Hypnosis suggestion telepathy. Hypnosis. Suggestion. Telepathy. From the medical history

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Foreword
"He had a colorful life and a mysterious death"

The famous scientist Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev had a difficult childhood, a stormy youth, a bright life and a mysterious death. He still remains one of the largest figures in domestic medicine - and not only. Bekhterev's biography is widely known, and it makes no sense to retell it in detail, but I would like to note some significant points.

Vladimir Mikhailovich was born far from all capitals and large cities, lost his father early and was brought up by his mother in very cramped financial conditions. Nevertheless, he managed to get the classical education of a Russian intellectual. His alma mater was the St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy (later the Military Medical Academy). In his youth, Vladimir Mikhailovich participated in student demonstrations, and also fought on the Russian-Turkish front. He was not enthusiastic about the war, although then for quite a long time, even during the years of Soviet power, he wore an overcoat of an officer of the tsarist army.

Bekhterev from a young age was an active person and very greedy for knowledge. Many of the problems that he actively took on, he literally overcame by storm, with a truly military approach, using both personal charm and penetrating abilities. And he undertook a lot, from the formulation of new scientific trends to the creation of new institutions. Bekhterev was an excellent organizer and a caustic scientist who studied various aspects of human functioning, especially in the “man-environment” system. An incredibly inquisitive mind allowed Vladimir Mikhailovich to become an anatomist, neurologist, neuropathologist, clinician, psychiatrist (including those who worked closely with the problem of alcoholism and alcohol addictions). He also worked in the fields of sociology, psychology and pedagogy, making a significant contribution to the development of these disciplines.

Bekhterev was an active popularizer of science. He has more than five hundred scientific and popular science works written without the help of a typewriter and computer.

Yes, within the framework of his scientific activity, Vladimir Mikhailovich was sometimes harsh in his judgments, which, perhaps, was generally characteristic of that time: the same Freud called his students who did not become followers "neurotic", and Bekhterev, according to rumors, did not hesitate to use the word "degenerates", including addressed to the powers that be. Before the revolution, he publicly said that “the country is led by a crazy hieromonk,” for which, among other things, he was loved by the Soviet government; however, he also threw replicas similar to diagnoses to its leaders, using strong words from the psychiatric lexicon. And what about his speech at the opening of the First Congress of the Russian Union of Psychiatrists and Neurologists in 1911, in which he notes that the only place of non-harassment in Russia is psychiatric hospitals!

In addition, Vladimir Mikhailovich criticized classical psychoanalysts, and in particular, the same Freud, but this was already very constructive criticism, the very scientific dispute in which truth is born and science itself continues to develop.

One of the main scientific interests of Bekhterev, which in fact gave rise to Russian psychotherapy, was hypnology and hypnosuggestive techniques as such. Bekhterev himself was not only a theorist, but also an active practitioner in the field of hypnology and suggestion (suggestion), especially in terms of the treatment of alcoholism. This direction of his work was developed in the Soviet era: almost all Soviet psychotherapy and hypnology relied on it until the collapse of the USSR. And in principle, in the field of hypnology and psychotherapy as a whole, Russia was an authority largely due to Bekhterev's powerful contribution to the development of hypnosuggestive techniques.

If you sketch out a kind of "scientific genealogy", then the famous scientist Jean-Martin Charcot, who changed the term "magnetism" to "hypnotism" and became one of the "fathers" of hypnosuggestion, was a teacher of both Freud and Bekhterev. Bekhterev, in turn, was a teacher of such prominent Soviet psychiatrists-hypnologists as P.I. Bul and V.E. Rozhnov. And the direct student of Rozhnov - a kind of "scientific grandson of Bekhterev" - is, in turn, your humble servant.

Modern psychiatry and hypnology are still actively developing, including thanks to the works of Bekhterev and based on them. Bekhterev went further than his teacher Charcot in that he studied "hypnotism" not as some kind of mysterious and incomprehensible phenomenon, but as one of the natural science problems that needed an equally scientific study. Including due to such a fundamental turn, the solution of many problems of the functioning of the human brain, which previously seemed "hidden by a veil of secrecy", is today solved by Bekhterev's students. And some areas of his work - for example, the study of biochemical changes in the human body as a result of hypnosuggestion - are still actively continuing, and reports on them are heard at various modern psychotherapeutic congresses.

Bekhterev, thanks to his scientific approach to life, turned out to be a very perspicacious person. Take, for example, such a well-known saying of his that "If the patient does not feel better after talking with the doctor, then this is not a doctor." Many of his other statements sound just as topical today: “Fanaticism dilutes the brain”, “You cannot be the leader of the people without embodying their dreams”, “You need to talk to the crowd, not so much convincing as hoping to excite it with ardent words”, “Alcoholism is such a social evil that it is difficult to overestimate in general, ”etc. Some of his phrases have gained the power of aphorisms and are actively used by people, even those who are very far from medicine.

Such was the great scientist, researcher and rebel - Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev. Even with his unexpected death, he gave rise to many speculations and legends, among which an unambiguous truth has not yet been established. And among his key works on hypnosuggestion is the book “The Brain. Suggestion. Telepathy”, which has become a textbook for many hypnologists not only in Russia, but all over the world.

N.N. Naritsyn,

psychotherapist, psychoanalyst

Suggestion penetrates the psychic sphere imperceptibly and without resistance from the suggested person.

…What is suggestion? The question of what suggestion is is one of the most important questions of modern psychology and social life, which has lately acquired tremendous practical significance, thanks in particular to the study of hypnotism; nevertheless, it is now firmly established that suggestion in general is an act much wider than hypnotic suggestion proper, since the former manifests itself in the waking state and, moreover, is observed in social life everywhere and everywhere under very diverse conditions. Despite, however, the enormous practical importance of suggestion, its psychological nature still seems to be so little studied that various authors have attached and continue to attach very different meanings to this concept.

Already in my work "The Role of Suggestion in Public Life" I drew attention to the contradictions of the authors on this issue and to the confusion that results from this. “Until recently, this term,” I say, “did not have a special scientific meaning and was used only in common speech, mainly to refer to insinuations made by one person to another for one purpose or another. Only in recent times has this term acquired a completely special scientific meaning, along with the expansion of our knowledge of the mental influence of some individuals on others. But this term has already begun to be abused, applying it to those phenomena to which it does not apply, and often covering up with it facts that remain insufficiently elucidated. Undoubtedly, from such an abuse of the scientific term there is a lot of confusion in the coverage of those psychological phenomena that relate to the field of suggestion "...

There are many examples where suggestion is included in mental sphere imperceptible to the person himself and without any struggle or resistance on his part.

In general, it can be said that suggestion, at least in the waking state, much more often penetrates into the psychic sphere precisely in this imperceptible way, and in any case without much struggle and resistance on the part of the suggested person. This is the social power of suggestion. Let's take an example: “In the middle of the street, in the square, on the sidewalk, a merchant stops and begins to pour out whole volumes of chatter, flattering the public and praising his product. The curiosity of passers-by is aroused, they stop. Soon our hero becomes the center of a crowd that stares blankly at the "wonderful" objects presented to her astonishment. A few more minutes, and the crowd begins to buy things about which the merchant inspires that they are beautiful, cheap.

The arguments of the street speaker are absurd, his motives are despicable, and yet he usually drags the masses along with him, unless another speaker turns up and drags them in another direction.

“A street speaker climbs onto a log or a wagon and begins to rant in front of a crowd. In the crudest way, he glorifies the great mind and honesty of the people, the valor of citizens, deftly declaring to his listeners that with such talents they should clearly see how the prosperity of the country depends on the policy that he approves, on the party of which he is a valiant champion. His arguments are absurd, his motives despicable, and yet he usually drags the masses along with him, unless another speaker turns up and drags them in another direction. Antony's speech in Julius Caesar is an excellent example of suggestion.

Obviously, in this case, the effect of suggestion would not be realized, as it would soon be noticed by everyone that the merchant praises his objects beyond measure, that the street speaker exaggerates the importance of his party, praising its merits in an absurd way. At the very least, everyone for whom the absurdity and falsity of assurances is clear, in such cases immediately depart from such speakers, around whom there remains only a trusting crowd of listeners, who have little understanding of the matter, do not notice either gross flattery or false statements, and therefore easily succumb to suggestion.

One of the fine poetic examples of a suggestion that penetrates the consciousness after a certain struggle is the suggestion from Iago to Othello, who initially meets this suggestion with strong resistance, but then gradually succumbs to it when the "poison of jealousy" begins to do its destructive work in Othello's soul. Also, some of the suggestions made in hypnosis are sometimes met with a certain opposition on the part of the hypnotized person. This happens especially often with persons who are indoctrinated to perform an act that is contrary to their moral convictions. As you know, some of the French authors, according to the degree of resistance of a person to whom suggestions are made that contradict generally accepted moral concepts, even found it possible to determine the morality of a given person.

Everything happens in the most ordinary, natural order, and yet this is a real suggestion that invades the psychic sphere like a thief and produces fatal consequences in it.

It is obvious that in hypnosis the personality is for the most part not completely eliminated, it only goes out to a certain extent and, meeting a suggestion that is contrary to conviction, counteracts it in one way or another.

Nevertheless, we have nothing obligatory and even characteristic for suggestion in opposition to it on the part of the person to whom the suggestion is made, since many suggestions enter the mental sphere of this or that person without the slightest resistance on his part. I tell one person who is in a waking state that his hand begins to tighten into a fist, that a spasm seizes his whole arm and draws it to his shoulder, and this suggestion is immediately carried out. I tell another that he cannot grasp the surrounding objects with his hand, that he is paralyzed, and it turns out that from that time on he really lost the use of his hand. All this continues until such time as I tell both persons that they again still have control of their hand. In neither case, as in many other cases, there is no shadow of resistance.

