Cataleptic bridge

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The cataleptic bridge is an impressive trick used in show hypnosis to demonstrate the supposed power of a hypnotist and his hypnosis .

For the cataleptic bridge, the test person is placed in hypnosis and, after applying an appropriate suggestion (for example: “rigid as a board”), is placed on two chairs, which then only support the neck and heel area. The rest of the body is unsupported and forms a sprawling bridge. To make matters worse, another person can stand on the test person or a large stone lying on the test person's stomach can be smashed with a hammer. Since the limit range of the load capacity of the human body can be exceeded, light to severe injuries are quite possible due to this increase in load.

In a 1961 study, Collins was able to show that the strength of a test person's ability to be hypnotized is irrelevant and that almost all test subjects - both "awake" and hypnotized persons - could withstand the rigidity for 2 to 4 minutes until the fatigue of the muscle fibers finished the trick. The only requirement for this trick is healthy back muscles and not - as is often assumed - a hypnotic state.

Mode of action

The mechanisms underlying the cataleptic phenomena have never been explained in detail. Only Kraines referred to the Pavlov model , according to which an inhibition of individual muscle groups is assumed. In the process, individual sub-groups in the holding function are likely to be replaced within a larger muscle group.

literature

  • Kossak, H.-C .: Textbook Hypnosis . Psychologie-Verlags-Union, Weinheim, ISBN 3-621-27146-5
  • Kossak, H.-C .: Hypnosis: textbook for psychotherapists and doctors. With online materials , Verlag Beltz, 2013, p. 224, ISBN 362127975X , here online

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Christian Kossak : Hypnosis. Textbook for psychotherapists and doctors. Belz Verlag, Weinheim, Basel 3. Corr. Edition 1997. ISBN 978-3-8289-5270-6 . Pp. 240-241. and p. 414
  2. ^ Hans-Christian Kossak: Hypnosis. Textbook for psychotherapists and doctors. Belz Verlag, Weinheim, Basel 3. Corr. Edition 1997. ISBN 978-3-8289-5270-6 . P. 241.