Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-09-20
Subconscious Mind.

From 'Trilby' by George Du Maurier.
a whole series of hypnotic sessions in which
he successfully broke down the shadow of
the long-dead mother in the girls subconscious
mind. Now she is happily married to the man
who used to make her sick.
In another case, which DR.. Erickson has
just reported to psychiatrists, the hypnotist
was able to find out the explanation Of eX-
tremely severe headaches in young intern
that occurred whenever he took off his glasses.
The young doctor was extremely near
sighted and probably needed his glasses, but
the curious thing was that he had terrific
pains in his head as soon as his glasses were
removed They came on much too soon to
be explained as mere eye-strain.
BY a series of frances, DR.. Erickson took
the doctor back into his childhood to age
eight and awakened him in this state.
Promptly he removed his glasses" said
Dr. Erickson, land refused to wear them.
Persuaded to do So he complained that
they hurt his eyes and shortly he became re-
sentful because, he explained, they also made
his head hurt.
Accordingly he was allowed to take off
his glasses and was interested in series Of
tasks all involving eye-strain, such as reading
books held at wrong distances threading fine
needles etc. He cooperated readily for about
an hour without complaint.
He was then reoriented, Immediately. TO
his current age and awakened but he was
found to be free Of discomfort.
"As control measure he was subsequently
asked to perform similar tasks in an ordinary
waking state without his glasses but each
time he developed headache after about a
half-hour of effort"
1t then came out that when this doctor was
eight years old his eyes never troubled him.
But at nine he began to get headaches and
at age ten had had his first pair of glasses.
BY hypnotism DR.. Erickson was able to
reconstruct these early boyhood years and
show that the headaches were not simply due
to eye-strain as at first was suspected.
DR.. Erickson uses a questioning method,
called confusion technique, to turn peo-
pies minds back to childhood.
He asks the subject when in trance what
he had for breakfast that morning. Then what
he had for breakfast yesterday, or last
Christmas Then he jumps back with questions
about today, and then jumps farther back
into the long-buried and forgotten memories.
What happened when you were married?
What do you recall about your graduation?
Who is Macarthur? Did your Grandmother
eat with her right or left hand? When did you
get your first bicycle? What color was 1t?
When did the Japs bomb Pearl Harbor?"
And so the questions go on.
Finally the hypnotic subjects become so
confused that Dr. Erickson can seal them off.
as it were, at -difinite period in the
past which he wishes to explore closely.
Hypnotism. says Or. Erickson. can solve
problems Of the mind that cannot be un-
ravelled by psychiatrio questioning or even by
any Of the several drugs that are sometimes
given to induce the exposure of the subcon-
scious mind. AS a medical tool for mental
problems hypnotism is truly coming back to a
state of repute in scientific circles.
DR.. Leopold Thoma, another exponent Of
wider use Of hypnotsm in medicine has gone
a step farther by hypnotizing an ape. In
cooperation with Professor Julian Huxley at
the London Geological Gardens, the Viennese
doctor put Peter into hypnotic trance but 1t
would be difficult to know whether or not an
ape had been taken back TO his childhood In
such an experiment.