Hypnotism Blog Updates

Inhibition through suggestion is even more interesting, from the scientific point of view, than excitation through suggestion. Though the mechanism of the phenomenon is not yet completely understood, it has been interpreted in at least four different ways, every one of which may be true, in full or in part. The depression of bodily functions can be, first of all, achieved by the counter-action of two impulses, at points of neural junction, whereby one impulse interferes with and as it were cancels another . According to McDougall's "drainage theory," inhibition means "a switching off of the current of energy," in the way light is switched off in an electric bulb. E. D. Adrian and his followers see the cause of interference in "overcrowding." They contend that "if nerve impulses crowd on one another's heels in too rapid succession, all are extinguished." Finally, inhibition may be attained by the action of chemical substances liberated within the organism. Recent studies of Drs. Cannon and Rosenblueth seem to indicate the existence of a substance named "sympathin" which plays an important role in the transmission and mediation of nerve impulses arising in, or dependent upon, the autonomic system. Whether or not it contains acetyl choline, a substance stimulating the parasympathetic fibres, remains to be seen.