... It is also impossible to think that suggestion does not allow criticism. Resistance to suggestion, where it exists, is, after all, based on criticism, on understanding the internal contradiction of the suggested idea with the convictions of the given person, on the disagreement with him of his "I". Otherwise, there would be no resistance. From this it is obvious that suggestion in certain cases does not even exclude criticism, without ceasing to be suggestion at the same time.

This is usually noticed in weak degrees of hypnosis, when the person is still critical of everything around him, including suggestion.

From the medical history

I suggest to one person in hypnosis that, upon awakening, he should take from the table a photographic card that he sees. When he wakes up, he almost immediately scans the surface of the table and fixes his gaze on a certain place. "Do you see anything?" I ask. "I see a card." I say goodbye to him, intending to leave; but he still turns his gaze to the table. "Do you need to do something?" I ask. “I wanted to take this card, but I don’t need it!” he replies and leaves without following the suggestion and obviously struggling with it. We also find a very good example of this in B. Siddis (Doctor, Harvard teacher Boris Siddis. - Ed.). A person who is in a weak degree of hypnosis is suggested that, upon hearing a knock, he will take a cigarette and light it. “When he woke up, he remembered everything. I quickly knocked several times. He got up from his chair, but immediately sat down again and, laughing, exclaimed: “No, I won’t do that!” - "What to do?" I asked. "Light a cigarette, that's nonsense!" "And you really wanted to do it?" I asked, presenting the desire as having passed, although it was clear that he was now struggling with it. He didn't answer. Again I asked, "Did you really want to do this?" "Not really," he replied shortly and evasively.

Thus, "acceptance without criticism of suggested ideas and actions" also does not constitute an absolute necessity for suggestion, although it is indisputable that most suggestions enter the mental sphere, as mentioned earlier, without any resistance.

Similarly, we do not find complete automatism in the implementation of suggestion. We know how often we find, even among persons immersed in hypnosis, that suggestion is not carried out without some struggle. We observe the same thing in cases of post-hypnotic suggestion. Sometimes this struggle ends in the fact that the suggestion, which was on the way to realization, in the end remains not carried out at all, as was the case in the examples just given. It is true that this counteraction varies, depending on the strength of the suggestion, on its character, on one or another external condition, nevertheless it is possible and in many cases exists. Consequently, motor automatism can by no means be considered an integral part of suggestion.

Suggestion often enters the psychic sphere imperceptibly, without any violence.

So, suggestion often enters the mental sphere imperceptibly, without any violence, sometimes causes a struggle on the part of the personality of the suggested subject, is even subjected to criticism on his part, and is by no means always carried out automatically.

It should be noted, however, that in other cases the suggestion actually enters the psychic sphere as if by force and, being accepted without any criticism or internal struggle, is carried out quite automatically. An example of such suggestions is the method of suggestion of the abbot Faria, who acted with one order. The well-known command belongs to the same order of suggestion, which is based everywhere and everywhere not so much on the strength of fear for disobedience and on the consciousness of the rationality of submission, but on actual suggestion, which in this case bursts into consciousness violently and suddenly and without giving time for deliberation and criticism, leads to the automatic execution of suggestion.

Obviously, the essence of suggestion lies not in one or another of its external features, but in the special relationship of the suggested subject to the "I" of the subject during the perception of the suggestion and its implementation. Generally speaking, suggestion is one of the methods of influencing some persons on others, which is carried out intentionally or unintentionally by the suggesting person and which can occur either imperceptibly for the person to whom the suggestion is made, or with his knowledge and consent.

To clarify the essence of suggestion, we must keep in mind that our perception can be active and passive. In the first case, the “I” of the subject necessarily participates, which directs attention, in accordance with the course of our thinking and environmental conditions, to certain objects and phenomena. The latter, entering the psychic sphere with the participation of attention and being assimilated through reflection and reflection, become a lasting property of personal consciousness or our "I".

This kind of perception, leading to the enrichment of our personal consciousness, underlies our views and beliefs, since the further result of active perception is the work of our thought, leading to the development of more or less strong convictions. The latter, entering the content of our personal consciousness, temporarily hide behind the threshold of consciousness, but in such a way that every minute, at the desire of the “I”, they can again be revived by reproducing the experienced ideas.

But, in addition to active perception, we perceive much of the world around us passively, without any participation of our “I”, when our attention is occupied by something, for example. when concentrating on a thought, or when our attention is weakened due to one reason or another, as is observed, for example, in a state of absent-mindedness. In both cases, the object of perception does not enter the sphere of personal consciousness, but penetrates into other areas of our mental sphere, which we can call general consciousness. This latter is sufficiently independent of personal consciousness, due to which everything that enters the sphere of general consciousness cannot be arbitrarily introduced by us into the sphere of personal consciousness. Nevertheless, the products of general consciousness can, under certain conditions, also enter the sphere of personal consciousness, and the source of their initial origin is not always even recognized by personal consciousness.

In addition to active perception, we perceive much of the world around us passively, without any participation of our “I”, when our attention is occupied with something.

A whole series of heterogeneous impressions that enter the psychic sphere during passive perception without any participation of attention and penetrating directly into the sphere of general consciousness, in addition to our “I”, forms those influences of the surrounding world that are elusive for us, which are reflected in our well-being, often giving it that or another sensual tone, and which underlie the obscure motives and motives that we often experience in both cases. The sphere of general consciousness generally plays a special role in the mental sphere of each person. Sometimes an impression, received passively, enters, through an accidental concatenation of ideas, into the sphere of personal consciousness in the form of a mental image, the novelty of which strikes us. In some cases, this image, taking plastic forms, appears in the form of a special inner voice, reminiscent of an obsessive idea, or even in the form of a dream or a real hallucination, the origin of which usually lies in the sphere of the products of the activity of the general consciousness. When personal consciousness weakens, as we observe in sleep or in deep hypnosis, then the work of the general consciousness moves onto the stage of consciousness, completely disregarding either the views or the conditions of the activity of personal consciousness, as a result of which, in dreams, as in deep hypnosis, everything that we cannot even think of in the sphere of personal consciousness seems possible.

It can hardly be doubted that suggestion refers precisely to the order of those influences on the mental sphere that occur apart from our "I", penetrate directly into the sphere of general consciousness. Even in my work “The Role of Suggestion in Public Life” (St. Petersburg, 1898), I defined suggestion after appropriate explanations as follows:

“Thus, suggestion is reduced to the direct inoculation of certain mental states from one person to another, an inoculation that occurs without the participation of the will of the recipient and often even without a clear consciousness on his part.” I explained at the same time that "this definition contains a significant difference between suggestion as a way of mental influence of one person on another from persuasion, which is always produced only through logical thinking and with the participation of personal consciousness."

... Undoubtedly, to a certain extent, both the command and the example act exactly like suggestion and cannot even be distinguished from it; otherwise, both command and example, acting on the mind of a person, can be quite likened to logical conviction.

Both command and example act exactly like suggestion and cannot even be distinguished from it; otherwise, both command and example, acting on the mind of a person, can be quite likened to logical conviction.

Thus, an order acts primarily by the force of fear for the possible consequences of disobedience through the consciousness of the need to fulfill due to the reasonableness of submission in general, etc. In this respect, an order acts exactly like persuasion. But regardless of this, the command acts, at least in certain cases, directly on the psychic sphere as a suggestion. As is known, the term "suggestion" before its introduction into psychology was preferably used by the public to express the imperious influence of one person on another. The best example of the influence of an order as suggestion is the command, which, as you know, operates not only through fear of the consequences for disobedience, but also through direct suggestion, without giving the opportunity to reasonably discuss the subject of the command. In the same way, on the one hand, an example undoubtedly acts on the mind by convincing one of the usefulness of what a person sees and hears; on the other hand, an example can also act like a psychic contagion, in other words, by direct suggestion, as a completely involuntary and unconscious imitation.

In this regard, we will recall the contagious influence of public executions, imitation suicides, the transmission by imitation of convulsive morbid forms, etc.

As for other forms of influence of some persons on others, such as demand, advice, expression of hope or desire, then, in essence, they mean nothing more than to provide material for judgment to another person, and therefore they mean to support or strengthen there is a certain conviction in it, although in certain cases these forms of influence can also influence the consciousness directly, like suggestion.

Thus, both command and example, as well as other forms of mental influence of some persons on others, act in some cases by persuasion, in other cases by suggestion, but more often they act simultaneously both as persuasion and as suggestion and therefore cannot be considered as independent ways of influencing some persons on others, like persuasion and suggestion ... Therefore, in the word "inspire" we mean not only a special way of influencing one or another person, but also the possible result of this influence, and, on the other hand, , in the word "suggestion" we mean not only the result achieved in the mental sphere of a given person, but also, to a certain extent, the method that led to this result.

In our opinion, the concept of suggestion primarily contains an element of immediacy of influence. Whether the suggestion will be made by an outsider through the word, or the impact is made through some phenomenon or action, that is, whether we have a verbal or concrete suggestion, it always affects not through logical persuasion, but directly affects the mental sphere, in addition to spheres of personal consciousness, or at least without processing by the "I" of the subject, due to which there is a real inoculation of one or another psychophysical state.

An example can also act like a psychic contagion, in other words, by direct suggestion, as a completely involuntary and unconscious imitation.

Similarly, those states that are known as self-hypnosis and that do not require extraneous influences usually arise directly in the mental sphere, when, for example, one or another idea has penetrated into consciousness as something ready in the form of a thought that suddenly appeared and struck the consciousness, in the form this or that dream, in the form of a seen example, etc. In all these cases, mental influences that arise in addition to extraneous interference are also instilled in the mental sphere directly, bypassing the critical and self-conscious "I" or what we call personal consciousness.

