Ambroise August Liébeault and psychic phenomena.
Some nineteenth-century hypnosis researchers did not limit their interest to the study of the conventional psychological and behavioral aspects of hypnosis, but also studied and wrote about psychic phenomena such as mental suggestion and clairvoyance. One example, and the topic of this paper, was French physician Ambroise August Liébeault (1823-1904), who influenced the Nancy school of hypnosis. Liébeault wrote about mental suggestion, clairvoyance, mediumship, and even so-called poltergeists. Some of his writings provide conventional explanations of the phenomena. Still of interest today, Liébeault's writings about psychic phenomena illustrate the overlap that existed during the nineteenth-century between hypnosis and psychic phenomena--an overlap related to the potentials of the mind and its subconscious activity.
University of Virginia Health System, Division of Perceptual Studies, Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences 210 10th St. NE, Suite 100, Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA. csa3m@virginia.edu
Carlos S
CS
Alvarado
D005602:France; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis / Q000266:history*; D010268:Parapsychology / Q000266:history*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000266:history*; D013404:Suggestion