HYPNOTISM is not a ‘cure-all’, but when we come to consider the cases in which it may be useful for medical purposes, we find that there are few conditions indeed that cannot benefit considerably by this method of treatment. Unfortunately, the very wide applicability of this form of therapy has helped to create a prejudice against it, and unthinking people, both doctors and laymen, have said: ‘How is it that this one method of treatment can be of use in such widely different conditions?’

Similar criticism has been levelled against other forms of medical treatment, particularly in their early stages. Massage and electrical treatment, for instance, were originally considered to be suitable merely for a small selection of simple cases, such as sprains and other injuries. Now they are constantly employed and officially recommended in a bewildering variety of conditions ranging from heart disease to constipation and obesity.

Such criticism of the almost universal applicability of hypnotism can be justified only if it is claimed that this form of treatment supersedes all others. 
Unfortunately, amateur lay hypnotists and many stage professionals with no real knowledge of medicine whatsoever have gone out of their way to do this. Those with proper medical training realize only too well that no one method of treatment can ever be regarded as a panacea for all human ills.
It is just as foolish to think hypnotism will cure everything as it is to believe that penicillin or any drug is a universal remedy. 
 
The exaggerated claims of medically unqualified hypnotists, which are usually in inverse ratio to their knowledge, have caused the subject of hypnotism to be regarded with suspicion and distrust. Undoubtedly, there are many conditions in which hypnotism is the ideal treatment, but we find an even greater number of cases where it can be employed as a valuable adjunct to the ordinary medical methods.
Once prejudice is overcome, there is no reason why patients should not have hypnotherapy to assist their other medical measures. Consider, for instance, the case of a patient with a bad heart, such as Angina Pectoris. The doctor will prescribe a definite regime of medicine, rest and diet, while advising the patient to avoid worry. However, he does not say how to avoid worry, and there are few people who can remain calm and unmoved when informed that they are liable to drop dead at any moment.
The following case well illustrates the devastating effects and agony of mind which can follow the belief, real or imagined, of serious heart disease.

The patient, an elderly man, had been tortured most of his life by a ‘thumping and pounding’ sensation in his head, almost as though ‘his heart were beating in his brain’. At about the age of twenty, he had been examined by a doctor who remarked in the course of his examination that the patient had a ‘musical heart’. The doctor was probably referring to some simple valvular mur-mur, but the patient was naturally worried. His worst fears were confirmed when a ‘great heart specialist’ at one of the leading hospitals demonstrated him at a lecture to a group of students, remarking: ‘I have known only two similar cases, both girls. They both died after a couple of years.’ The patient was terrified and ran all the way home, with his heart thumping and pounding in his ears, expecting to drop dead at any moment. This he did not do, and had passed his three score years and ten, thus confounding the specialist; but he had been literally listening for his heartbeat ever since in his head. With this agony of mind, is it any wonder that he should have had a ‘bursting, pulsating or pounding sensation?’ In this case, of course, it is obvious that the specialist must have been mistaken and that there could not have been anything very Much wrong with the heart. Nevertheless, believing that there was, the patient had suffered years of anxiety and real distress.

In a case of genuine heart disease such as angina pectoris, where there is always a great fear of death, it is well known that worry and fear can predispose to, and actually bring about, a fatal attack.
Hypnotism, by removing the fear and anxiety, makes the patient easier in the mind and can definitely assist the usual medical methods to obtain the best possible results.

Consider again the case of a person with High Blood Pressure. Once more the doctor will strongly advise plenty of rest and relaxation. The patient with high blood pressure, however, is just the type who finds relaxation difficult or impossible. Hypnotism, by inducing complete relaxation and reducing nervous tension, can do nothing but good and will greatly reinforce the ordinary medical treatment. After all, most medical men use suggestion in their ordinary, everyday practice. If the patient is told, ‘This will do you good,’ as he receives the medicine or injection, or other forms of treatment, he is likely to respond much better than if simply handed the remedy with no instructions or suggestions as to what it is expected to do. 

In this way, as medical men well know, many patients will go to sleep on being given an injection of sterile water in the belief that ‘the needle’ means a dose of morphia. Cases have even been described where the patients have gone to sleep thinking they were being given an anaesthetic when, in fact, there was no gas, ether or chloroform at all.

Hypnotism is only a method of applying suggestion scientifically. Surely, as we have seen the powerful effect which may be obtained by suggestion, it is better to use this power scientifically than to rely on haphazard methods such as are usually employed.

Further uses for hypnotism can easily be found in cases of incurable disease or prolonged illnesses. In hopeless cases, the mind can often be made easier and pain relieved or abolished. Such a patient will be able to face the approaching end with a clear mind and philosophic calm instead of being drugged into insensibility. Again, in many cases of prolonged illness, peace and calmness of mind are very important in assisting recovery.
 
