A Few Of Coue's Cures

To give the reader a better idea of the results which Induced

Autosuggestion is yielding, I shall here describe a few further cases

of which I was myself in some part a witness, and thereafter let some

of Coue's patients speak for themselves through the medium of their

letters.



At one of the morning consultations which I subsequently attended was a

woman who had suffered for five years with dyspepsia. Th trouble had

recently become so acute that even the milk diet to which she was now

reduced caused her extreme discomfort. Consequently she had become

extremely thin and anaemic, was listless, easily tired, and suffered

from depression. Early in the proceedings the accounts given by

several patients of the relief they had obtained seemed to appeal to

her imagination. She followed Coue's remarks with keen interest,

answered his questions vivaciously, and laughed very heartily at the

amusing incidents with which the proceedings were interspersed. About

five o'clock on the same afternoon I happened to be sitting with Coue

when this woman asked to see him. Beaming with satisfaction, she was

shown into the room. She reported that on leaving the clinic she had

gone to a restaurant in the town and ordered a table d'hote luncheon.

Conscientiously she had partaken of every course from the hors

d'oeuvres to the cafe noir. The meal had been concluded at 1.30, and

she had so far experienced no trace of discomfort. A few days later

this woman returned to the clinic to report that the dyspepsia had

shown no signs of reappearing; that her health and spirits were

improving, and that she looked upon herself as cured.



On another occasion one of the patients complained of asthma. The

paroxysms destroyed his sleep at night and prevented him from

performing any task which entailed exertion. Walking upstairs was a

slow process attended by considerable distress. The experiment with

the hands was so successfully performed that Coue assured him of

immediate relief.



"Before you go," he said, "you will run up and down those stairs

without suffering any inconvenience."



At the close of the consultation, under the influence of the suggestion

"I can," the patient did this without difficulty. That night the

trouble recurred in a mild form, but he continued to attend the clinic

and to practise the exercises at home, and within a fortnight the

asthma had finally left him.



Among other patients with whom I conversed was a young man suffering

from curvature of the spine. He had been attending the clinic for four

months and practising the method at home. His doctor assured him that

the spine was gradually resuming its normal position. A girl of

twenty-two had suffered from childhood with epileptic fits, recurring

at intervals of a few weeks. Since her first visit to the clinic six

months previously the fits had ceased.



But the soundest testimony to the power of Induced Autosuggestion is

that borne by the patients themselves. Here are a few extracts from

letters received by Coue:



"At the age of sixty-three, attacked for more than thirty years by

asthma and all the complications attendant upon it, I spent

three-quarters of the night sitting on my bed inhaling the smoke of

anti-asthma powders. Afflicted with almost daily attacks, especially

during the cold and damp seasons, I was unable to walk--I could not

even go down hill.



Nowadays I have splendid nights, and have put the powders in a drawer.

Without the slightest hesitation I can go upstairs to the first floor."



D. (Mont de Marsan.)

15 December, 1921.





"Yesterday I felt really better, that is to say, of my fever, so I

decided to go back to my doctor, whom I had not seen since the summer.

The examination showed a normal appendix. On the other hand, the

bladder is still painful, but is better. At any rate, there is at

present no question of the operation which had worried me so much. I

am convinced that I shall cure myself completely."



M. D. (Mulhouse.)

24 September, 1921.





"I have very good news to give you of your dipsomaniac--she is cured,

and asserts it herself to all who will listen. She told me yesterday

that for fourteen years she had not been so long without drink as she

has been lately, and what surprises her so much is that she has not had

to struggle against a desire; she has simply not felt the need of

drink. Further, her sleep continues to be splendid. She is getting

more and more calm, in spite of the fact that on several occasions her

sang-froid has been severely tested. To put the matter in a nutshell,

she is a changed woman. But what impresses me most is the fact that

when she took to your method she thought herself at the end of her

tether, and in the event of its doing her no good had decided to kill

herself (she had already attempted it once)."



P. (a Paris doctor.)

1 February, 1922.





"For eight years I suffered with prolapse of the uterus. I have used

your method of Autosuggestion for the last five months, and am now

completely cured, for which I do not know how to thank you enough."