Thus, to inspire means to more or less directly inculcate ideas, feelings, emotions and other psychophysical states into the mental sphere of another person, in other words, to influence in such a way that, if possible, there is no room for criticism and judgment; suggestion should be understood as the direct inoculation into the mental sphere of a given person of ideas, feelings, emotions and other psychophysical states in addition to his "I", i.e., bypassing his self-conscious and critical personality.

SUMMARY

If suggestion is something other than the influence of one person on another by direct inoculation of ideas, feelings, emotions and other psychophysical states without the participation of the personal consciousness of the person to whom the suggestion is made, then it is obvious that it can manifest itself most easily when it penetrates into the psychic sphere or imperceptibly, insinuatingly, in the absence of special resistance from the "I" of the subject, or at least with the latter's passive attitude towards the subject of suggestion, or when it immediately suppresses the psychic "I", eliminating any resistance from the latter ...

strength in the service of humanity, there should be no hesitation. We must be aware of whether we will be with the people who, having won their freedom, want to build their own future and call on us to participate in this construction. 1 January 1920 V. M. Bekhterev's appeal to doctors all over the world with a call to protest against the blockade of Soviet Russia was published in newspapers and broadcast on the radio. V. M. Bekhterev was repeatedly elected a deputy of the Petrograd (and later Leningrad) Council of Working People's Deputies. V. M. Bekhterev died on December 24, 1927 in Moscow during the congress of neuropathologists and psychiatrists, at which he was elected honorary chairman.

V. M. Bekhterev made a major contribution to the development of biological and medical sciences. They created new scientific directions. His activities were so extensive and fruitful that it is hardly possible in a brief essay to list the names of all his scientific works and discoveries. In 1925 On the anniversary dedicated to the 40th anniversary of V. M. Bekhterev’s professorship, his student M. P. Nikitin recalled his conversation with one of the foreign scientists, who said: “I would believe that V. M. Bekhterev alone did this a lot in science and wrote so many scientific works, if he was sure that they could be read in one lifetime. Various bibliographic reference books testify that he wrote and published from 600 to 900 scientific papers, including more than 10 monographs.

V. M. Bekhterev is a universally recognized classic of modern neuromorphology. He discovered and described a number of formations of the brain and spinal cord, some of which were named after him (the nucleus of the vestibular nerve of Bekhterev, etc.). He summarized his research in this area in the monograph "Pathways of the Spinal Cord and Brain", which has become a classic. The leading neuromorphologists of the world considered V. M. Bekhterev the highest authority in this field of science. Some experts said in earnest that only two people know the anatomy of the brain - God and Bekhterev.

The merits of the scientist in the field of neurophysiology are also great. His main efforts in this area were aimed at studying three cardinal problems: the localization of functions in the cerebral cortex, the discovery of associative reflexes (in the terminology of I.P. Pavlov - conditioned reflexes) and the influence of the nervous system on the functions of internal organs. These achievements were summarized in the work “Fundamentals of the Doctrine of the Functions of the Brain”, about which I. P. Pavlov wrote that it “represents a very extensive systematic presentation of the subject indicated in the title, a presentation that is unique in its completeness not only in Russian, but also in foreign literature".

In 1906-1907. in the laboratory of V. M. Bekhterev, a technique of motor combination (conditioned) reflexes was developed, which began to be introduced in psychiatric practice (the study of the mental activity of children in the ontogenetic aspect, the rationale for educational methods, the study of the pathogenesis of mental illness, the treatment of pathological inclinations and alcoholism, etc.) .

The study by V. M. Bekhterev and his students of the combination-reflex mechanisms of regulation of the functions of internal organs showed that interoceptive (organic, in the terminology of V. M. Bekhterev) impulses have a specific relationship to the prefrontal lobes of the cerebral cortex. The views of V. M. Bekhterev on the organization and localization of the cerebral functions of the brain have not lost their significance either. The mechanisms of activity of the nervous system described by V. M. Bekhterev are in many respects close to what is now known as the “feedback principle” in the activity of complex self-regulating systems.

An important place in the scientific work of V. M. Bekhterev is occupied by his research in the field of the functions of the organs of balance. He studied the role of the semicircular canals, the labyrinth, the floor of the third ventricle of the brain and the cerebellum in the formation of our ideas about space.

Bekhterev's experimental psychological studies on the problems of psychology were aimed primarily at studying perception, associative

About V. M. Bekhterev - scientist and hypnologist

ny processes, psychomotor acts. Since the mid-90s, V. M. Bekhterev's work began on the restructuring of psychology on the basis of an objective method in the spirit of contemporary natural science. In this regard, he wrote "Objective Psychology", "General Foundations of Human Reflexology", "Collective Reflexology", etc.

V. M. Bekhterev was one of the outstanding neurologists-clinicians of his time. Perhaps only the contribution of the famous neuropathologist Babinsky is commensurate with the contribution of V. M. Bekhterev to the development of the semiotics of nervous diseases. He described a large number of pathological and normal reflexes and symptoms of nervous diseases. V. M. Bekhterev summarized his discoveries in the field of diagnosis and treatment of nervous diseases in such works as “Nervous diseases in individual observations”, “General diagnosis of diseases of the nervous system”, etc. He described some forms of mental illness and symptoms of mental disorders person.

The activities of V. M. Bekhterev in the field of psychiatry coincided with the period of rapid development and flourishing of Russian psychiatry. He made a significant contribution to the development of this field of medicine.

V. M. Bekhterev was both an excellent diagnostician and healer. He carried out major measures to organize psychiatric care, improve the regime of psychiatric institutions, did a lot to introduce various types of therapy into the treatment of mental illness, organize psycho- and occupational therapy in psychiatric institutions, care and patronage services for the mentally ill, neuropsychiatric dispensaries. The range of therapeutic agents and methods used by V. M. Bekhterev was extremely wide. Highly humane ideals and aspirations lay at the basis of this activity of the doctor-scientist.

V. M. Bekhterev dealt with issues of hypnosis, suggestion and telepathy throughout his entire creative life. His first publications on this topic date back to 1890. His concept of the essence of hypnosis as a phenomenon of the human psyche, as well as wide

About V. M. Bekhterev - scientist and hypnologist

generalizations on the therapeutic use of suggestion in hypnosis, he outlined in the work "Nervous Diseases in Separate Observations" (1894-1896). In the future, V. M. Bekhterev wrote a large number of works on this topic, some of which are published in this publication.

The era and type of doctor-scientist. At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. in medicine, a turn began that led to a genuine revolution in this science. In the most general terms, its essence can be characterized by the following main points: a fundamentally new approach to a person as a subject of medicine, a change in its social status, new forms of organization of medical care, a profound reform of medical education, the widespread use of clinical and clinical-anatomical principles, the introduction of instrumental methods of research and the emergence of new semiotics, the establishment of the nosological principle, the introduction of the experiment, the growth of the preventive and therapeutic possibilities of medicine. All this was connected with the reorganization of medicine on the basis of rapidly developing natural science and the introduction of natural scientific methods in the study of human life in normal and pathological conditions.

In the history of Russian medicine, N. I. Pirogov was one of the first to take this path of development of medicine. At the time of N. I. Pirogov, not all doctors and surgeons understood that only knowledge of anatomy and physiology leads to the progress of medicine.

N. I. Pirogov put the knowledge of the structure of the human body into the basis of surgical practice, creating a new surgical anatomy. In the person of S.P. Botkin, Russian medical thought rose to a clear awareness of the new epistemological situation in medicine. He came to the conclusion that the art of healing consists primarily in the ability to "apply natural science to individual cases of illness."

S. P. Botkin emphasized that both for the creation of truly scientific medicine and for the correct diagnosis and treatment of each individual patient, the research method is of decisive importance.

About V. M. Bekhterev

- scientist and hypnologist

niya. An important place in the entire methodology of S. P. Botkin is occupied by his ideas about the disease as a change in the norm of life, which is based on natural law.

According to I. P. Pavlov’s fair assessment, S. P. Botkin was “the best personification of the lawful and fruitful union of medicine and physiology, those two kinds of human activity that are erecting the edifice of the science of the human body before our eyes and promise in the future to provide man with his best happiness - health and life.

The new epistemological and methodological level of medicine demanded a new type of doctor, a doctor-scientist. The practical goals of medicine throughout its history have remained unchanged: to help the sick and prevent disease. In solving this noble task, the doctor's personality, his talent, experience, intuition, and human qualities have always played a huge role. Medicine itself as a system of knowledge until the 19th century. based on clinical observation. The introduction of the methods of natural science into medicine led to the fact that the doctor began to consider the clinical facts he observed as a manifestation of certain patterns of the life of the organism. The problem of the interaction of medicine as a sphere of knowledge and practice with the fundamental natural sciences has arisen. This interaction manifested itself in the work of V. M. Bekhterev. He saw the advantages of experimental research in that it makes it possible to discover some deep patterns that can explain clinical data and create more effective methods treatment and prevention of diseases. But the possibilities of natural scientific research of man in medicine are limited by a number of reasons. First of all, these are ethical and legal norms that prohibit experimenting on people. And secondly, these are the limited possibilities of modeling human pathology in animals. Therefore, medicine often outstrips experimental research in biology.

V. M. Bekhterev was formed as a doctor of a new type, a doctor-scientist, in the 70s of the XIX century. By this time-

About V. M. Bekhterev - scientist and hypnologist

neither in psychiatry and neurology is the anatomo-physiological principle firmly established. Recommending the young scientist V. M. Bekhterev to head the Department of Psychiatry at Kazan University, his teacher \\. M. Balinsky wrote that "he stood with a firm foot on the anatomical and physiological ground - the only one from which further success in the science of nervous and mental illness should be expected."

