Hysteria and hypnosis as ongoing processes of negotiation. Ilma's case from the Austro- Hungarian Monarchy. Part 1

Abstract

And the learned doctor, instead of a long process of verification, stepped to the front, pulled out his golden pencil, made Vilma look at it for two minutes, and the girl collapsed in her chair dead pale, she fell into hypnotic sleep! Then the lecturer made such a hair-raising show with the girl in this state palam et publice, that the judges sent her right to the house of the mad instead of the prison. 1 [Ilma] was suggested to have the bleedings of Jesus Christ, and thus, by the afternoon, red patches with circles appeared on her arms and legs, but there was no bleeding, perhaps the suggestion was weak.2 Nine months later, a certain Sister Sylvestris allegedly advised her to flee, and never again to allow the five wounds of Christ to be put on her left foot (by suggestion), or brand scars to be caused by suggestion; and that she should flee to a convent in Graz and would be helped in this undertaking. One day S. was again hypnotized, and the following day she saw the letter J burnt on her right arm. Then her decision to flee was determined. 3