Suggestion

SUGGESTION (Latin. suggestio, French, German, English - suggestion). As a factor playing an important role in almost all therapeutic measures, and as a special method of treatment, S. began to attract attention starting from the second half of the 19th century, under the influence of the rapid development of the study of hypnosis. The first works on S. were made by neurologists and psychiatrists, after which this topic interested educators and pure psychologists, and over time the question of S. also attracted the attention of sociologists, lawyers, politicians, historians, and thus went far beyond the specifically medical problem. For a long time, due to habitual association, both terms - S. and hypnosis - were erroneously used as equivalent, whereas in content they have nothing in common: hypnosis is a sleep-like state, while S. is the act of transmitting some psychological state from one person to another, which occurs at every step, completely independently of hypnosis. S. is a special case of that group of facts when a foreign suggestion or requirement to give a certain reaction directly causes this reaction. However, in itself this is not yet S. The proposal to perform some action, when there are no arguments against it, but everything speaks for it, naturally entails the corresponding muscle contraction and results in an act quite adequate to the entire situation created. One can speak of S. only when the given requirement, under ordinary conditions, would have met resistance, being subjected to criticism, whereas now it is carried out blindly, thanks to the fact that in the nervous-psychic apparatus of a person a delay of all opposing tendencies has occurred. To cause such a delay in a person, to make him act without reasoning - this means to make a suggestion. Many definitions of S. have been proposed. According to Bernheim, S. is an act by means of which an idea is introduced into a person's brain and accepted by him. Being excessively broad, this definition does not highlight the specific features of S., does not indicate its difference from logical argumentation, a simple command, etc. Very widespread is Moll's definition: suggestion is the process when, under inadequate conditions, an action occurs only because in a person the representation of the occurrence of this action is awakened. More deeply penetrates into the very essence of S. the definition given by Pierre Janet, who considers typical for S. the falling out of all opposing tendencies that normally exert a controlling and regulatory effect on the behavior of the subject. According to Dupre, S. is the process by which one person causes in another the inhibition of higher psychic centers. A similar definition is given by Bekhterev: S. is the direct implantation into the psychic sphere of a given person of thoughts, emotions, and acts, beyond his 'I'. From the process of S. itself, it is necessary to distinguish separate suggestions, i.e., the various contents of specific requirements, proposals, or assertions that a person makes in the expectation that another person will perceive these contents and unhesitatingly give corresponding reactions. A special place is occupied by suggestion of sleep, with a listing of all the signs of the latter, with a categorical statement that these signs (fatigue, heaviness of eyelids, drowsiness, falling asleep) appear one after another and that the person will now fall asleep. What is the physiological process underlying suggestibility and S.? Based on the doctrine of the basic functions of the cerebral cortex - excitation, on the one hand, and inhibition, on the other - it can be stated that when S. is carried out, the rest of the cerebral cortex, except for those areas connected with this suggestion, is in a state of inhibition. The next question: what causes this inhibition? The authority of a physician, teacher, commander, scientist, a certain personality, parents, etc. - all this is what constitutes strong irritants for certain departments of the waking brain, which suppress under appropriate conditions all other irritations in different parts of the cortex. 'In whom the reaction to the irritant-authority is easily developed' (Platonov), in this very thing all that is opposite and in any way does not correspond to this authority comes into a state of inhibition. A child is subjected to suggestion by parents; students by mentors, subordinates by superiors, etc. The strongest irritant is the unshakable confidence inherent in some people in their speeches and the impressive manner of bearing, which is increased even more if the given person is surrounded by an aura of scholarship, talent, strength of mind and will. Such people easily cause in others the reflex of submission. A group of people, a mass, a crowd, an organized collective often constitute the highest authority for an individual, who therefore in a number of cases more easily submits to the mass than to an individual person. This is the basis for suggestions coming from 'public opinion', from the trends of the era, from fashion, as well as for those transient states of panic, enthusiasm and a whole series of other collective settings with the character of imitation, which can be so strong and persistent. The history of religious sects, some popular movements, the behavior of crowds during fires, disasters, catastrophes, etc. give numerous examples of mass suggestion. In medicine, S. is applied as a therapeutic method. A distinction is made between S. in the waking state and S. in hypnosis. Usually S. in the waking state does not require special technique and, conversely, so to speak, casual remarks made in passing sometimes act much better than S. directly addressed to the patient. Especially well influence words said to some third person and only overheard by the patient, since thereby they are deprived in his eyes of any premeditation or intent. However, sometimes certain technical techniques are expedient: S. is pronounced distinctly, in complete phrases, in a categorical form, while the patient is advised not to think about anything extraneous, but to listen attentively to what will be said to him. In this way, it is possible to eliminate a whole series of nervous symptoms of a functional nature, such as, for example, nocturnal enuresis in children, insomnia, even paretic condition of some limb (in hysteria), various nervous pains, etc. - A distinction is also made between direct S., when the given requirement or proposal is openly or directly communicated to the patient, and indirect or hidden S.; the latter consists in that the patient is prescribed some therapeutic procedure, capable of impressing either by itself or by virtue of the accompanying remarks and assertions of the physician. Almost every prescription can serve as such an auxiliary means for S. (electrical procedures, hydrotherapy, dietetic-

