The Mena weekly star., 1920-05-20
STRANGE CASE IS MYSTERY TO DOCTORS
Woman Has Hypnotized Herself Into State of Rigidity,
 Says Physician.
(By International News service)

(By International News Service,)
 Denver, May 18.-Believed at first to be a victim of sleeping sickness" l" Mrs. Kate Hermann, thirty-five, of Hays, Kan, is declared by diagnosti- clans to be in state of catalepsy re- sulting from "dementia praecox" and has been in rigid condition for many weeks, lying on her back hands cross ed over her abdomen, muscles taut, mouth closed and teeth clenched.
 Mrs. Hermann has been asleep for more than two months. During pe- riod of eight weeks her eyes opened but three times and she changed her posture only once. Milk, fed through her nasal passages, is the only food that has been administered during that time.
 After physicians in Hays had been unable to determine her ailment, Mrs. Hermann was brought to Denver, where dozen specialists had her un- der observation.
 Dr. Edward Delehanty, widely known Denver neurologist and alien ist, after watching the patient many days, announced that the woman was suffering from "dementia praecox."
 t'In my opinion" Dr. Delehanty de- clared, Mrs. Hermann is suffering from form of insanity known as "dementia praecox" and has an ex- traordinary manifestation in the cata- leptic state into which she has thrown herself.
 4'In other words, Mrs. Hermann is a victim of auto-hypnosis. She has hyp- notized herself into the belief that she cannot move a muscle and that she cannot open her eyes. As long as her mentality preserves this extraordinary status she will remain rigid and will refuse to eat, open her eyes or re- cognize her surroundings"
 Dr. Delehanty says there are cases similar to Mrs. HermtHhn's in medical annals, but the condition is rare.
 ''The cataleptic state into which Mrs. Hermann has hypnotized herself is also a form of hysteria," Dr. Dele hanty said. "This is responsible for numerous eases of apparent disability, both mental and physical.
 Mrs. Hermann is not rigid because of any physical disability, but simply because her mind has directed the rigidity and stimulation of uncon- sciousness. She is acting, but acting in good faith"
 Dr. Delehanty claims that thou sands of victims of shell shock in the war were suffering from temporary imaginative Arrangement.
 And that is the case with Mrs. Hermann" Dr. Delehanty concluded. Something occurred to cause a break in her mentality. She is in the same cataleptic condition that a profession al hypnotist can produce in a subject by the power of suggestion. Mrs. Hermann's brain has suggested that she cannot move a muscle; hence she remains rigid"
 Dr. Delehanty thinks Mrs Hermann may emerge from her condition. but says that she will not be well. "It may be that she will never be entirely cured" he said "but this particular manifestation of her mental deranee- ment will exhaust itself" 1t is said that Mrs. Hermann's mal- adv only slightly resembles sleeping sickness though it was at first thought she was a victim of that dis ease. Dr. Delehanty aserts that her physical health remains normal, de- spite the fact that she is fed only milk, this diet being considered ample in view of the patients total immo- kslt+x