Hypnosis

Applications
Hypnotherapy Stage hypnosis Self-hypnosis
Origins
Animal magnetism Franz Mesmer History of hypnosis James Braid
Key figures
Marques of Puységur James Esdaile John Elliotson Jean-Martin Charcot Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault Hippolyte Bernheim Pierre Janet Sigmund Freud Émile Coué Morton Prince Clark L. Hull Andrew Salter Theodore R. Sarbin Milton H. Erickson Ernest Hilgard Martin Theodore Orne André Muller Weitzenhoffer Nicholas Spanos
Related topics
Hypnotic susceptibility Suggestion Post-hypnotic suggestion Age regression in therapy Neuro-linguistic programming
view · talk

Étienne Eugène Azam (1822–1899) was a French surgeon from Bordeaux who is chiefly remembered for his work in psychology, particularly a case involving a female patient he named "Félida X" who seemed to have "alternating personalities", or what Azam referred to as doublement de la vie.

Over a number of years Azam studied Félida's psychological profile and from his research published three reports. He described Félida as a hysterical patient who had a serious and sad (normal) state, along with a merry and generous state. He analyzed these two states as two distinct, separate personalities that seemed to be unaware of the other.

The case of Félida X is one of the earliest documented descriptions of what would later be called a multiple personality disorder. At the time, this situation garnered interest in the medical community, and created several puzzling questions in regards to the concept of Self, as well as to the definition of personal ego. Additionally from a quasi-religious context, the concept of multiple personalities was contrary to the paranormal belief system of Spiritualism (religious movement), which had a large following in the 19th century.

[edit] Selected work

• Hypnotisme, double conscience et altérations de la personnalité: le cas Félida X (Hypnotism, double conscience and deteriorations of the personality: the case Félida X), (1887); Étienne Eugene Azam, with an introduction by Serge Nicolas.

[edit] References

• This article is based on a translation of an article from the French Wikipedia.
• History of Psychiatry, Pierre Janet and Félida Artificielle

This biography related to medicine in France is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e