Second half of the 19th century marked by the famous discussion between the supporters of the Parisian psycho-neurological school, headed by Charcot, and the supporters of the Nancy school, headed by Bernheim. In the depths of the first of these schools, a physiological point of view on understanding the nature of hypnosis was formed, in the depths of the second - a psychological one. VM Bekhterev was a direct witness to these most interesting scientific events. In 1885, he underwent a short-term internship at Charcot's Salpêtrière clinic, attended his hypnosis sessions and, directly communicating with the famous neuropsychiatrist, had the opportunity to get acquainted with his views on the essence of hypnosis and methods of hypnotization. In the understanding of V. M. Bekhterev, medicine more and more turned into “the natural science of pathological processes”.

V. M. Bekhterev, I. P. Pavlov, like a galaxy of their contemporaries, were, according to A. A. Ukhtomsky, representatives of “that generation that was something like an Italian-French renaissance on Russian soil.”

A closer acquaintance with the clinic of nervous and mental diseases convinced the young Bekhterev that the knowledge gained in the field of anatomy and physiology of the nervous system does not make it possible to solve the problems of the clinic at the proper level. It was the desire to fill a gap in knowledge, as V. M. Bekhterev recalled many years later, that forced him, along with the clinic, to study the structure and functions of the Brain.

The progress of neuromorphology at that time was associated with the names of such prominent psychiatrists and neuropathologists-clinicians as Flexig, Meinert, Charcot, Ver-

About V. M. Bekhterev - scientist and hypnologist

Nick and others. Over 10-15 years of work in the field of studying the structure of the brain, V. M. Bekhterev made a number of discoveries and became one of the most prominent representatives of this field of knowledge.

V. M. Bekhterev achieved outstanding successes in the field of morphology of the nervous system primarily due to the use of new techniques. He used primarily the so-called embryological method. The creative application of this method gave V. M. Bekhterev the opportunity to discover a number of pathways of the spinal cord and brain. The result of V. M. Bekhterev's research was not only a description of new brain structures, but also a new understanding of the architectonics of the brain and spinal cord, of the connections between their various formations.

The fundamental novelty of V. M. Bekhterev’s approach to understanding the structure of the brain was that instead of the topographic anatomy of a section of individual parts of the brain, he gives a physiological, functional anatomy of the nervous system. Only such an understanding of anatomy found application in the general pathology of the nervous system and in the clinic of nervous diseases. Thanks to this approach, the significance of internal connections between individual brain formations became clearer than in the case of a topographic description of these connections. Thus, in order to solve the urgent problems of the clinic, the scientist had to not only use the available knowledge, but, with the help of new methods and discoveries, create a brain anatomy that was new for that time.

During his trip abroad, in addition to the clinic, neuromorphology and neurophysiology, V. M. Bekhterev also mastered experimental psychology that was then emerging. The practice of a psychiatric clinic, as well as personal medical experience, led V. M. Bekhterev to the idea that the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system are a necessary, but not sufficient basis for the creation of scientific psychiatry. We need a fundamental science, we need a psychology built on the example of other natural science disciplines on the basis of experimental research.

About academician Vladimir Bekhterev, contemporaries said that only two people know the anatomy of the brain - God and Bekhterev. He was the first to invade the holy of holies of man - his consciousness. And he was able not only to cure the most serious diseases, but also to control people with the help of suggestion and hypnosis. Bekhterev conducted hundreds of unique hypnosis experiments, after which people miraculously revived and got rid of their addictions: alcoholism, smoking, drug addiction. He explained the secret of illusions and hallucinations - from ghosts and stigmata to sorcerers and UFOs (but believed in life on other planets!). He understood how Christ healed hopelessly sick people. He exposed sectarians, predictors of the "end of the world" and conjurers posing as clairvoyants. He analyzed why wars flare up and how such leaders as Joan of Arc, Mohammed, Peter the Great, Napoleon appear. He investigated the most fantastic phenomenon - the transmission of thoughts at a distance. He knew what the people of the future would be like. And the most amazing discovery of the legendary scientist - Bekhterev revealed the secret of immortality.

A series: Man is the gene of the universe

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The following excerpt from the book Phenomena of the brain (V. M. Bekhterev) provided by our book partner - the company LitRes.

About hypnosis

…What is a hypnotic state? It is known that Charcot considered it as a special nervous state, similar to hysteria, Bernheim - as an inspired dream, some recognized it as a special emotion or emotional excitement (affect), and I recognized it as correct to consider it as a special modification of natural sleep.

The opinion of Charcot, who recognized in hypnosis a special nervous state similar to hysteria, has now been completely abandoned, since experiments have shown that most people, if not all, are amenable to hypnosis to one degree or another. Obviously, it is impossible to recognize everyone as hysterical. This theory received a final blow when it became clear that hypnosis in animals, too, must be recognized as a phenomenon completely analogous and akin to human hypnosis.

...Among my patients was one foreign peasant from the recruits who did not understand Russian, who suffered from a spinal cut, or incomplete paralysis, and whom I investigated in relation to reflexes obtained from the tibia. For this purpose, I had to repeatedly tap silently on the anterior surface of the tibia. Within five minutes, I noticed that my subject had fallen asleep. Assuming that it was a matter of hypnosis, I made, for the purpose of testing, the suggestion of smells and various taste substances, and it turned out that the suggested hallucinations succeeded completely. This fact led to the recognition that in this case it was not about an ordinary dream, but about hypnosis; meanwhile, this foreign peasant was not at all subjected to suggestion and did not even understand the Russian language. It is clear that here, too, it was a question of mechanical influences that led to hypnosis in the absence of suggestion.

I also had a case where, under the influence of a simple suggestion, it was possible to cause a moderate degree of hypnosis in one of the women, while strong illumination by a mirror, without any suggestion, introduced her into such a deep hypnotic state with the character of lethargy that it was possible to bring her out of hypnosis only by strong mechanical pushing with a shout or by applying a strong foradic current, while the suggestion to wake up, even repeated with persistence, remained unsuccessful ...

These and similar facts leave no doubt that hypnosis is caused by more than one suggestion and that physical influences are sometimes more effective than verbal influence in the form of suggestion.

The same conclusion is drawn by the fact that children in infancy are easily put to sleep by methodical stroking or a light pat on the back and the monotonous chanting of a lullaby, while verbal suggestion does not play a role here.

Finally, at the present time, as we have already said, it has been established that hypnosis in animals is completely analogous to hypnosis in humans, and verbal suggestion is out of the question in animals.

On the other hand, one cannot unreservedly recognize the convergence of hypnosis and sleep, which reaches almost to the point of identification, which Bernheim makes. Hypnosis and sleep, with certain similarities, also have significant differences. So, you can talk to a hypnotist and get answers from him; further, during hypnosis, there is an increased suggestibility, which does not happen in an ordinary dream: a hypnotized person can be made by suggestion to automatically walk, perform certain actions, etc. for a dream, even if inspired, but for a peculiar modification of sleep, more precisely, a state related to sleep.

To what has been said, it should be added that hypnosis differs from ordinary sleep in another feature, the so-called. rapport. In deep hypnosis, a special relationship is established between the hypnotized and the hypnotist: the first hears only the words of the second, obeys him in everything, fulfills his suggestions unquestioningly, while he does not react at all to the influence of outsiders.

Let us now see what the emotional theory of hypnosis is based on. It relies on the fact that with certain emotions, the ability to reproduce what was experienced during a strong emotion is lost, and at the same time, during an experienced emotion, increased suggestibility is revealed. These two traits are known to be observed in hypnosis as well. But despite the similarity in the indicated respect, hypnosis will still not fit any of the emotions known to us, and in order to recognize it as a special emotion, it would be necessary to indicate its biological nature, for the so-called. Emotions, or, to put it objectively, mimic-somatic states, are developed in life conditions as certain reactions under various external conditions. Fright at a sudden external impact, fear at danger, shame as a protective reflex against encroachments on the sexual sphere, jealousy as a fear of the loss of a sexual object, etc. - all these are mimic-somatic states that have developed as expedient reflexes under appropriate conditions.

What emotion or what mimic-somatic state is hypnosis as a state related to sleep?

If hypnosis, as we know, is also observed in animals, then it is quite natural that its roots lie deep in the organic world. And indeed, in a whole series of animals, from the lowest to the highest, we observe special states of "stupor", or phenomena of the so-called. imaginary death, which in the same animals can be caused artificially. When a bug or a spider crawls on paper, a light blow on the table or on a sheet of paper is enough to make it instantly and for a long time become motionless, in other words, freeze in a numb state. If, grabbing the snake by the tail, we quickly shake it in the air, we will see how it instantly becomes numb and becomes hard as a stick. Perhaps this explains the ancient "miracle" when in the hands of Moses, who discovered the source of water, the rod turned into a snake. The bird, under the gaze of a snake that suddenly appears, becomes numb and becomes its victim, although it would seem that it could easily fly away and thereby avoid death. The large African rodent, the capybara, despite having a fast run, enters the snake's mouth in exactly the same way. Similar examples of torpor are presented by higher vertebrates, up to and including monkeys. In the conditions of human cultural life, such phenomena are observed relatively rarely, but even here we know cases of "stupefaction" or "stupefaction" with sudden external stimuli, as, for example, during fires and earthquakes. Let us recall the biblical story about Sarah, who, at the sight of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, turned into a “salt” pillar. (The name "salt" is used here, of course, as a comparison.)

