Loewenfeld[1] has noticed unintentional inducement of hysterical lethargy through hypnosis.
Our case has certain resemblances to hysterical lethargy[2] as described by Loewenfeld, viz. the shallow breathing, the diminution of the pulse, the corpse-like pallor of the face, and further the peculiar feeling of dying and the thoughts of death.[3]
The retention of one sense is not inconsistent with lethargy: thus in certain cases of trance the sense of hearing remains.[4]
In Bonamaison’s[5] case not only was the sense of touch retained, but the senses of hearing and smell were quickened. The hallucinatory content and loud speaking is also met with in persons with hallucinations in lethargy.[6] Usually there prevails total amnesia for the lethargic interval. Loewenfeld’s[7] case D. had, however, a fleeting recollection; in Bonamaison’s case there was no amnesia. Lethargic patients do not prove susceptible to the usual waking stimuli, but Loewenfeld succeeded with his patient St. in turning the lethargy into hypnosis by means of mesmeric passes, thus combining it with the rest of consciousness during the attack.[8] Our patient showed herself absolutely insusceptible in the beginning of the lethargy, but later on she began to speak spontaneously, was incapable of giving any attention when her somnambulic ego was speaking, but could attend when it was one of her automatic personalities. In this last case it is probable that the hypnotic effect of the automatisms succeeded in achieving a partial transformation of the lethargy into hypnosis. When we consider that, according to Loewenfeld’s view, the lethargic disposition must not be “too readily identified with the peculiar condition of the nervous apparatus in hysteria,” then the idea of the family
