Complete Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spiritualism: How to Hypnotize: Being an Exhaustive and Practical System of Method, Application, and UseAlpheus, A.
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Complete Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spiritualism: How to Hypnotize: Being an Exhaustive and Practical System of Method, Application, and Use
Alpheus, A.
Hypnotism; Mesmerism; Spiritualism; Telepathy
Dr. Cocke says: “I have occasionally seen subjects who complained of
headache, vertigo, nausea, and other similar symptoms after having been
hypnotized, but these conditions were at a future hypnotic sitting
easily remedied by suggestion.” Speaking of the use of hypnotism by
doctors under conditions of reasonable care, Dr. Cocke says further:
“There is one contraindication greater than all the rest. It applies
more to the physician than to the patient, more to the masses than to
any single individual. It is not confined to hypnotism alone; it has
blocked the wheels of human progress through the ages which have gone.
It is undue enthusiasm. It is the danger that certain individuals will
become so enamored with its charms that other equally valuable means of
cure will be ignored. Mental therapeutics has come to stay. It is yet
in its infancy and will grow, but, if it were possible to kill it, it
would be strangled by the fanaticism and prejudice of its devotees. The
whole field is fascinating and alluring. It promises so much that it is
in danger of being missed by the ignorant to such an extent that great
harm may result. This is true, not only of mental therapeutics and
hypnotism, but of every other blessing we possess. Hypnotism has
nothing to fear from the senseless skepticism and contempt of those who
have no knowledge of the subject.” He adds pertinently enough: “While
hypnotism can be used in a greater or less degree by every one, it can
only be used intelligently by those who understand, not only hypnotism
itself, but disease as well.”
Dr. Cocke is a firm believer that the right use of hypnotism by
intelligent persons does not weaken the will. Says he: “I do not
believe there is any danger whatever in this. I have no evidence (and I
have studied a large number of hypnotized subjects) that hypnotism will
render a subject less capable of exercising his will when he is
relieved from the hypnotic trance. I do not believe that it increases
in any way his susceptibility to ordinary suggestion.”
However, in regard to the dangers of public performances by
professional hypnotizers, Dr. Cocke is equally positive. Says he:
“The dangers of public exhibitions, made ludicrous as they are by the
operators, should be condemned by all intelligent men and women, not
from the danger of hypnotism itself so much as from the liability of
the performers to disturb the mental poise of that large mass of
ill-balanced individuals which makes up no inconsiderable part of
society.” In conclusion he says: “Patients have been injured by the
misuse of hypnotism. * * * This is true of every remedial agent ever
employed for the relief of man. Every article we eat, if wrongly
prepared, if stale, or if too much is taken, will be harmful. Every
act, every duty of our lives, may, if overdone, become an injury.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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