Consider the case of Tuberculosis, for instance, where the patient may be confined to bed for long periods. A feeling of despair and hopelessness is apt to seize even the strongest mind under these conditions. Hypnotism, by inspiring confidence, hope and belief in cure, can make the patient’s ordeal considerably less, and this improved condition of the mind cannot help but have a beneficial effect on the general condition.

Enough has been said to indicate that there is a very wide field of usefulness for hypnotism in medicine. This will be confirmed as typical cases illustrating various points in detail are described. For reasons of professional secrecy and the maintenance of the confidential nature of the doctor-patient relationship, it has been necessary to alter unimportant details in order suitably to disguise the cases. This in no way affects the fundamental principles involved. When we come to consider the types of cases most suitable for hypnotism, we are struck with the preponderance of nervous and allied complaints which respond to this method of treatment.

This is what we would expect, of course; for, as we have seen in the previous chapters, hypnotism has a most powerful effect upon the nervous system. In the treatment of the milder nervous complaints known as the Psycho-Neuroses, to which by far the largest group of mental disabilities belong, hypnotism is of the greatest possible value.
This group includes such well-known conditions as Neurasthenia, Anxiety Neurosis, Anxiety Hysteria, Hysteria, Obsessional Neuroses and Depression. 

It has been estimated that more than half of the average doctor’s practice is made up of unfortunate people who suffer from complaints such as these. In the past these patients were regarded as ‘malades imaginaires’, given a bottle of coloured water or some simple sedative and told to ‘buck up’ and ‘pull themselves together’.
It is being realized more and more that such advice is useless. Although the origin of their complaints may be nervous, patients suffer just as much disability, if not more, than they would if their complaints were organic in origin. A paralysed limb, for instance, is just as inconvnient and useless whether it is due to hysteria or to some organic cause.

The symptoms of many nervous complaints may mimic real organic disease, so that many pains and aches attributed to ‘rheu-matism’ may be nervous in origin. At first sight, it may appear difficult to see how this can be explained. When we remember that worry and anxiety can cause nervous tension and that this nervous tension may discharge itself by causing painful spasm of muscle, then it becomes easy to account for the nervous origin of so-called ‘muscular rheumatism’.
Further, if muscle is in spasm, it must be shortened; hence we may get distortion of parts of the body, giving rise to conditions such as ‘torticollis’ or ‘wry neck’.

This is very likely to follow some emotional shock, and is well illustrated in the case of an elderly lady who complained that her neck was constantly pulled to one side. Losing somebody for whom she cared a great deal, the thought crossed her mind that she would be unable to face things. As a result her neck muscles went into spasm, pulling her head to one side, so that literally she was unable to look ahead. Such a case would be a mystery without an understanding of the mechanism of the mind.
In some cases, where the muscular spasm is too mild or unable to pull the parts out of shape, there will, nevertheless, be considerable strain around the joints or in the muscles. As a result there will most likely be a multitude of aches and pains which are usually labelled ‘rheumatism’ or ‘fibrositis’. Where nerves are involved, there may be referred pain, giving rise to headaches or sciatica.

A typical case is that of a young girl who complained of violent headaches, always on the left side of the head, with a feeling of ‘pulling down’ of the neck and shoulder on that side. There was severe pain ‘like neuritis’, radiating down both arms, and worse on the left side. The patient also complained of aches in the legs and a ‘choking sensation’ in the throat if worried at work. She was unable to relax and always felt tense. Sleep was never refreshing, so that she always felt tired. She was engaged to be married and said she did not feel at all enthusiastic about it, as her health was so bad.

At the first attempt, only a light hypnosis could be obtained. However, the patient was agreeably surprised because she had been told she was a bad subject by a lay hypnotist who had attempted to induce the trance several times without success. At the next session the patient was able to enter a slightly deeper state of trance. As she came from a considerable distance she was unable to attend frequently. Therefore post-hypnotic suggestions of increased ability to relax for herself were given in addition to other therapeutic instructions. On the last occasion she attended for treatment, a month or so later, the patient reported herself greatly improved and stated that she had had no aches or pains except for one day when she had flown into a terrible temper. She felt so improved that her marriage had been arranged and she now looked forward to a happy life free from pain.

This case is interesting as it illustrates two very important points. Firstly, even a very poor hypnotic subject can learn to enter the trance state and derive great benefit with repeated attempts. Secondly, it demonstrates quite conclusively that nervous tension was the cause of the ‘rheumatism’. When she remained calm and relaxed there was no pain. This returned only on the one occasion when she flew into a terrible temper under great provocation. With a few more hypnotic treatments, nothing would have been able to upset her nerves.