HYPNOTISM. — From ὕπνος = sleep. This is the name given (synonyms: animal magnetism, mesmerism) to a state of suspension of an individual’s consciousness, connected with a kind of sleep induced by procedures of various kinds, most often in relation to the suggestive action of another individual, the hypnotist, whom the hypnotized person obeys, carrying out, unconsciously and like an automaton, whatever he commands by word or gesture, or acting automatically through a kind of involuntary inner impulse, as in somnambulism.
E. Servadio defines it as “the ensemble of theories and phenomena relating to a special type of artificial sleep (hypnosis), which can be induced by various methods.”
The name h. was invented by the English physician James Braid (d. 1860) in 1842, but the phenomena had long been known; it is enough to recall the experiment published by Fr. Kircher around the middle of the 17th century, consisting in inducing a state of hypnosis in a chicken by means of suitable procedures. In the 18th century the Austrian physician Anton Mesmer attempted a new method of treating the sick, which was called “mesmerism” after him; it is the same thing as h. and also came to be called “animal magnetism,” almost in opposition to physical magnetism, in the belief that the phenomena were caused by a magnetic fluid emanating from every animal body. J. M. Charcot, in connection with his studies of hysteria (v.), concerned himself extensively with the manifestations of h. and maintained that the two are closely related, so that every form of major h. necessarily has its foundation in hysteria. The Nancy school, on the contrary, with Bernheim, maintained that hypnotic manifestations can be induced in every subject, even if normal, and should not be regarded as a sign of a neuropathic constitution.
There is no doubt that h. initially presents itself as something extraordinary, capable of being interpreted as a preternatural fact. When properly examined and studied in the light of modern physiological and psychological knowledge, however, it proves fully explicable through recourse solely to natural laws. A characteristic of the phenomena of h. is the suspension of the individual’s consciousness, brought about by the procedures that the hypnotist applies to the person being hypnotized or that the latter himself puts into practice. The sleep that results, of varying intensity and accompanied by particular phenomena, resembles normal sleep, sharing with it the abolition of the control of reason and, usually, an almost complete anesthesia of the senses.
Hypnotic sleep may appear in three different forms: the lethargic state, or lethargy; the cataleptic state, catalepsy (v.); and the somnambulistic state, or somnambulism. In lethargy the individual has the appearance of a deeply sleeping person: consciousness is suspended, the senses are inactive, and the muscles relaxed. On the contrary, the activity of vegetative life is fully preserved; indeed, in relation to the abolition of the inhibition of the higher centers, there is an exaggeration of the irritability of the spinal cord, whereby reflexes occur more rapidly and intensely. In catalepsy, while complete unconsciousness and abolition of general sensitivity are present, the subject retains the possibility of being influenced through sight and hearing, which are particularly rendered more sensitive to reception. In this state, the particular flexibility and pliability assumed by the parts of the body are characteristic, as though the individual’s muscles were made of soft wax (flexibilitas cerea), so that they are capable of assuming and retaining without effort, even for a long time, difficult and tiring positions passively imposed upon them. In somnambulism the subject, in a state of psychic dissociation, performs coordinated actions that are apparently conscious but are in reality related to the automatic motor expression of subconscious ideomotor complexes, which come to the fore and become operative in the individual’s sleeping consciousness. All this may take place at the very moment the individual is placed in a hypnotic state, under the pressure of the operator’s suggestive commands, or after a lapse of time, with a more or less proximate time limit, proceeding from a prior waking state.
These three forms in which h. manifests itself do not represent successive stages of increasing significance, but rather modes that usually appear irregularly, either in isolation or variously interwoven with one another in complex patterns.
In the course of such hypnotic states, the entire complex symptomatology displays certain general characteristics. There is an absolute relationship between hypnotist and hypnotized person, with the latter’s will abolished and replaced by that of the operator, who guides the individual like an automaton through verbal or visual suggestion. Thus the subject of the experiment may be seen, according to the commands, walking or stopping, feeling hot or cold, performing one action or another, and assuming the most varied, uncomfortable, difficult positions, either at the moment of the command or, as in somnambulism, after a more or less lengthy period.