Medical prescriptions, medications, etc.). But the main role here, of course, is played by the authority of the physician and his ability to awaken the idea that this particular remedy will certainly bring help. The main area of application of suggestion is functional diseases of the nervous system, so-called psychoneuroses; however, keeping in mind that with many organic diseases (nervous, internal, and others) there are psychogenic superimpositions associated with various kinds of expectations, fears, and anxieties, it is sometimes advisable to systematically use suggestion in these diseases as well, which sometimes achieves a large and lasting effect. (Suggestions made in a hypnotic state, as well as the technique of such suggestions—see Hypnotism.)

Suggestibility (Ger. Suggestibilität, Fr. suggestibilité), a term used in psychology to denote the submissibility of a person, i.e., the readiness to change one's behavior, however, not on the basis of reasonable arguments and motives, but on the basis of a single demand or suggestion coming from another person or group of persons, while the person themselves does not clearly realize such submissibility and continues to consider their mode of action as the result of their own initiative and independent choice. In the special case of imitation, the external demand or suggestion is not embodied in words, but in a visual form of example. Suggestibility does not serve, as was thought earlier, a sign of a morbid predisposition: this is one of the properties of the normal neuropsychic apparatus, developed under the conditions of collective life and thus being one of the basic psycho-social facts. From this point of view, it is not so much suggestibility that needs a special explanation, but rather the independent initiative and originality of this or that element of human behavior. Suggestibility presents various degrees, depending on age, sex, physical health, disease, fatigue, etc. In some individuals, a demand from any side leads to subordination; in others, suggestibility is observed only in relation to a specific person, and then a demand coming from a third party is discussed with the help of usual weighing of motives. Furthermore, suggestibility can also be limited to a certain area or circle of ideas and interests (narrowly personal, family, property, religious, political, etc.). The study of suggestibility for psychotechnical and medico-diagnostic purposes is carried out by means of various methods. Especially suitable are the Binet cards, Rossolimo's psychological 'profile,' the latter method being convenient also for collective research (experiment with gradually increasing in length lines or sticks); Nechaev's 'method of recommendation' (a group of subjects is asked to perform something—write, draw, while a specific example or sample is given: the degree of approximation of the subject's product to this specific example is a measure of suggestibility). Sotonin's hypnotic method consists in suggesting to a person standing motionless with closed eyes the sensation of muscular weakness, fatigue, swaying, and the degree of suggestibility is evaluated by the speed of appearance and strength of these symptoms. Luria's reflexological method consists in the preliminary determination of the speed of a simple reaction to an auditory stimulus, after which the person is given a verbal suggestion: 'You feel tired, your muscles are relaxed,' and then the speed of reaction is again determined; the difference in the figures expresses the degree of suggestibility. The systematic use of suggestibility for therapeutic purposes constitutes the essence of therapeutic measures united under the concept of suggestion.