International Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis - E-Lib FK UWKS

172 INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL HYPNOSIS
illness in general. Tuckey 1902) also concluded that the possibility of hypnotism
being successful in the treatment of severe mental illness was very poor. Gilles de
la Tourette 1889) reported, in partial agreement with Pitres, that hypnosis was
successful only with delusional hysterics or manic patients. Grasset 1916) concluded
that hypnosis did some good for hysterical psychotics if they were
hypnotizable), but he did not feel that hypnosis was useful for psychotic disorders
of attention, or `true psychosis'. In general, many clinicians in the late 1800s and
early 1900s held a rather pessimistic attitude toward the hypnotizability and use of
hypnosis with psychotics, but nevertheless reported on some successful and useful
individual cases Lavoie & Sabourin, 1980).
However, an exception to this pessimistic attitude was presented by Wetterstrand
1902). With unusual perceptiveness and foresight for his time, Wetterstrand stated
that the main dif®culties in utilizing hypnosis with severely disturbed mental
patients were the dif®culty in obtaining consent of the subjects and the dif®culty in
maintaining their attention and cooperation over a suf®cient time period. Wetterstrand
concluded that hypnosis could be possible and useful in certain stages of
psychosis depending on these factors of attention and cooperation. He further
proposed that, in order to work successfully with psychotic patients with hypnosis,
it was essential to reach the subjective world of the patient. Wetterstrand also
reported some success in clinical hypnosis with psychotics in in¯uencing various
symptoms, including hallucinations and persecutory ideation.
Again sounding a more pessimistic note, Copeland & Kitching 1937) reported
on a study utilizing hypnosis in the diagnosis and treatment of severely mentally ill
hospitalized patients. They concluded, with somewhat circular reasoning, that `true
psychotics' could not be hypnotized. They stated that, `If susceptibility to hypnosis
developed, we were compelled to reverse the diagnosis'. 1
As recently as the mid-1900s, clinical reports continued to note the dif®culty of
utilizing hypnosis with psychotic patients Schilder & Kauders, 1926 [1956];
Kraines, 1941; London, 1947). However, they also began more frequently to note
limited, speci®c areas of successful hypnotic work with psychotic patients. Schilder
and Kauders noted that cases of schizophrenia that initially presented the clinical
picture of neurosis were frequently amenable to hypnotic intervention. London
reported the uncovering of important clinical material in the hypnotic treatment of
a paranoid condition.
THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD: A MORE OPTIMISTIC VIEW OF
HYPNOSIS WITH SEVERELY DISTURBED PATIENTS
A signi®cant breakthrough in understanding the potential use of hypnosis with
psychotic patients came in 1945 with the publication of Lewis Wolberg's book
on the hypnoanalysis of Johan R. Johan R. had been con®ned on the chronic ward
of a hospital with a diagnosis of hebephrenic schizophrenia when Wolberg ®rst
attempted to work with him. It took Wolberg more than a year to establish a