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During hypnoanalytic treatment of an alcoholic patient the mechanism of a hysterical anæsthesia became apparent and the symptom was relieved.
The patient, a radio singer of forty-two, gave a history of alcoholism from his early thirties when he began to mingle with a 'sporty' set of professional entertainers, all heavy drinkers. Shortly after his marriage at thirty-five, his voice, which up to that time had been excellent, became wavering and inferior, eventuating in a loss of his contract. Unable to find work, the burden of supporting him and his wife was assumed by his father. The patient managed to earn or borrow sufficiently to maintain himself in a state of drunkenness to the disgust of his wife and of his parents who threatened to withdraw their support. This stimulated more drinking which assumed pathological proportions after his wife left him. Physicians recommended hospitalization which his father refused to consider.
Following especially heavy drinking, the patient ran into his father's room one night, got into bed with him and related the dream that strange men were going to kill his wife. He appeared so distraught that his father sent him by ambulance to a hospital for observation and treatment. Examination revealed tremors of the hands and face, and anæsthesia of the right hand which was attributed to alcoholic neuritis. There were no hallucinations or delusions. He was sent to a state hospital where he remained two months following which he was taken home by his family, apparently recovered. He resumed drinking and was rehospitalized no less than ten times, on each occasion making a rapid recovery and persuading his father to give him another chance.