Qu'est-ce que la Suggestion? [What is suggestion?]

The questions raised in the nineteenth century concerning hypnosis and suggestion continue to preoccupy. It is part of the legend that Freudian psychoanalysis grew out of these practices and distanced itself from them, and Freud himself was careful to establish this part of the legend. In daily life the fascination of these states of mind remains, similar to the state of being in love, and the various other seductions that operate in the social realm. However, psychoanalysts continue to question the nature of Freud's concept, which associated hypnosis with the wielding of influence. Some feel that psychoanalysis is no longer dependent on the all-seeing eye of one person; is manipulation necessary in the therapeutic relation, or suggestion the guide along the path to freedom?

Is suggestion necessary or best avoided? Is it a method of control, or a forced passage toward true reappropriation of the self? The concerns confronting Charles Baudouin are still present in the early twenty-first century. Initially he published a study, Suggestion and Autosuggestion (1920/1962). This he followed in 1924 with the basic question: What Is Suggestion?

Baudouin questioned the power of suggestion and the different conceptions of it at the time. He did not believe it was purely an outside influence; he was absolutely convinced that all effective suggestion is basically autosuggestion, that it is part of the psychology of the subject and not constructed of some social psychology in which several different individuals are in relation with each other.

For a while he seemed to draw closer toÉmile Coué. He always believed in the power of autosuggestion for the development of the subject, particularly in the context of education. His book develops landmarks in working with the problems posed to him. Is suggestibility in a person normal or pathological? Can there be suggestion without hypnosis? Why should autosuggestion be truly preferrable?

MIREILLE CIFALI

See also: Autosuggestion; Baudouin, Charles.

Source Citation

Baudouin, Charles. (1924). Qu'est-ce que la suggestion? Introduction à la psychologie de la suggestion et de l'autosuggestion. Neuchâtel-Paris: Delachaux & Niestlé.

Bibliography

Baudouin, Charles. (1962). Suggestion and autosuggestion, a psychological and pedagogical study based upon the investigations made by the new Nancy school (Eden and Cedar Paul, Trans.). London: G. Allen & Unwin. (Original work published 1920)

Erickson, Milton H. (1967). Advanced techniques of hypnosis and therapy (Selected papers of Milton Erickson edited by Jay Haley). New York, London: Grune & Stratton.

Roustang, François. (1990) Influence. Paris: Minuit.

——. (1994). Qu'est-ce que l'hypnose?. Paris: Minuit.