Eugen Bleuler

 

Suggestion is not a matter of belief, of credibility, of intellectual communication. It is the action
of affects that primarily moves suggestion, which influences bodily functions, dominates the
logic so that even nonsense is accepted against all evidence, disassociates contradictory idea-
complexes, creates illusions and hallucinations.
Accordingly, suggestion is basically an affective process. The way affects act on suggestion is
considered here, in individuals as well as in mass-reactions. The characteristics of suggestibility
in hypnosis and in mental disorders is also considered.

 

Keywords: History of psychiatry, Psychopathology, Emotions, Affectivity, Hypnosis