Hypnotherapies in 20th-century Hungary: The extraordinary career of Ferenc Völgyesi

This article traces the history of hypnotherapies in Hungary by exploring and interpreting the work of Ferenc (András) Völgyesi, a controversial physician, psychiatrist and forensic expert who gained remarkable fame in and beyond Hungary. It explores his work and its reception in the context of the complex, changing trends in European psychology between the 1920s and 1950s, drawing on published sources in a range of languages, and the archives of the Hungarian State Security. It uncovers experiments in human and animal hypnosis; Völgyesi’s engagement with the Hungarian psychoanalytic community; and the cultural, scientific, and esoteric, networks from which theories and practices of hypnosis emerged. This reminds us also that the development of psychotherapy in Europe cannot be disentangled from the history of parapsychology and western esotericism. The article also examines allegations of ethical abuses of hypnosis, and the shortcomings of Völgyesi’s theoretical and practical claims. It argues that this case illustrates how the history of European psychotherapy in the 20th century cannot be fully understood without taking into account the enduring fascination with hypnotherapies into the postwar period – re-inscribed, in this case, through Pavlovian theories.

Thanatosis

When physically restrained, many animals adopt a relatively immobile state that can last after the constraint has been released. The lack of movement is suggested to inhibit further attack by the predator and reduce the perceived need of the predator to continue to attack or constrain the prey. This phenomenon has been variously called death feigning, animal hypnosis, tonic immobility, and playing dead. However, we will use the term that the scientific literature seems to be coalescing around: thanatosis. Thanatosis is distinct from immobility used to reduce the risk of detection or tracking by a predator, since it acts later in the sequence of a predation event (generally after the prey has been detected and contacted by the predator). Although some instances of thanatosis are strongly suggestive of mimicry of death, some are less so, and there is potential for thanatosis to offer protection from predators through other mechanisms than feigning death. However, except for some very specialist situations considered briefly here, the function of thanatosis does appear to be employed as a means of protection from predators. Thanatosis is widespread taxonomically, and has been well known for a long time, but only recently has it received purpose-designed study.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE VOLATILE PETROLEUM PRODUCTS EFFECT ON THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

Objective: The goal of the research is studying the functional changes in the central nervous system against the background of intoxication with the minimum dosages of gasoline, benzene and acetone.Methods: The research was performed on 45 white mice divided into 3 groups; each group received corresponding hydrocarbon in the exposure chamber by inhaling. The functional state of the CNS was assessed with a complex of integral tests: By summation of subliminal pulses, the ability of animals to restore rectilinear movement after centrifugation, by the tone of skeletal muscles, and by the activity of muscle static work.Results: The durations of the narcosis phases in case of acute inhalation poisoning are different for all studied substances. The study of the functional changes in the CNS on the background of intoxication with low dosages has revealed that at the first exposure to benzene for activating the motor reaction the required number of electric pulses from the outside increases, the muscle tone increases, the ability to static work reduces, and the time for rectilinear movement and “animal hypnosis” increases. At the same time, on the background of intoxication during the fifth exposure, a decrease is observed in the number of electric pulses from the outside for activating the motor reaction, the muscle tone remains increased, the ability to static work is reduced, and the time of “animal hypnosis” is shorter than that during the first exposure.Conclusion: Against the background of the repeated use of small doses of benzene, the CNS adapts to the action of the toxic factor. With that, the ability of the CNS to sum the subliminal pulses, the cholinergic innervation of the skeletal muscles tone and other integral tests during the fifth exposure change less than during the first exposure.