Research source

It is not unusual to find great hyperæsthesia in certain special directions--of touch, hearing, perception of…

Date of account: Published 1903
Source: Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death
Reference: Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death · selected passage 53
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

It is not unusual to find great hyperæsthesia in certain special directions--of touch, hearing, perception of light, etc.--combined with hysterical loss of sensation of other kinds

Published source text

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Source passage

Source text · mention only

It is not unusual to find great hyperæsthesia in certain special directions--of touch, hearing, perception of light, etc.--combined with hysterical loss of sensation of other kinds. This subject will be more conveniently treated along with the hyperæsthesia of the hypnotic trance. But I may note here that just such occasional quickenings of faculty were, in my view, almost certain to accompany that instability of psychical threshold which is the distinguishing characteristic of hysteria, since I hold that subliminal faculty habitually overpasses supraliminal. These also are a kind of capricious _idées fixes_; only the caprice in such cases raises what was previously submerged instead of exaggerating what was previously emergent.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

The passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.

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