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In the first few pages the author discusses various psychiatric attitudes to psychopathic personality and concludes 'Psychopathy is more widely spread today than ever before in the history of our civilization … it is assuming more and more the proportions of a plague … it is today ravishing the world with far greater ill-effects than the most malignant of organic diseases … it represents a terrible force whose destructive potentialities are criminally under-estimated.'
In the second chapter he describes 'hypno-analysis'. During the first fortnight the patient is seen daily and taught hypnosis. During this period the complaint is not discussed. The need to master a special technique is stressed. Later, psycho-analysis is begun but when resistance, which does not originate in the transference, arises the patient is hypnotized and the last few associations of the previous interview are given and further associations are requested. At the end of the hypnotic period post-hypnotic amnesia is suggested. In the next interview the last few associations of the last analytic interview are given and free association continues. The author states that it is constantly found that the patient repeats, with amnesia for the hypnotic period, the memories spoken of during the hypnotic state if these have been true memories and not screen memories.
The author considers that this use of hypnosis effectively counters previous objections to hypnosis which dealt with the fact that the total personalities rarely, if ever, participated in disclosures made under hypnosis. The author considers that in analysis, apart from utilising the transference to assure acceptance and comprehension of interpretations, no means are available to produce improvement. Using hypnosis, on the other hand, prepotent hypnotic suggestions to enforce comprehension and acceptance of those necessary but novel