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Mesmerized
About the time of the American Revolution, there was in Paris a Swiss
physician from Vienna by the name of Dr Anton Mesmer. Dr Mesmer was the
sensation and scandal of his day, for he cured all manner of disease by
strange and unorthodox methods. Although later denounced by a team of
scientists (that included Benjamin Franklin), Dr Mesmer's teachings and methods
drew many students, some of whom presented performances of mesmerism. Around
1830, a clock-maker from Portland, Maine attended such a performance, became a mesmerist and
later the most well known "mental healer" in America. His name was
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby.
After developing his science of healing, Phineas Quimby was credited for healing about
a thousand people per year for around fifteen years. Phineas Quimby died in 1866,
after documenting his opinions, beliefs and techniques in his manuscripts.
Quimby wrote that his science of healing was opposed to both religion and
medicine, which he perceived as the main sources of wrong beliefs which caused
disease. Quimby proposed a Christianity aligned with his "healing science".
In 1863 Quimby loaned his manuscripts to an ex-patient, Mary Patterson.
She did not return them. Mary Patterson later remarried twice, to become Mary Baker and then
Mary Baker Eddy, known for founding the Christian Science
healing church. After a long and bitter controversy, Mary Baker Eddy
returned Quimby's manuscripts to Quimby's family, and in 1921 The Quimby Manuscripts were finally published
in book form.
Quimby describes a philosophy of healing, using many spiritual
metaphors. In the following extract, Quimby uses a metaphor of daguerreotypes
for what was later called the unconscious mind. (Quimby worked with daguerreotypes
as a youth, you may have seen these early photographs in museums - made on copper
plates sensitized with chemicals). Here, writing in the third person, Quimby
speaks for himself:
Quimby's Silent Healing
"A patient comes in to
see Dr Quimby. He (Dr Quimby) renders himself absent to everything but
the impression of the patient's feelings. These are quickly
daguerreotyped on him. They contain no intelligence, but shadow forth a
reflection of themselves which he looks at: this contains the disease as it
appears to the patient. Being confident that it is the shadow of a false
idea, he is not afraid of it, but laughs at it. Then his feelings in
regard to the disease, which are health and strength, are daguerreotyped on
the receptive-plate of the patient, which also throws forth a shadow.
The patient, seeing this shadow of the disease in a new light, gains
confidence. This change of feeling is daguerreotyped on the doctor
again, and this [new impression] also throws forth a shadow, and he sees the
change and continues to treat it the same way. So the patient's feelings
sympathize with his, the shadow grows dim, and finally light takes its place,
and there is nothing left of the disease."
The essence of this
method, Quimby implies, is to feel someone's disease, create an image that
represents the clients beliefs about it, change the image and "send it back",
repeating this until the patient changes their beliefs about their disease.
Quimby was credited with healing many people in a single session with this
method, although some patients needed repeated treatments over several months.
If you want to test this technique, note that rapport with
sick people can allow you to experience their state. I suggest that you
first find resources for your own good health. I suggest that you have a
trained baby-sitter (oops, I mean coach) assist you. Quimby used a resource
that he called the Principle of
Goodness and a number of important presuppositions as guides.
Perhaps the most useful of Quimby's presuppositions is that "people can heal
themselves, if they have both motivation and means".
Quimby wrote that 70% of disease was caused by "wrong beliefs".
I asked some physicians about their experience and was told that at least 50% of their
patients had disease that was either lifestyle-based or that was worsened by their
patients expectations. In this light, helping a client replace their beliefs about
disease is as important now as it was in Quimby's day.
Quimby's descriptions produce an interesting coaching technique:
Quimby Belief Change Strategy*
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Coach client to identify "positive" benefits of disease and
how to keep them.
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Coach client to recall resourceful times of "good health",
"strength" and "laughter".
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Identify client's "old" beliefs about the disease.
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Coach client to learn from these beliefs. What does the client want to
believe instead?
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Notice client's physiology as the "replacement" beliefs are considered.
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Ask client to describe both old and new beliefs as symbols.
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Ask client to visualize the belief symbols - while reminding the client of the
"positive" resources until a good physiology is seen.
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Test clients new beliefs about their disease.
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Coach client to recycle through this pattern until the new beliefs are integrated.
I explored Quimby's methods in 1990, and found that my interpretations
of Quimby's methods produced useful and simple techniques for coaching belief change. In 1994
I worked with Annegret Meyer (now Annegret Hallanzy, a family therapist near Munich)
to incorporate Quimby's ideas into models for effective long term change that we teach, that
we then called Vision Oriented Changework. Quimby's work is since integrated
into Soulwork Systemic Coaching.
The Quimby Manuscripts (1921) is difficult to
find and difficult to read. The editor, Horatio Dresser, was trained by Quimby, yet
wrote
"He (Quimby) could not express his thoughts clearly. One searches the manuscripts
in vain for a clear explanation of the silent cure". However, the explanations
are there. Expert Modeling provided a Rosetta stone with which to decipher, model and interpret them.
While many passages in The Quimby Manuscripts may appeal to
health practitioners, I found Quimby's only prediction to be most compelling:
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I prophesy
that the time will come when men and women shall heal all diseases with the
words of their mouth (Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, 1860) |
* Author's Note: 2002. Since 1994 I have focused on relationship ecology and
Soulwork methodology has evolved almost beyond recognition. I
would not find many applications for Quimby's techniques now, as they are unlikely
to support long term benefits.
Although Quimby's work was state of the art over a century ago, Quimby
helped us understand beliefs ... and change them. Our state of the art has since
progressed enormously.
Changing Beliefs with
Provocation
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Copyright © April 1994, 2005 Martyn Carruthers All right reserved.
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