Nature of habits - Drugs of no avail - Suggestion the basis of sanitarium treatment - Morphine and alcohol cures - How hypnotism overcomes habits - Currents of nerve force - Memory and post-hypnousm - Frightened horses - Tobacco habit cured - Cause and cure of stammering - Cigarette Bmoking - Cure of other habits.

A habit is the mental inability to prevent the frequent repetition of an action. Persons who suffer from bad habits would, as a rule, gladly overcome them if they could, but they cannot do so without help. Punishment will not help them, for that only increases their mental inability by forcing upon them the consciousness of their weakness. When anyone addicted to a habit becomes convinced of his ability to overcome it, half the battle is won, although when his efforts are followed by failure his self-confidence soon vanishes.

Medicines are of no avail in curing habits. It is true that most excellent results have occasionally been obtained in the treatment of the opium habit, the liquor habit, etc., but the careful investigation of those cases would show that the patients were usually under rigid control for weeks or months; that they were given no opportunity to repeat their injurious actions and that the medicines used were employed for correcting the abnormal conditions resulting from the bad habits and not for the purpose of "curing the mind."

In some methods of treating bad habits, strychnia and other nerve destroyers are used for the direct purpose of destroying functional activity of the nervous system. They make wrecks of the mind and body and cannot be called cures.

Again, many persons addicted to the morphine or liquor habits voluntarily place themselves in sanitariums or retreats, widely advertised as places where these habits are positively cured. It is a fact that many are benefited by going to such institutions, but the real benefit obtained is due to the suggestions impressed upon the mind. Everything suggests to the patient a cure of his habit. The advertisements he read positively asserted that he could be cured, the letters he received from the institution told him in emphatic terms that all he had to do was to "come and be cured;" he went and the doctors and the nurses impressed upon him that a cure was certain and he became convinced, and under their influence he restrained his habit and became confident, and if he was cured it was the result of forcible action upon his mind. In fact, it was a cumbersome, protracted and expensive method of overcoming his habit which might have been easily and quickly cured by hypnotism. In these sanitariums, outside of the treatment of the body, given to overcome the effects of the bad habits, the only actual benefit given the patient in his mental efforts, is the suggestion or semi-hypnotism forced upon him.

Direct hypnotism is far more effective and it is encouraging to know that the medical profession is gradually realizing its power in these cases. The future is full of promise to those willing to avail themselves of the advantages of this marvelous science.

How does hypnotism overcome a habit? To answer the question scientifically would require the use of much technical language, to understand which would necessitate a complete knowledge of the physiology of the brain and nervous system. But as this work was not compiled for the exclusive use of physicians and scientists, a simple answer to the question can be given in figurative language.

Our voluntary actions are controlled by our thoughts, and our thoughts can be likened to "currents" of nerve force, making impressions upon brain tissues. When these currents repeatedly flow in the same manner upon the same tissues, lasting impressions are made, and the actions they prompt become almost involuntary. During the state of hypnosis the mind is absolutely passive and the operator can direct the subject's current of thought in any manner he may choose. By sudden and forcible suggestion he can turn the current abruptly out of its well-worn channel, and by repetitions of this forcible suggestion he is enabled to cause the current of thought to permanently abandon its old groove and allow the traces of its deep impressions upon the brain tissues to become obliterated. This explanation must not be taken literally, but it serves to convey the idea of how hypnotic influence overcomes bad habits.

A great many intricate theories have been offered in explanation of memory and its association with objects. The figurative statements just made help us to fix in our own minds the nature of this association and will enable us to better understand the process of post-hypnotism, which is the essential act in curing bad habits.

While the subject is in the hypnotic state and his mind passive, impressions are easily made. At that time let the operator associate the idea of tobacco, for instance, with the thought of abhorrence, and let this be often repeated; then ever afterward, almost unconsciously, the idea of tobacco will arouse abhorrence, and this can be overcome only as other habits can be overcome.

A well known illustration of this line of associating ideas of objects with emotions, may be appropriately mentioned. Let a horse become thoroughly frightened at an object, for instance suppose he should step through a broken plank on a certain bridge, then ever afterward he would become frightened when crossing that bridge, and shy to one side, even though the old plank were replaced by a new one. Upon his passive mind a vivid impression had been made, and the idea of the object caused the current of thought to flow in that deep groove. Only constant effort or some counteracting influence can disassociate the idea of the object and the thought of fear.