Hypnotism made plain

Attention has already been directed to F. W. H. Myers’ theory of a conscious and a subconscious intelligence—a duality of mind in each individual. Hypnotism and suggestion operates mostly—and in the final analysis only—on the subconscious mind.

We have seen how the Countess deLaval could speak fluently the language of Brittany when under hypnotic sleep, but knew nothing of Breton when awake—i.e., the language was known only to her subconscious mind, the seat of memory. Hansen, the Danish hypnotist, having hypnotized an English officer, was astonished to hear him break forth in a tongue unknown to him. Later it was learned that the language was Welsh, which the officer had heard spoken as a child, but which his conscious mind had long forgotten. The fact that old people often recall occurrences of many years ago, but forget forthwith an event of but yesterday, has often been commented upon. All of these phenomena are readily understood in the light of Myers’ theory of dual intelligence—duality of mind.

The foregoing theory also makes explicable the frequently reported cases of amnesia, or of dissociation; i.e., the breaking up of consciousness into parts which lead separate (independent) existences, or what is commonly known as double, or multiple, personality. Dr. Davis recalls the rather recent case of an elderly gentleman, of good position, who was accused of having sent offensive anonymous letters to a young lady, charging her with thieving, drunkenness, immorality, etc. So strong was the evidence against him that he was committed to jail, and was later admitted to bail only on the condition that he should not come within forty miles of the city. “At the eleventh hour it was discovered by the merest chance that the young woman had unconsciously written these most abusive letters to herself, and on receiving them in her normal state of mind knew absolutely nothing about their authorship.”⁠[9]

The reader may remember the case of Claire Beauclaire, of Brockton, Massachusetts—made public in 1922—who possessed two distinct personalities, one that of an apparently normal girl of eighteen years, the other that of a child of five. Better known, however, is the case of Bernice Redick, of Cleveland, Ohio, a high school graduate, with a decided love for music. In the midst of a conversation she suddenly nodded, fell into sleep for a moment, then awoke. But during this moment she had “slipped back” fifteen years, as far as her mind was concerned.

The girl was taken to Columbus, and placed under the care of Dr. Henry Herbert Goddard, alienist, head of the Ohio Bureau for Juvenile Research.

Asked her name, she told Dr. Goddard that it was “Polly.” “How old are you?” inquired the alienist. “I am four years old,” she replied. Mentally, she was indeed but a child of four. She could neither read nor write, and knew nothing of music, of which she was formerly so apt a pupil. She could not even distinguish colors by name, merely exhibiting the childish desire for bright ones. She could not count above ten. Her chief diversion was sitting on the floor playing with dolls. But she did not remain “Polly” for long at a time. “During her first day,” says Dr. Goddard, “she changed from Polly to Bernice and back eleven times. The reversion was just as sudden one way as the other, and just as inexplicable.”

Psycho-analysts would explain the case by assuming that the girl had been unhappy at home, or had had an unfortunate love affair, and wished to escape from reality—to have an easier time by becoming someone else. If this were the real explanation, why change so frequently back to Bernice?

Dr. Goddard was at a loss to know how to proceed. There were at that time fewer than 25 such cases in the medical records of the world. Any competent hypnotist could have prescribed the appropriate remedy; but probably hypnotism was not in good repute among the physicians consulted. At any rate. Dr. Goddard adopted the plan of bringing Polly up to her normal age and previous intellectual status by educating her as he would any other four-year-old child—for the Binet test showed Polly to possess normal intelligence for a child of that age. “We thought,” he explained, “that by bringing Polly’s mentality up to the age of Bernice the two personalities might automatically become one.”

Eventually, as we shall see, he had to resort to hypnotism after all; but first he tried this educational plan. Polly was first taught to read, which she learned more readily than most four-year-old children. The usual kindergarten courses were included in the curriculum. The lessons, however, were frequently interrupted by the reappearance of Bernice, who knew nothing of any such person as Polly. The dissociation was complete.

As this case has never appeared in book form anywhere, let us quote Dr. Goddard’s own words:

“One day, when Polly was engrossed in a conversation with an attendant, a pencil was placed in her hand, and she was told to write a letter to a nurse she liked. A magazine, held between her hand and her eyes, kept her from seeing the paper on which she wrote. The conversation continued and kept her attention from the letter, but her hand moved mechanically across the paper, and the letter was finished. It was a letter such as would be written by almost any girl of ten or twelve years.

“When it was finished we showed it to her, and then asked suddenly, ‘How old are you, Polly?’

“‘I am eleven years old,’ she replied instantly.

“From then on she consistently admitted being eleven years old. Success seemed to have crowned our efforts.

