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The return of suggestion

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Abstract

A from of treatment considered outmoded around the turn of the century, suggestion now plays a considerable role in general medicine and all contemporary psychotherapies—including psychoanalysis, behavior therapy, and group encounters. The return of suggestion is dramatically seen in the community mental health movement, in which centers dispense brief therapy, help and advice to large portions of the population previously unreachable. In spite of the ubiquity of suggestion and the large literature that developed at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, very little is actually known as to how it “works”, if and when it does. Considerably more research is needed on the subject, which stands out as a basic riddle of the behavioral sciences.

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He has written 35 papers, chiefly on psychiatric drugs, and his 1954 paper on chlorpromazine introduced the compound to the United States. His address is 4141 Apalogen Road, Philadelphia, Pa. 19144.

Mr. Saul is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia and is currently enrolled in postgraduate studies at that university. He is research assistant for Dr. Winkelman and is engaged in several studies at the Sidney Hillman Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry.

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Winkelman, N.W., Saul, S.D. The return of suggestion. Psych Quar 48, 230–238 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01584686

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