Hypnosis was continued every other day until April 20, when he was discharged cured. After the first sitting hypnosis was induced by simply telling the patient to go to sleep, which he would immediately do on entering the room, while still standing up. At subsequent sittings, he was made to write twenty times such phrases as: “I feel much better”; “I shall have no more bad dreams.”
Once when a tooth was to be pulled a post-hypnotic suggestion that no more pain would be felt was given, nor was any pain felt. Headache persisted after the first two or three sittings. Accordingly, during hypnosis a pencil was pressed to the forehead with the suggestion that it would burn and that after waking there would be an itching pain for half an hour, followed by recovery from headache. Curiously enough, a distinct erythema of the skin was observed over the point of pressure. Toothache and headache vanished.
Shell-shock from air-craft bomb: Amnesia: Recovery under hypnosis (also removal of a headache dating from childhood).
Case 542. (Burmiston, January, 1917.)
May 22, 1916, a stoker, 26, was found on shipboard in a workshop behind oil drums, refusing to come out, looking dazed, not recognizing messmates, suspicious and complaining of headache. He reached the Royal Naval Hospital at St. Malo, May 24, answering questions “Don’t know,” and physically normal except for diminished knee-jerks. At the end of two or three weeks he would answer questions about his stay at the hospital, but complained of headache or weight in the head. Wassermann reaction, negative.
Special examination on May 26, showed an amnesia for everything up to his arrival at St. Malo. For example, he did not know the name or use of a hammer or a pressure gauge, though he knew the pressure gauge was made of brass and glass, having seen brass and glass in the hospital wards. He had no idea of the nature of a ship. He was sent to the sick bay at the Royal Naval Barracks at Chatham, July 7, carrying a recommendation that he be retrained as a stoker.
He was put under hypnosis, induced by gazing at the brass knob of a paper weight. He went off easily, was told there was nothing to worry about, taken back to the beginning of his illness, and asked what happened. He told about a bomb explosion from aircraft, and how he had lost his memory after a nearby explosion. He told how he was married and had a child 21 months old. During the narrative about bombs falling, his worry was such that he was put in a deeper hypnotic sleep, and was told that he would remember all that had happened. Upon being ordered to wake up, he remained dazed for a few moments, and then said that he was all right. Asked about his marriage, he replied that of course he was married and had a child.
After four days leave, he returned, July 13, without trouble except a headache, from which it appeared that he had suffered ever since a fall when a child. He was again put into a hypnotic state and asked to remember the accident that caused the headache. He was conducted back through the years, and finally described a white house in India, his fall in the area, the black people in white clothes, the cut bleeding head. He was told that he would have no more of such headaches. On being wakened, he said that his headache was gone, and retold the story of the accident. August 2, he said he had never felt better in his life. September 1, he was drafted to a seagoing ship.