The question is: what is the biological meaning of these phenomena, characterized by a sudden stiffness of movements? Observations show that they develop with the sudden appearance of danger. But what is the meaning of these reactions, and how could natural selection, which is dominant in nature, hold back such a phenomenon? From the foregoing, it is clear that in the entire animal world, up to and including humans, we have a common inhibitory reflex that develops under conditions of sudden stimuli affecting the mimic-somatic sphere. Although this reflex leads in some cases to the death of the individual, in general, however, it is protective, and therefore useful. The usefulness of this inhibitory reflex is evident from the fact that the state of stupor is, in most cases, a full remedy for the animal.

The bug, taking a fixed position, becomes less visible as a target for predators. Experiments are known that even chicks easily grab a crawling caterpillar, while they leave a calmly lying caterpillar alone. And the bird itself, in a moment of danger, is saved by a motionless position or a state of stupor from predators. The same should be kept in mind in relation to the higher vertebrates.

If in some cases the development of this reflex turns out to be disastrous for the individual, then we must not lose sight of the fact that we observe the same thing in all innate reflexes in general. They turn out to be expedient for the vast majority of cases and may turn out to be just inappropriate and even harmful in individual cases. The blinking reflex can serve as an example: being extremely useful for the eyes in general, since with the help of it dust particles are removed from the mucous membranes to the inner corner of the eye, the same reflex can also be extremely harmful if any sharp object falls under the upper eyelid , because when blinking in this case, severe damage to the cornea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe eye is possible.

The usefulness of the general inhibitory reflex with the character of stupor is also used in nature in another respect, in the interests of the reproduction of offspring, when the female animal under mating conditions must be an immobile creature. We see this in amphibians and even in birds. A domestic hen, on which a rooster jumped, grabbing her by the neck with his beak, suddenly becomes numb, stopping as if rooted to the spot, and remains without the slightest movement at the moment of mating. Stupority associated with the appearance of sudden strong stimuli of one kind or another can also be detected under the influence of weak and monotonous and generally monotonous stimuli. An example is the well-known bewitchment of snakes with the sounds of a flute, the taming of animals with a gaze, etc.

This state of numbness, observed in nature, is the prototype of the hypnotic state that we study in laboratories and clinics. And what we call hypnosis is only an artificial reproduction of the general inhibitory reflex in the form of a dream-like numbness to one degree or another.

To induce a hypnotic state in animals, various artificial methods can be used, with which we have already partly become acquainted. A lizard, which has an extraordinary briskness of movement, can be introduced into hypnosis by lightly stroking its chest, after closing its eyes. The animal then becomes numb, and it can be given, like a frog in hypnosis, any position that it maintains for a long time. The ancient (since the 16th century) spectacular experiment of Kir-cher'a with chickens is known. If a rooster or a hen is first calmed down and then carefully, bending its body to the board, draw a line from the head with chalk in front of the beak, then the bird will remain in a numb state with a gaze directed along the drawn line. By personal experience I can say that any bird, even songbirds, can be hypnotized. For this purpose, it is enough to take the bird in your hands, calm it down and, turning its belly up, place it on the edge of the table, leaving its head in a suspended position behind the edge of the table; then it’s worth lightly scratching the bird’s neck with your finger, and with folded legs and wings it will remain motionless for a long time, without any movement, and you can carefully stretch out its paw, raise the wing and even carefully stick the needle into its body, and it remains motionless .

Finally, artificial hypnosis can also be induced by special techniques in mammals. Incidentally, Mangold proposed a special device that instantly hypnotizes animals, such as, for example, a rabbit. The device is unusually simple and consists in the fact that the animal is placed in the machine, and its back rests on the roof of the device. Then, with the help of special straps, the animal is tied to the roof of the device under the arms and thighs, after which, with the help of a special collar, the roof instantly turns a semicircle (180 °), and due to this, the animal instantly lies on the roof of the device with its paws up. This maneuver is enough to put the animal into a hypnotic state. Obviously, in this case, a special role is played by the sudden irritation of the semicircular canals of the ear, as a static organ that maintains the balance of the body, due to the rapid displacement of the endolymph contained in them, as, apparently, the situation is also in the case of a quick shaking of the snake by the tail.

As for a person, we get an artificial state of stupor or hypnosis from him, both with the help of physical methods, for example, passes, the so-called. magnetic gaze or prolonged monotonous sounds, etc., also with the help of verbal suggestion. The latter takes place because in man, as a social being, the word as a symbol plays a particularly important role, replacing other concrete, i.e., physical, stimuli. It can even be definitely said that verbal stimuli in human society play a much more important role than certain physical stimuli.

To induce hypnosis in a person, I usually use combined stimulation, both physical and verbal at the same time. To this end, this person sits down in a chair, he is invited to look at the shiny tip of the medical hammer, after which the suggestion immediately begins about the approach of sleep, about the disposition to sleep, about the onset of sleep itself, etc. Usually this procedure lasts no more than one two minutes to last word“fall asleep” the person fell into a state of hypnosis of one degree or another, which depends on the individual conditions of the hypnotized person.

Thus, we come to the conclusion that hypnosis is neither a painful nervous state like hysteria, as Charcot taught, nor an artificially induced sleep or induced sleep, as Bernheim taught and as many still understand it, but represents a special biological state in the form sleep-like torpor as a general inhibitory reflex observed in various animal species, not excluding humans. This state can be reproduced, sometimes to a greater extent, sometimes to a lesser extent artificially, with the help of physical measures in the most diverse species of animals, and in humans also through verbal influences.

On the Objective Signs of Suggestions Tested in Hypnosis

As you know, in the study of hypnosis, a lot of work was expended on the study of objective signs of a hypnotic state. But besides the question of the objective signs of the hypnotic state itself, the question of those objective signs that express the suggestion carried out in hypnosis is of no small practical importance. Everyone understands that even in the weaker stages of hypnosis, when the hypnotized subject is subordinate to the hypnotist, the first of the feelings of obedience confirms all the suggestions made by the hypnotist, as if they were actually carried out, while in reality this realization remains only in the imagination of the hypnotized person or it is carried out. only to a small extent or even not at all.

Let's say that we suggest anesthesia. The hypnotized person is convinced that anesthesia has come, and even when examining injections, he claims that he does not experience pain, while from the grimaces of the face, especially with an unexpected injection, it is easy to verify that anesthesia has not actually come or it is weakly expressed. With appropriate questions, of course, the hypnotized person will not refuse to confirm this either. The same can happen with other suggestions, for example. with the suggestion of hyperesthesia, hallucinations, mood changes, etc.

In view of this, it is of particular importance to study the objective signs of an effective suggestion, especially since the undoubted presence of these signs, testifying to the implementation of the suggestion, also speaks of the significant suggestibility of the hypnotized person.

Meanwhile, if the question of the objective signs of hypnosis itself already has behind it a well-known series of scientific observations, the question of the objective signs of the realization of the suggestions themselves seems to be extremely little developed, and there are only extremely scarce literary indications on it.

It goes without saying that in cases where, under the influence of suggestion in hypnosis, changes in cardiac activity occur, bleeding stops, and even inflammatory phenomena on the skin surface, there is no need for any special methods to prove the real implementation of the suggestions made. But the situation is quite different when we suggest hallucinations, hyperesthesia or anesthesia, blindness, etc.

Here, no doubt, special techniques are needed to find objective signs convincing that the suggestion has been fully realized, that is, that hyperesthesia or anesthesia, blindness, etc. have really occurred, and these phenomena are not only in the imagination of the person, subjected to suggestion.

The comparative paucity of the available literature data on the issue that interests us forces us to pay special attention to it.

My research on the question that interests us began in the early nineties and was first published in a report made in the Kazan Society of Neurologists and Psychiatrists in 1893, and then published in my Nervous Diseases in Separate Observations (Kazan, 1894).

Since then, my observations in this direction have continued with various interruptions until recently, and in a later period, at my suggestion, studies were also carried out on the influence of emotions suggested in hypnosis on the pulse and breathing by Dr. Lazursky. In addition, with Dr. Narbut, I published a paper entitled "Objective Signs of Suggested Sensitivity Changes in Hypnosis." Finally, a systematic study of Dr. Sreznevsky on colors suggested in hypnosis has recently been carried out in our laboratory.

Before the publication of my original investigations, there were interesting studies in the literature on the same subject, Binet and Fere, of which the condition of the pupils during the suggestion of a flying bird deserves special attention. It turns out that if you force the hypnotist to look at a flying bird approaching him, then along with the convergence of the eyes, a gradual narrowing of the pupil occurs.

For my part, I made the following experiment on one of the patients who was subjected to hypnosis, which, in my opinion, seems to be even simpler than the experience of Binet and Fere. Having hypnotized one person and forced her to open her eyes in hypnosis, I suggested to her that she sees a bright point far from herself, and asked her to look intently at this point. Then I suggest to the patient that this point is slowly approaching her and finally is directly in front of her eyes. At the same time, it was possible to make sure that as the bright point seemed to approach the patient's eyes, they gradually converged inward and at the same time their pupils gradually narrowed. Finally, under the suggestion that the luminous point is very close, in front of the eyes, the hypnotized person declares that it hurts her to look, and one could be sure that her eyes at that moment sharply squinted inward.

Since this observation was made by me, I have repeated the same experiment with other hypnotics with equal success. Where this experience failed, there was probably no corresponding hallucination in the true sense of the word.

Moll regards the experience of Binet and Fere as one of the valuable objective signs of the subsequent suggestion, and it cannot be denied that it seems to be easily demonstrated. But still, I believe that both this and the experiment with a luminous point that we have cited cannot be recognized as completely flawless for distinguishing simulation from actual suggestion, since convergence of the eyes can also be achieved in an arbitrary way, while constriction of the pupils is a phenomenon that accompanies convergence.

Thus, it is sufficient that the hypnotist, not seeing any bird or luminous point, only imagine an object moving towards him, in order to obtain in relation to the eyes and pupils all those phenomena that are observed in real vision.

