ssion. Expression and breathing indicated a
slight hypnoid state. Then I removed my hand and spoke to him in a
warm and assuring way.

I told him that in future he would give his full attention to his
meal, and not give the slightest attention to any image of his
friend. If he should think of the friend the memory would appear
indifferent, he would not even notice the image and would give his
whole mind to the objects with which he was engaged. In the same
way, when he should be reading newspapers or looking in
shopwindows, his whole attention would belong to that which he
really perceived. Any passing inner image would be ignored. Then I
awoke him from his sleep. He was unwilling to believe that he had
been in hypnosis at all. I told him that the effect would prove it
and in his fully wakeful state I explained to him why there was not
the slightest fear of insanity justified, that it was a
psychasthenic state resulting from fatigue and shock and from a
wrong attitude of his attention during the past months, and then I
asked him to return the next day. Intentionally I had not given the
suggestion that the image would disappear. I could not expect it
would disappear entirely after a first treatment and even a faint
appearance of it would have at once fascinated the attention and
brought about the whole disturbance of the equilibrium which might
become habitual. Instead of it I gave the impulse to the
counter-idea, that is, I reenforced the attention towards that
which he really saw around him and thus withdrew the attention from
the rival image in the mind. The success was complete. He came the
next day in a much happier frame of mind, reporting that he still
had seen the image of the woman every few minutes, especially
strongly at the breakfast table, but it had no longer troubled him.
It was more in the background of consciousness, sometimes it
appeared transparent, it no longer held his attention, and he felt
free to give his full attention to the actual surroundings.

On that basis I hypnotized him the second day and he had hardly
heard me saying that he ought to try to sleep when he was evidently
in a much deeper hypnotic state than the first time. Again I
suggested only the opposite attitude, the positive turning to the
surroundings and