're going to shoot me. You don't want to
    shoot me do you?' 'No.' 'Well, put it down over here. You can
    have it later when you leave. I don't give a damn if you shoot
    him, just don't shoot me. I didn't do anything.'" They talked.
    She calmed down and left...without the gun.

    Many people try, or turn to, subliminal tapes in their quest for
    self-improvement. Several years ago, Stanford University
    released a study denying their viability. Simon was a pioneer in
    subliminal programming. He cited several reasons studies come to
    such false conclusions:

    "First, the credibility and competency of the manufacturer are
    paramount.

    "Second, you CANNOT put out a maternal or paternal tape that will
    appeal to 100 percent of the people.

    "Third, results can be deceptive for reasons not obvious to those
    not expert. The new programming may not take hold, or wear off
    quickly, because it's superimposed over the original
    conditioning, which has to be erased for the new conditioning to
    hold.

    "Fourth, even if the subliminal tape was tailored specifically
    for the individual subject, it takes at least 21 listenings to
    hold permanently."

    Most important in practice is that "The therapist has to be
    sensitive and knowledgeable enough to identify the patient's
    individual neurolinguistic program: Is it verbal, visual, or
    kinesthetic? ...and to what degree in each area." This speaks
    directly to the quality of treatment by physicians,
    psychologists and psychiatrists.

    As K.J. Platonow said (1959), "Every genuine physician --
    whatever his specialty -- is above all a psychotherapist... In
    so far as physicians systematically apply the methods of direct,
    or indirect, suggestion rather than doing so unawares, the more
    effective they will be."

    The relevance of these dynamics permeates our lives. Too many
    health practitioners have single-therapy, or limited-scope,
    approaches to all patients. People who study advertising are
    made well aware of the impact of the mundane, monotonous and
    repetitive. And, of course, political campaign ads, and
    "speeches" come to mind...to mention but only three.

    Mr. Simon strongly advocates auto-hypnosis training with a
    competent therapist as the best way to gain control over your
    life. It may be a necessity because, as you now know, we are
    still mesmerized by almost everything.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Sidebar -- An important caution about hypnotherapy:

    There are State-certified schools in California, which offer
    diplomas in hypnotherapy upon completion of their classes. The
    requirements to become "certified" are 150 class hours and about
    $2,200. If you want to be a certified "clinical" hypnotherapist,
    it involves about another 50 to 100 hours at commensurate
    additional cost. The danger is that students are not screened.
    They may be educated health practitioners. They may not be. Many
    are well-intentioned. Many want to make $50 an hour. Many want
    recognition or authority. Mr. Simon has attended local
    hypnotherapy chapter meetings. He says assertively, "Most of
    them have no business whatsoever messing with someone's
    mind...[they're] not even remotely aware of the possibilities."

    As Dr. Volgysei noted; "Even BASIC hypnotic technique requires a
    specific MEDICAL education, knowledge of the laws of suggestion,
    considerable experience and technical skill."

    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Infograph -- The Davis and Husband hypnotic rating scale:

    0 Insusceptible

    Hypnoidal
    1
    2  Relaxation
    3  Fluttering of lids
    4  Closing of eyes
    5  Complete physical relaxation

    Light Trance
    6  Catalepsy of eyes (too heavy to open)
    7  Limb catalepsies (rigidity)
    10 Rigid catalepsy
    11 Anesthesia (numbness, desensitization: started at the
       subject's hand usually, then transferred by the subject)

    Medium Trance
    13 Partial amnesia (loss of memory)
    15 Post-hypnotic anesthesia
    17 Personality changes
    18 Simple post-hypnotic suggestions
    20 Kinesthetic delusions (movement); complete amnesia

    Deep Trance
    21 Ability to open eyes without affecting the trance
    23 Bizarre post-hypnotic suggestions
    25 Complete somnambulism (sleepwalking or other activity)
    26 Positive visual hallucinations, post-hypnotic
    27 Positive auditory hallucinations, post-hypnotic
    28 Systematized post-hypnotic amnesias
    29 Negative auditory hallucinations
    30 Negative visual hallucinations; hyperesthesia (abnormal
       sensitivity of the skin or other sense organ)

    Sources:

    "What is Hypnosis," by Andrew Salter, Citadel Press, New York
    1943; also, "Conditioned Reflex Therapy" & "The Case Against
    Psychoanalysis."

    "Animal Hypnosis," by F.A. Volgysei, M.D., Wilshire Book Co.,
    Los Angeles, 1968.

    "Battle For the Mind," by William Sargant, Heinemann, 1957;
    also, "The Mind Possesed."

    "Great Thoughts," by George Seldes, Ballantine Books, New York,
    1985.

    Personal Interview with Harvey Simon, Mar., 1989.

    Curricula and promotional brochures from numerous California
    schools/institutes of hypnotherapy.

    Copyright 1996, James M. Silver -- All Rights Reserved

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