S. (Toul).[1]





"I have a son who came back from Germany very anaemic and suffering

from terrible depression. He went to see you for a short time, and now

is as well as possible. Please accept my best thanks. I have also a

little cousin whom you have cured. He had a nervous illness, and had

become, so to speak, unconscious of what was going on around him. He

is now completely cured."



S. E. (Circourt, Vosges.)

19 October, 1921.





"My wife and I have waited nearly a year to thank you for the

marvellous cure which your method has accomplished. The very violent

attacks of asthma from which my wife suffered have completely

disappeared since the visit you paid us last spring. The first few

weeks my wife experienced temporary oppression and even the beginnings

of an attack, which, however, she was able to ward off within a few

minutes by practising Autosuggestion.



In spite of her great desire to thank you sooner my wife wished to add

more weight to her testimony by waiting for nearly a year. But the bad

time for asthma has not brought the slightest hint of the terrible

attacks from which you saved her."



J. H. (Saarbruck.)

23 December, 1921.





"All the morbid symptoms from which I used to suffer have disappeared.

I used to feel as though I had a band of iron across my brain which

seemed to be red-hot; added to this I had heartburn and bad nights with

fearful dreams; further, I was subject to severe nervous attacks which

went on for months. I felt as though pegs were being driven into the

sides of my head and nape of my neck, and when I felt I could not

endure these agonies any longer a feeling would come as if my brain

were being smothered in a blanket. All these pains came and went. I

had sometimes one, sometimes others. There were occasions when I

wanted to die--my sufferings were so acute, and I had to struggle

against the idea with great firmness.



At last, having spent five weeks at Nancy attending your kindly

sittings, I have profited so well as to be able to return home in a

state of normal health."



N. (Pithiviviers le Vieil.)

16 August, 1921.





"After having undergone four operations on the left leg for local

tuberculosis I fell a victim once more to the same trouble on 1

September, 1920. Several doctors whom I consulted declared a new

operation necessary. My leg was to be opened from the knee to the

ankle, and if the operation failed nothing remained but an amputation.



Having heard of your cures, I came to see you for the first time on 6

November, 1920. After the sitting I felt at once a little better. I

followed your instructions exactly, visiting you three times. At the

third time I was able to tell you that I was completely cured."



L. (Herny, Lorraine.)





"I am happy to tell you that a bunion that I had on my foot, which grew

to a considerable size and gave me the most acute pain for over fifteen

years, has gone."



L. G. (Cauderan, Gironde.)





"I cannot leave France without letting you know how grateful I feel for

the immense service you have rendered me and mine. I only wish I had

met you years ago. Practically throughout my career my curse has been

a lack of continuous self-control.



I have been accused of being almost brilliant at times, only to be

followed by periodic relapses into a condition of semi-imbecility and

self-indulgence.



I have done my best to ruin a magnificent constitution, and have wasted

the abilities bestowed upon me. In a few short days you have made

me--and I feel permanently--master of myself. How can I thank you

sufficiently?



The rapidity of my complete cure may have been due to what at the time

I regarded as an unfortunate accident. Slipping on the snow-covered

steps of the train when alighting, I sprained my right knee badly. At

the breakfast table, before paying you my first visit, a fellow-guest

said to me: 'Tell Monsieur Coue about it. He will put it all right.'



I laughed and said 'Umph!' to myself, and more for the fun of the thing

than anything else did tell you. I remember you remarking 'That's

nothing,' and passing on to the more serious part of our conversation,

preliminary to commencing your lecture to the assembled patients.



I became more than interested, and when at the conclusion you suddenly

turned round and asked me: 'How's your knee?' (not having alluded to

knees in particular), and I discovered there wasn't a knee, I laughed

again, as did those who saw me hobble into your room; but I laughed

this time from a sense of bewildered surprise and dawning belief. This

belief you very soon firmly implanted in me."



G. H. (London.)

11 January, 1922.







[1] This letter, together with the two quoted on page 34, is reprinted

from the Bulletin de la Societe Lorraine de Psychologie Appliquee of

April, 1921. They were received by Coue during the preceding three

months. The other letters were communicated to me privately by Coue

and bear their original dates.