HERPES SIMPLEX AND SECOND DEGREE BURN INDUCED UNDER HYPNOSIS

A 27-year-old combat soldier was admitted to a general hospital overseas because of hysterical blindness. He proved to be a good hypnotic subject and vision was restored after one session. In a subsequent hypnotic session a second degree burn with blister formation was induced on the dorsum of one hand. The blister was noted at the end of one hour and was fully developed approximately four hours later. A herpetiform lesion, clinically similar in all respects to a true herpes simplex, was made to appear in a specified area about the mouth twenty-four hours after the suggestion was given under deep hypnosis. In both instances there was an attempt made to induce affective changes in addition to the direct suggestions given. Under hypnosis it is possible to demonstrate an inter-relationship between the psychic processes and localized peripheral effects which far transcends the ability of the individual in the conscious state.