Much more convincing as an objective sign of a carried out suggestion is, in my opinion, the following experiment, which I made about the same time as the one above. In deep hypnosis, the suggestion is given that the strongest pin pricks will be made, from which sharp and prolonged pain will be felt. Meanwhile, in fact, pressure is made with the blunt end of the pin on the chin or other part of the face, while suggesting that severe pain is experienced. The result is a curvature of the face, as if from pain, sometimes even a rush of blood to the face and a clear pain reaction of the pupils, expressed by their expansion.

Similarly, similar experiments were made by me with special and general anesthesia. After a preliminary examination of the vision of the subject under hypnosis, it was suggested that she was completely blind in her left eye.

Then a special study with the Snellen apparatus, designed to reveal faces feigning blindness, showed that immersed in hypnosis, actual blindness was found in the left eye.

In the same way, the study with the help of stereoscopic fusion of the figures left no doubt that the subject was really blind, and did not imagine herself only blind. It even seemed that the pupillary reaction to the left eye was somewhat weaker than to the right; but this fact could be attributed to the lack of accommodation due to lack of vision.

Another experiment that I managed to make on the same person was that she was inspired with complete blindness to the color red, not only during hypnosis, but also upon awakening from it. Then, when, on awakening, she was asked to look for a certain time through the red glass at the flame of a candle, she, of course, did not see the red flame, but the ordinary color of the flame, only somewhat paler. Then, when her vision was tired enough, she was asked to look at the bright ceiling, on which she immediately saw a grayish, and not a colored greenish image of a flame, as it should be according to the principle of complementary colors when looking at a red flame.

Thus, in the absence of a consistent additional color, after looking at the corresponding color objects with suggested color blindness, we get a new control sign of the implementation of the suggestion in the form of real color blindness, and not only imaginary blindness.

In the observations made in our country on suggested colors in hypnosis by Dr. Sreznevsky, it turned out that after fixing the suggested color illusion, a consistent color spot is obtained, which in most cases is a secondary illusion of the same kind as the original one; in a few cases, the phenomena of color induction under the influence of the suggested illusion were detected, and in one case it was even possible to observe the phenomenon of color phases and color contrasts in a sequential image. The latter phenomena also deserve some attention from the point of view of the objective signs of suggested phenomena.

Further, for suggested anesthesia, objective signs can be found in the reaction of the pupil and other organic functions to painful stimuli. Thus, having suggested analgesia on one half of the body, I was convinced that even strong irritations in the area of ​​suggested analgesia did not cause a painful reaction in the pupil, while the latter was not difficult to detect when pricked in areas of the body with normal sensitivity.

These observations on the absence of pain reaction of the pupils during suggested analgesia were subsequently verified by me, together with Narbut, on other persons subjected to hypnosis, and generally gave the same results. Painful stimuli in the area of ​​suggested analgesia did not give a pupil reaction to light in those cases where anesthesia was complete.

On the other hand, we also investigated the effect of stimuli in the area of ​​suggested anesthesia and suggested hyperesthesia on the pulse and respiration; while breathing and pulse were recorded before hypnosis, in hypnosis after the suggestion was made, but without stimulation, then in hypnosis during or after stimulation, and finally after awakening from hypnosis. The source of irritation in these experiments was an induction apparatus with a Dubois Reymond coil; the same irritation was produced by means of the electrode prof. Chiriev, which is a plane with a number of wire ends separated from each other by rubber. Both the areas of irritation and its strength were the same in all cases. For control, in some cases of suggested hyperesthesia, an electrode was applied to the skin surface and an induction apparatus was started with an open circuit imperceptible to the hypnotized person.

The results of the experiments carried out gave the following in general.

In some cases, where the suggested anesthesia was more or less complete, the painful irritation in the area of ​​the suggested anesthesia was almost not accompanied by changes in the respiratory rhythm and in the circulatory system, or these changes were generally very mild.

In other cases, with less pronounced suggested anesthesia, the reaction to painful stimuli was much weaker than in the waking state. When suggesting hyperesthesia, on the contrary, sharp changes in both the pulse and respiration were detected along with pain stimuli. With shallow hypnosis, when the suggestion of anesthesia and hyperesthesia did not reach the goal, and the results turned out to be indefinite.

Thus, these observations also lead to the conclusion that in persons who are in deep degrees of hypnosis, the suggested anesthesia and hyperesthesia are an undoubted and real fact, and not a product of their imagination, just as the anesthesia and hyperesthesia of hysterical people is real, and not only imaginary. anesthesia and hyperesthesia.

It must be noted, however, that such phenomena as suggested hallucinations, suggested anaesthesias, and hyperesthesias usually succeed with deeper degrees of hypnosis; in weaker hypnotic states, however, these phenomena rarely succeed in such completeness, and therefore the above signs cannot be of any significant use in these cases in elucidating the subsequent suggestion. But moods and emotions, according to my observations, are easily suggested even with comparatively weak degrees of hypnosis. That is why the question of what are the objective signs of the emotions and mood suggested in hypnosis is of essential importance.

In this regard, I have long noted the fact that under the influence of suggestion in hypnosis of one or another emotion or mood, both the rhythm of the breath and the pulse waves and the rhythm of the heart beat correspond in a corresponding way. I have been demonstrating the corresponding curves every year in lectures on hypnosis given to students of the Military Medical Academy for more than 10 years now.

Then this subject was offered for special development to Dr. Lazursky, who worked in our psychological laboratory, and his systematic research in this respect gave, in general, the same results as our research.

Like me, he became convinced that in hypnosis every suggestive feeling is accompanied by sharp changes in the pulse and respiration. Fear, anger, and depressing affects showed a particularly strong influence in this respect; meanwhile, the influence of joy was revealed to a much less pronounced degree. In almost all cases, both a more or less significant increase in heart rate and a change in the pulse curve were found. The change in respiration during joy was expressed by an increase in respiration and a decrease in its amplitude, but sometimes, as with fright and anger, irregular and uneven respiratory movements were observed, which seemed to be either deeper or more superficial.

Finally, an essential objective sign of the implementation of suggestions concerning various kinds of emotions and moods, as well as suggested sensations or hallucinations of a pleasant and unpleasant nature, is a corresponding change in facial expressions. This sign, which I constantly use in my lectures on hypnosis to prove the real implementation of suggested states, seems to be very valuable because of its extraordinary clarity. If we suggest to the hypnotist that he experiences fear or joy, that he is given a sour or bitter drink, that he sniffs a pleasant or fetid smell, then we will see if these suggestions are realized that, in accordance with the suggestions made, the facial expressions of his face will change.

This change in facial expressions is especially effective in persons with a mobile physiognomy; in persons with less developed facial expressions, however, a change in it can still be clearly detected in relation to unpleasant sensations (for example, gustatory, olfactory), as well as in relation to painful emotional affects, upon suggestion of which, in general, a much sharper reaction is found in all persons. change in mimicry than with affects and sensations of a pleasant quality.

... Simulation and unconscious suggestion - these are the two main underwater reefs that should be avoided when studying the factors of suggestion, say Binet and Feret in their monograph on animal magnetism. How difficult it is to have accurate measurements of the mental state of a hypnotist is not to be spread; to distinguish the reality of the inspired mood experienced by him by its mental manifestations from the product of the activity of his own imagination is often a completely insoluble task. Therefore, a number of observers have drawn attention to the question of whether the suggestions made in hypnosis have some effect on the somatic functions of the organism, which could be subjected to a more or less accurate examination. This question is so tempting and so important in a forensic medical relation that a lot of work was expended on the part of scientists to resolve it. The literature in this respect has many valuable works.

Even Braid in the 50s, using fairly accurate measurements, pointed out that in hypnotized persons, hearing is 12 times more sensitive than in a normal state, similar observations were made by him in the field of the sense of smell and touch. Braid, incidentally, observed that a hypnotized person could feel and follow the movements of a glass funnel swaying in the air at a distance of 15 feet. Due to the extreme sensitivity of the skin during the hypnotic state, subjects can walk around the room without bumping into their surroundings. According to Braid, they are guided by the thermal conductivity of objects and air resistance.

In the late 1970s, thanks to the research of Charcot and his students, the question of the objective signs of hypnosis was first examined in its entirety. As is well known, the result of these investigations was the division of hypnotic sleep into three phases: lethargic, cataleptic, and somnambulistic, with specific, inherent to each of them, peculiar to it only objective signs of a hypnotic state. Without dwelling on the description of these objective signs, since they are well known to everyone, we consider it necessary only to note that already soon, when they were checked by Bernhcim and his students, the entire construction of hypnosis in the form of the three phases mentioned with their objective signs was shaken and the first plan was put forward degree of susceptibility to suggestion...

On the Treatment of Obsessions with Hypnotic Suggestions

Not very long ago, I published a clinical lecture in which I outlined the method I used to treat obsessions with autosuggestions in the initial periods of hypnosis and cited Hard case obsessions, ending in recovery through the application of the treatment just said. By the way, in this lecture I mentioned that "during the last few years in my course in psychiatry, in expounding the doctrine of obsessions, I have always called the attention of listeners, among other things, to the use of post-hypnotic suggestions for the treatment of obsessions."

At the time when I wrote these words, I had not yet succeeded in putting into practice the treatment of obsessive ideas by post-hypnotic suggestions, since in patients with obsessive ideas that I observed, although the very initial phenomena of hypnosis could be evoked, none of the patients could be brought into the deeper degrees of the latter, in which, as is known, post-hypnotic suggestions are best succeeded.

... Since the collection of suitable material in the direction indicated by me continues to this day, I do not yet have in mind to give here all cases of obsessions that I used hypnotic suggestions, and I will limit myself to only one observation that perfectly explains the healing value of hypnotic suggestions according to towards obsessive ideas.

