More intelligent and better informed patients would reason out the matter differently, and would give different results. If the subject knows of contrast colors and if a color is suggested to him he will without fail see such contrast colors. If his eyes have been fixed on some hallucinatory color, such as red, for instance, he will even give you a detailed account of the green he sees, but if he does not know anything of the effects of contrast colors no amount of fixation on hallucinatory colors will bring out the least contrast effects. The reason is the patient does not know anything about it and cannot think of it.
We tried to mix by suggestion different hallucinatory colors, and as long as he knew nothing of the real results his replies were uniformly wrong; no sooner did he find out what the right mixture should be than he gave correct results. The hypnotic subject really does not perceive anything; he tells what he believes the master wants him to see under the given conditions. The subconscious fear instinct makes the hypnotized subject obey and please the hypnotizer, as the dog obeys his master.
[CHAPTER XXV]
TRANCE SERVILITY
Dr. C., a known psychoanalyst, on whom I carried on a series of experiments, goes into a deep somnambulistic state. He is an excellent visualizer and takes readily visual hallucinations. Being a physician and psychiatrist the subject’s account is all the more valuable. Now Dr. C. describes his hypnotic hallucinations as “mental pictures,” as “auditory memories,” which “lack exteriority, are not located in space.” He aptly characterizes his hallucinations, visual, auditory, and others, as “fixed ideas.”
Mr. M. goes into deep hypnosis. When in one of the deep trance-states a suggestion is given to him that on awakening he shall see a watch. When awake he claims he sees a watch. He was asked: “Do you really see it?” He replied, “Yes.” The interesting point here was the fact that the subject did not even look in the direction where the suggested hallucinatory watch was supposed to be placed and where he himself claimed that the watch was located. When tested by automatic writing the hand wrote: “Yes, I see the watch.” The subconscious then was also under the influence of the suggested hallucination. It is well to bear in mind this point.
Re-hypnotized, and suggested that on awakening he would see two watches. One was a real silver watch and the other was suggested hallucinatory. The subject claimed he saw both, but he only handled the hallucinatory one, and when asked which of the two he would prefer he pointed to the hallucinatory watch. When asked why, he replied that the suggested watch was bigger. He was really indifferent to the chosen watch and paid no further attention to it, as if it did not exist for him. He tried to please the master hypnotizer of whom he was subconsciously in awe.
He was again put into the hypnotic state and was suggested to see a flower. On awakening he claimed he saw a flower and smelled it in an indifferent, perfunctory fashion. The subconscious was then tested by automatic writing and the writing was to the effect that he saw it. “I see a flower.” The subconscious then had also the same hallucination. A series of similar experiments was carried out with the same results. The subconscious claimed in automatic writing that the suggested hallucination was real.
The subject was again put into hypnosis and was given the suggestion that he would see a watch on awakening, but here I made some modification. “When you wake up you will be sure to see a watch,” I said, emphatically. “Look here; I want you to write what you really see and not what you do not see.” When awake he saw a watch, but he immediately wrote: “I do not see anything.” Here the subconscious disclaimed the suggested hallucinations which it had claimed and insisted on before.