HYPNOTIC BLISTERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1802, 16 March 1918, Page 1

HYPNOTIC BLISTERS.

SURGEON’S EXPERIMENTS

That blisters can be produced on the skin by means of hypnotic suggestion alone is the claim made by Mr J. Arthur Hadfleld, temporary surgeon, R.N. Some of the surgeon’s experiments are thus described.-' Getting the consent of a seaman patient at the Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham, to try the experiment, Mr Hadfleld hypnotised the man and then suggested to him that his arm was being touched with a red-hot. iron and that a blister would form, on the spot. The arm was then covered with a bandage pinned on with a safety-pin, and the pin was sealed on with sealing-wax to make certain that the arm could not be interfered with in any way. The patient was watched continuously bv nurses till next morning, when, in the presence of three surgeons, including the deputy surgeon-general, ■ the seal was broken and the bandage removed, showing a small blis- , ter on the chosen spot. This gradually developed during the day to form a large bleb with an area of I J inflammation around. In two other experiments the skin was actually touched with a redhot iron. In the first instance the surgeon suggested that there would he no pain, and in the ..-Second that there would be the usuaPpain of a blister 1 . The first blister was perfectly painless, had practically no area of inflammation around it, and healed very rapidly. The second blister was*painful from the iirst, was surrounded by a reddened area, and took longer to heal. Prom the fact that the blister which was rendered painless by hypnotism healed so quickly, ’’Mr Hadfleld suggests that hypnosis, by rendering wounds and certain painful conditions, such as pleurisy, less painful, might with advantage be made part of the treatment of such conditions.