K., married, 40 years old, daughter of a very nervous mother and father who abused alcohol. Her two sisters were distinguished by nervousness. The patient herself was nervous in her youth, and as a girl she suffered from pale infirmity. About 4 years after her marriage, that is, about 18 years ago, she first showed fits of great hysteria, which, however, were only two or three times. But since then, from time to time, attacks of small hysteria have occurred, expressed by pressure in the throat, palpitations and tears, and occasionally laughter. In addition, the patient for a long time exhibits a purely morbid fear of certain animals, such as cats and mice, a fear of ghosts, and sometimes a fear of uncleanness, due to which she is forced to wash her hands often. At the same time, she is strikingly indecisive in everything and is anxious over all sorts of trifles. Even such unimportant events as sending servants somewhere with the most ordinary assignment are often a cause for alarm. Finally, at times the patient had more violent obsessions; so, if she was in society, it often seemed to her that she had offended this or that person by her conversation. These thoughts of offending someone usually haunted the patient for a long time and often led her into great agitation. But her condition worsened especially sharply three weeks before her first visit to me at the end of December. Quite unexpectedly, the following incident happened to her, which served as a pretext for the development of painful obsessive ideas: she advised one of her relatives, Mrs. M., who had suffered from consumption for 16 years, to go to Sviyazhsk to worship the relics of St. Herman. Mrs. M., indeed, heeded her advice, but it so happened that, having arrived from Kazan to Sviyazhsk, she died right at the goal of her journey, in the church itself. The news of this greatly struck our patient. Since then, she has been haunted by the thought that her relative died thanks to her inappropriate advice. Despite the internal dissuasion of the patient herself, this thought from that time did not leave her alone for almost a single minute: she often and for a long time mourned both her relative and her deed. Thoughts, eternal doubts, anxieties and various fears that had disturbed her earlier, now faded into the background and, as it were, ceased to exist for the patient. Neither entertainment nor activities calm her down. Being in society, she does not hear what is said around her, and she always thinks about the same thing; farming also does not enter her head for the same reason. Even at night, the patient often sees her unfortunate relative in dreams; at the same time, certain events relating to the death of the latter are often presented to her. Therefore, the patient sleeps in the highest degree restlessly, often waking up, worrying at night with the same thought.

An objective study (January 17) found the following. The patient is somewhat below average height, correct physique, with rather pale integument, but a sufficiently developed subcutaneous fat layer. Lungs are fine. In the heart, only some excitability and a tendency to rapid activity are noticed. From the side of the intestine, some swelling can be noted. No other disorders of the internal organs are noticed. Sensitivity and motor areas, as well as reflexes without significant changes.

Having prescribed the patient sodium bromide, which, however, she had previously taken without much success, I also suggested to her the treatment of hypnosis, which she decided not without hesitation. At the first attempt at hypnotization, the patient, who had heard a lot about hypnosis, began to show great excitement; there were even signs of an impending hysterical fit. In view of this, I took advantage of the weakest degree of sleep, using for the first time the method of self-hypnosis described by me earlier. As soon as the patient closed her eyelids under the influence of passes, I made her repeat the following words after me: “From now on, I should no longer worry about the death of M., because she died not as a result of my advice, but because she had been ill for a long time and could die in the same way and at home in exactly the same way. The consequence of this self-hypnosis was that the very next day (January 18) the patient felt better, did not cry at all, and slept well at night. The obsessive thought, as she said, seemed to move away from her. True, it still comes to mind, but it no longer worries the patient so much and soon disappears from consciousness. A further consequence of the auto-suggestion was that the patient now related to hypnosis without any excitement and could, in fact, be hypnotized for a short time with the help of passes, and during hypnosis she was inspired not to suffer any more at the thought of the death of Mrs. M. The phenomena of hypnosis consisted in the fact that the patient could not voluntarily open her eyes; at the same time, she developed a sharp dulling of sensitivity to painful stimuli and some relaxation of the limbs.

To test the power of suggestion in this relatively mild hypnotic state, I ordered the patient to clench the right hand into a fist, declaring afterwards that she could no longer spread her fingers; and, indeed, for some time the patient could not open her fist at all, and then, although she opened it, it was only after much effort. It should be noted, however, that similar suggestions, although to a much lesser extent, are successful in the patient and in a waking state.

The next day after hypnosis (January 19), the patient stated that after yesterday's suggestions she felt well all day until evening, but from 8 pm the thought of the death of Mrs. M. reappeared, in her opinion, due to the fact that she was evening was left alone. At night, in a dream, the patient also saw M., but in the morning she felt quite calm. It should be noted that since yesterday the patient began menstruating, during which she had always felt somewhat worse and suffered more from obsessive ideas. Hypnosis is now much deeper than before. The suggestions are the same.

On January 20, the patient, having come to my appointment, stated that the whole day yesterday after hypnosis she felt very well and obsessive ideas did not appear at all during the day. She slept at night from 11 to 3 o’clock, then woke up and for some time was worried about the former thought of Mrs. and from the evening. Since the patient had to go home to the village for five days, having hypnotized her, I suggested to her that during her absence from Kazan she should not think at all about Mrs. M. and also feel calm at night, not seeing at all M. and in a dream. The patient's hypnotic sleep now turned out to be deeper than before, and the strength of the suggestions changed as a result: now, in a patient in a state of hypnosis, repeated suggestions could cause paralysis, information and complete anesthesia, which had not been possible before.

Having left after January 20, the patient returned to me only on March 12 with the statement that her former thoughts about Mrs. M. had completely disappeared after the last session. According to her, from the former she had only a nervous state; but on the other hand, recently the patient has again begun to be disturbed by phenomena that she had before the obsession with the death of Mrs. M. Thus, she is embarrassed by a striking indecision in everything: doubts how to act correctly, and for a long time cannot decide on something; having made up his mind, he changes his orders three times. In addition, she still began to be afraid of some animals (cats, mice), and the fear of ghosts and uncleanness also returned. Because of the latter, she constantly washes her hands, sometimes countless times a day; often even washes and all three times a day.

... In view of this state of the patient, I decided not to delay hypnotic treatment, and on March 17, having hypnotized her, I inspired her to no longer suffer from doubts, not to yearn, and not to feel any fear at all, by the way, and fear of impurity.

A day later, on March 19, the patient informed me that her doubts no longer bothered her to the same extent as before; the fear of impurity is less, and in general she feels better. Again a suggestion was made in a state of hypnosis ...

Having completely recovered from the obsessions that tormented her, the patient went to her village, where she remains to this day, not feeling the need for further treatment.

So, for the first time, in January, it took only 4 hypnotic sessions (of which one with self-hypnosis) to get rid of a painful obsessive thought, and the second time, in March, three hypnotic sessions were enough to eliminate a number of obsessive thoughts from the patient's consciousness. ideas.

This result, of course, speaks for itself and does not need special explanation. In any case, the method of treating obsessions with hypnosis, in my opinion, deserves the most serious attention from medical specialists ...

Hypnosis. Suggestion. Telepathy
Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev
Monograph

publishing house: Thought
Format: PDF/DOC
Year: 1994
ISBN:5-224-00549-9
Pages: 366

Description : Miraculous healings, healers and soothsayers for every taste, psychotherapy telesessions, mass fascination with psychics, thought transmission at a distance and bioenergy transmission, witchcraft, communication with aliens, etc. filled our daily routine. A truthful and truly scientific word about these phenomena has an invaluable socio-political, educational and medical value.
Acquaintance with V.M. Ankylosing spondylitis with a wealth of ideas, facts, observations, advice and warnings in this most complex area of ​​medicine is now more than ever needed. It will also contribute to the scientific development of many problems associated with hypnosis, suggestion and telepathy.
The book is a collection of psychological and psychiatric works of the great Russian and Soviet scientist V. M. Bekhterev, devoted to the problems of suggestion, hypnosis, psychotherapy, telepathy, etc. The works of V. M. Bekhterev have not only priority, but also historical significance, are relevant in our days when interest in hypnosis, suggestion, autogenic training becomes widespread.

Add. information: Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (born January 20, old style, 1857 in the village of Sorali, Vyatka province, now the village of Bekhterevo, Yelabuga region of Tatarstan; died December 24, 1927 in Moscow) - the largest scientist: doctor, neuropathologist, psychiatrist, psychologist, physiologist and morphologist.

Bekhterev investigated a wide range of psychiatric, neurological, physiological, morphological and psychological problems. In his approach, he always focused on a comprehensive study of the problems of the brain and man. Carrying out the reformation of modern psychology, he developed his own teaching, which he consistently designated as objective psychology (from 1904), then as psychoreflexology (from 1910) and as reflexology (from 1917). He paid special attention to the development of reflexology as a complex science of man and society (different from physiology and psychology), designed to replace psychology.