The command may manifest itself through external actions, and also by producing states of consciousness and representations capable of giving rise to illusions and hallucinations (v.).
In h., images and psychic contents preserved in the sphere of the subconscious and unconscious play a substantial role. These contents, whether aroused, regulated, and utilized by external suggestion, or grouping themselves into complexes so as sometimes to form almost small, autonomous blocks of consciousness, are capable of becoming the cause of external phenomena, whether motor, externally projected, or sensitive-sensory.
Indeed, in the course of the manifestations of h., one may witness a form personality (v.), whereby the individual, either spontaneously or under the pressure of suggestion, assumes the behavior and manner of thinking and acting of a particular person, with attributes at times completely opposed to his own. It may be supposed that a fracture of consciousness occurs in the individual, producing a primary personality, so to speak supraliminal, and a secondary, subliminal personality capable, under particular conditions, of acting autonomously and in a coordinated manner. According to L. Luciani (Fisiologia dell'uomo, IV, Milan 1924, p. 499), the inequality and unconsciousness of character and conduct that may be observed in certain unbalanced, eccentric, and “madcap” individuals would reside precisely in a disharmony between consciousness and subconsciousness, thereby producing two mentalities almost in antagonism.
In the course of hypnosis, phenomena affecting the surface of the body may occur, such as localized or diffuse pallor or reddening, wheals, blisters, vesicles, and cutaneous hemorrhages, similarly to what occurs in the manifestations of hysteria (v.).
Thus, in the hypnotic state, at the operator’s will, in addition to motor and secretory activities, it is possible to provoke in the patient cutaneous manifestations in the form of spots, raised areas, or similar effects, which may erroneously be judged to be facts of preternatural origin.
2) If hypnosis is practiced for a just purpose, to cure illnesses or to promote scientific progress, and with due precautions, then it is licit. For a therapeutic purpose, it is required that the illness cannot be cured otherwise, or as well as through hypnosis; that hypnosis be induced by a physician truly skilled in hypnotizing and that, insofar as possible, every harm to the patient’s health be avoided; that the person to be hypnotized give his or her consent; that the hypnotist be honest and promise not to abuse his or her relationship with the hypnotized person; that the suggestions be honest and necessary or useful (excluding all curiosity) in relation to the illness, and that an honest person be present, one in whom the hypnotized person can trust.
The Holy Office, when consulted on the matter on 26 July 1899, replied that experiments could be tolerated, provided that: a declaration was made beforehand that one did not intend to obtain the requested effect if it should depend on a preternatural cause (for at that time it was believed that preternatural interventions might occur); there was no scandal, since those present might think that the matter was evil or attributable to magical arts; and the facts did not certainly exceed the powers of nature. In doubtful cases, the fact may be presented or the effect requested, preceded by the aforementioned declaration.
The harms produced by hypnosis can be avoided through due precautions, which prudence will indicate in individual cases. The usefulness of hypnosis extends not only to curing illnesses but also to correcting the hypnotized person’s evil inclinations and habits. Indeed, there have been cases of people addicted to drunkenness who were cured by hypnosis, as well as young people devoted to lust who were improved through mental suggestion. Today, many physicians obtain the same effects without inducing hypnosis, but through suggestions produced in the waking state. It must nevertheless be said that hypnosis is illicit when the required conditions are not combined, since it is dangerous for both the active and passive subject and because it is not licit to deprive oneself of reason unnaturally without sufficient reason. Regarding its licitness or otherwise in the judicial sphere or in police investigations, V. NARCOTICI.
With regard to canon criminal law, after what has been said from the ethical point of view, it will suffice to observe that during true hypnotic sleep there is naturally no imputability (can. 2201 § 1), but there may be imputability in the cause, determinable on the basis of the concrete circumstances (can. 2201 § 3) of the criminal event. It is almost superfluous to add that the hypnotist’s imputability remains intact (cf. can. 2209 § 3 and, by analogy, can. 2230).