“When she awoke as ‘Polly,’ she at first, each time, became the four-year-old ‘Polly’ we had originally known, but in a few minutes passed to the eleven-year-old stage. These transitions were frequent and irregular. One day as she was preparing to go for a walk she suddenly changed to ‘Polly.’ She remained thus for six days, babbling and playing as any child would. Bernice reasserted herself at about the same hour of the day, whereupon the girl began looking about for her coat to go for the walk, resuming her conversation with the words she was saying when ‘Polly’ drove her out.

“Having brought her to the age of eleven we continued the treatment until she admitted she was fourteen. Then we held a party, celebrating her fifteenth birthday, with candles and presents. A succession of birthdays followed within a few weeks, the girl apparently not realizing that she was being tricked. At last she became nineteen and admitted that was her age.”

But the automatic fusion of the two personalities expected by Dr. Goddard did not occur. Bernice was quiet and modest, reserved, timid and ambitious. “Polly” was careless, boisterous, disobedient, and “hail fellow well met” with everyone.

“Just as Dr. Jekyll in the story gave way more and more readily to the encroachments of Mr. Hyde, so did Bernice give way more and more readily to the self-assertive ‘Polly.’ Even yet, when she awoke, she was often ‘four years old,’ and had to pass through the successive stages, which she now did very rapidly.”

After months of educational work, without success in merging the two personalities into a unified Bernice, hypnotic treatment was introduced at last—a modified form of mesmerism—with a view to driving out “Polly.”

“Both personalities were told of the existence of the other, but each knew of it only as a normal person would know of someone he had heard of but never seen. ‘Polly’ in particular declared there was no such thing, and that if there was she had no room for her. Later she said Bernice was a friend that I had told her about, who was coming to see her some time.

“Hypnotism again came into play. I placed ‘Polly’ in a sleep, first telling her that she was going to meet Bernice. Somewhere the two minds met, in one of the strangest introductions I ever hope to make. It was, of course, impossible to observe any reaction that took place, as our only method of observation was of necessity through bodily actions, and for the time being there were none.

“Awakening, ‘Polly’ said she remembered Bernice, but that she lived in Cleveland, and would come down to see her some time. She resented the idea that she might be stealing Bernice’s body, but declared that this was her own, and she had always possessed it. Polly was banished by hypnotism and Bernice came into control. She, too, remembered the strange introduction. From that time, however, there was a conscious effort by each personality to drive out the other. ‘Polly’ was very strong. Even with the aid of hypnotic influence, which I called upon to banish ‘Polly’ at every appearance, it has been difficult going for Bernice.

“The mental aspect of the case has been closely related to the physical. When the body was fatigued, ‘Polly’ nearly always came into power. After a night’s sleep the girl nearly always awoke as Bernice.

“Now, although we have established Bernice permanently, it must be admitted ‘Polly’ may yet gain permanent control.”

On January 12, 1923, Dr. Goddard announced through the daily press that “Polly has not appeared for nearly a month.”

Later there seem to have been relapses, in which a third personality appeared, “living,” Dr. Goddard was quoted in the press (March 7th) as saying, “only in the imagination of ‘Polly.’” On this date it was announced that Miss Redick would be discharged from the Ohio State University Hospital a week later as permanently restored to her normal self.

This case bears many interesting likenesses to the famous case of “Miss Beauchamp,” reported by Dr. Morton Prince in his “The Dissociation of a Personality.” The intrusive personality, younger but not a child, was here known as “Sally.” “Sally” hated “Miss Beauchamp,” between whom and herself there existed the same differences of temperament as between “Polly” and Bernice. She would play tricks on her—walk miles into the country and wake up as “Miss Beauchamp,” without carfare home (“Miss Beauchamp” disliked to walk); pile up the furniture, climb on top, and let “Miss Beauchamp” climb down; write abusive letters for the other personality to find, tangle her embroidery silks, etc. “Sally,” like “Polly,” was finally “murdered” by being hypnotized out of existence. In this case, however, “Miss Beauchamp” herself was not the original, normal personality; but a final fusion into the normal woman was finally achieved.

From this brief study the power and scope of hypnotism and suggestion may be comprehended—their value in the hands of a skilled physician, their danger in the hands of a charlatan. As a herald of their use and a warning against their disuse, let me conclude by quoting the opening stanza of Browning’s poem, “Mesmerism”:

Entrusted to the exploitation of a showman, the subconscious may avenge its abuse in a grievous manner; but entrusted to the understanding sympathy of a trained and experienced practitioner, there is no more efficacious alleviant for many of the ills to which the body is subject than the hypnotic or suggestive method of treatment.