CONTENT
About V. M. Bekhterev - scientist and hypnologist
Hypnosis
On the Objective Signs of Suggestions Tested in Hypnosis
Objective signs of suggested changes in sensitivity in hypnosis (V. M. Bekhterev and V. Narbut)
On the Treatment of Obsessions with Hypnotic Suggestions
Suggestion
What is a suggestion?
The role of suggestion in public life
Suggestion and education
Suggestion and miraculous healings
Hypnosis, suggestion and psychotherapy and their therapeutic value
Facts from Ancient History Relating to Suggestion
The use of hypnosis and suggestion by different hypnotists
The beginning of the scientific study of hypnosis and suggestion
Controversy in the doctrine of the nature of hypnosis
Criticism of both views
Convergence of hypnosis with ordinary sleep
Convergence of hypnosis with painful sleep changes
On the nature of hypnosis as a modification of sleep
Different phases of hypnosis and its classification
Ways to induce hypnosis
On the conditions hindering the development of hypnosis, and on the prevalence of hypnosis
On the objective signs of hypnosis and suggestion
On the nature of hypnotic suggestion
Therapeutic use of hypnosis and elucidation of the role of suggestion
Importance of hypnotic suggestion
The imaginary danger of hypnotism
The question of the dangers of hypnosis sessions
Post-hypnotic suggestions
Effect of suggestion on pathological disorders
About treatment by suggestion in the waking state
The Importance of Faith in Suggestive Healing
Mental suggestion and suggestion through objects
Self-hypnosis as a healing factor
Re-education treatment
Treatment by so-called persuasion and treatment by exercise
Treatment with ideals
Psychoanalysis and confessional treatment
Combined treatment method and conclusion
Telepathy
Mental suggestion or trick?
How does the so-called guessing of thoughts take place on the stage of theaters?
On experiments on the "mental" influence on the behavior of animals
Notes
Cited Literature

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B.M. Bekhterev Hypnosis Suggestion Telepathy

Moscow "Thought" 1994

53.57 B 55

GEDATION OF LITERATURE ON GENERAL PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY

ISBN 5-244-00549-9

© Thought Publishing House. 1994

With the technical assistance of JV "Columbue"

Miraculous healings, healers and soothsayers for every taste, psychotherapy telesessions, mass fascination with psychics, thought transmission at a distance and bioenergy transmission, witchcraft, communication with aliens, etc. filled your daily life. A truthful and truly scientific word about these phenomena has an invaluable socio-political, educational and medical value. Acquaintance with the wealth of ideas, facts, observations, advice and warnings bequeathed to us by V. M. Bekhterev in this most complex area of ​​medicine is now, more than ever, necessary. It will also contribute to the scientific development of many problems associated with hypnosis, suggestion and telepathy.

The works of the outstanding scientist were not published after his death (with the exception of the one-volume "Selected Works"). They have become a bibliographic rarity. Many of them are not familiar even to experts.

V. M. Bekhterev's ideas about the essence of hypnosis, suggestion and telepathy have not yet been the subject of serious scientific research. Therefore, the publication of even a part of the numerous works of the scientist is extremely relevant.

In the introductory article, we will try to analyze V. M. Bekhterev's ideas about the essence of the mysterious phenomena of neuropsychic life in the context of his multifaceted scientific work, his concept of consciousness, his personality as a doctor-scientist.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev was born on January 20, 1857, in the village of Sorali, Yelabuga * county, Vyatka province, in the family of a bailiff. At the age of nine, he was left without a father, and a family of five - a mother and four sons - experienced great

About V. M. Bekhterev - scientist and hypnologist

material difficulties. In the Vyatka gymnasium, he got acquainted with the works and ideas of outstanding natural scientists of that time and progressive figures of the Russian social movement.

In 1873, after successfully passing the exams for the seventh grade of the gymnasium, V. M. Bekhterev entered the St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy (later the Military Medical Academy), where he enthusiastically engaged in the natural and medical sciences, actively participated in the public life of students. In his fourth year, he chose psychiatry and neuropathology as his future medical specialty.

In December 1876, he took part in the first joint demonstration of workers and students on Nevsky Prospekt near the Kazan Cathedral, at which G. V. Plekhanov delivered a speech. The demonstration was dispersed, several demonstrators - students and workers - were arrested. V. M. Bekhterev managed to avoid arrest. Many years later, he wrote about this: “Some lucky fate saved me from arrest and other consequences of the harsh Nemesis that befell many of my relatives and closest comrades.”

In the spring of 1877, V. M. Bekhterev interrupted his studies. The reason for this was the Russian-Turkish liberation war that began in April 1877. The progressive part of Russian society enthusiastically joined the struggle for the liberation of the fraternal Slavic peoples in the Balkans. The medical community has not been left out. Many doctors went to the front as volunteers, including professors of the Medico-Surgical Academy S. P. Botkin, N. V. Sklifosovsky and others. At the call of S. P. Botkin, some senior students of the academy also went to the front. Among them was V. M. Bekhterev, who finished his fourth year ahead of schedule, and in May 1877, as part of a detachment of the Ryzhov brothers, went to the theater of operations. The correspondence that he sent from there to the Severny Vestnik newspaper reflects the personal impressions of the young Bekhterev and the main stages of the military path of volunteers.

About V. M. Bekhterev - scientist and hypnologist

medical detachment of the Ryzhovs. In the autumn of 1877 V. M. Bekhterev returned to St. Petersburg. In 1878 he graduated from the Academy with honors and was left to prepare for a professorship. He began his scientific work under the guidance of the head of the Department of Mental and Nervous Diseases of the Medico-Surgical Academy I. P. Merzheevsky.

On April 4, 1881, Bekhterev defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic “Experience in the clinical study of body temperature in certain forms of mental illness.” This study was a serious scientific clinical and experimental work, in which interesting data were obtained and conclusions were drawn about the primary role of the nervous system in the life of the whole organism in normal and pathological conditions. In the same year, 1881, he was awarded the academic title of Privatdozent by a conference of the academy. Bekhterev spent 1884-1885 in the laboratories and clinics of the most famous European scientists. In the autumn of 1885 he became head of the department of psychiatry at Kazan University. Then he opened the first experimental psychophysiological laboratory in Russia. The Kazan period occupies a special place in the work of Bekhterev. During the years of managing the department of psychiatry, he managed to turn the district psychiatric hospital into the clinical base of the department. He conducted scientific research in the field of neurology mainly in the Kazan military hospital. With the active participation of V. M. Bekhterev, a society of neuropathologists and psychiatrists was organized in Kazan, which began to publish the journal Neurological Bulletin. He attracted talented and progressive-minded youth to work, worked in close contact with such well-known medical scientists and naturalists as N. A. Vinogradov, N. O. Kovalevsky, K. N. Arnshtein, A. M. Zaitsev and etc. He carried out a number of important studies * together with the prominent Kazan physiologist N. A. Mislavsky.

V. M. Bekhterev worked in Kazan for about 8 years. Here he carried out many scientific studies that brought him world fame, published

About V. M. Bekhterev - scientist and hypnologist

We have published such works as "Consciousness and Its Limits", "Nervous Diseases in Individual Observations", the first edition of his classic work "The Pathways of the Spinal Cord and the Brain" has been prepared.

In 1893, he was elected head of the Department of Mental and Nervous Diseases at the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg. His "pedagogical, scientific, organizational and social activities are gaining unprecedented scope. With his active participation, the psychiatric clinic was reorganized and a new clinic for nervous diseases was built with one of the world's first neurosurgical departments. The clinic organized an anatomy-histological, physiological, psychological and biochemical laboratories.In 1908, the first electrocardiographic room in Russia was opened at the same clinic.

V. M. Bekhterev headed the Department of Mental and Nervous Diseases of the Military Medical Academy for 20 years. He founded a number of special journals, such as "Review of Psychiatry, Neurology and Experimental Psychology" (in the last years of V. M. Bekhterev's life, the journal was published under the name "Review of Psychiatry, Neurology and Reflexology"), "Bulletin of Psychology, Criminal Anthropology and Hypnology "(Later the journal was called" Bulletin of Psychology, Criminal Anthropology and Pedology "), etc.

In 1903-1907. V. M. Bekhterev published the fundamental seven-volume work "Fundamentals of the study of brain functions", which collected the results of numerous researches of the author in the field of the study of the localization of brain functions and summarized the development of neurophysiology until the beginning of the 20th century, and also published the monographs "Psyche and Life" , "Objective Psychology", "Suggestion and its role in public life" and more than 200 articles on the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, psychology, psychiatry, neurology, etc.

First Russian Revolution 1905-1907 occupies a special place in the life and scientific activity of V. M. Bekhterev. In 1905, he served as

About V, M. Bekhterev - scientist and hypnologist

Head of the Military Medical Academy. In September of the same year, at the II Congress of Russian Psychiatrists, held in Kyiv, he made a presentation on the topic "Personality and the conditions for its development and health." The report not only reflected the scientist's views on the essence of the human personality, but was also a kind of political protest - Bekhterev ended his speech with the words: "Open the dungeon for me, give me the radiance of the day." The hall reacted to the report with a storm of applause, a spontaneous rally began. The enraged Kyiv governor threatened to ban the congress.

In 1908, the Psychoneurological Institute, organized by V. M. Bekhterev, began its work - a higher educational and research institution of a new type. It accepted people of different ages, social status and nationality. The teachers of the institute were such famous scientists as N. E. Vvedensky, V. L. Komarov, P. F. Lesgaft, P. A. Ostankov, N. N. Petrov, L. M. Pussep, E. V. Tarle, A. A. Ukhtomsky, F. D. Batyushkov and others. On December 11, 1908, the Council of the Institute elected L. N. Tolstoy as its honorary member.

In 1910, at the III Congress of Russian psychiatrists in St. Petersburg, V. M. Bekhterev made a report on the topic “Issues of neuropsychic health in the Russian population”. At the I Congress of the Union of Russian Psychiatrists and Neurologists in memory of S. S. Korsakov (1911), he made a report on an acute social topic - the increase in suicides among schoolchildren after the first Russian revolution. The main attention and creative forces of V. M. Bekhterev in these years were directed to the development and expansion of the Psychoneurological Institute. In 1918 he founded the Institute for the Study of the Brain and Psychic Activity in Petrograd. V. M. Bekhterev was one of the first major Russian scientists who went over to the side of Soviet power. He ended his report at a conference at the Institute for the Study of the Brain in January 1919 with the following words: “At the turning point of history, one cannot stand at a crossroads and wait - one needs the will to act, to build and constructive work. And for you scientists who have always given their