Automatic writing frequently exhibits indications of telepathy. The most remarkable series of automatic writings recorded in this connexion are those executed by the American medium, Mrs Piper, in a state of trance (Proceedings S.P.R.). These writings appear to exhibit remarkable telepathic powers, and are thought by some to indicate communication with the spirits of the dead.
The opportunities afforded by automatic writing for communicating with subconscious strata of the personality have been made use of by Pierre Janet and others in cases of hystero-epilepsy, and other forms of dissociation of consciousness. A patient in an attack of hysterical convulsions, to whom oral appeals are made in vain, can sometimes be induced to answer in writing questions addressed to the hand, and thus to reveal the secret of the malady or to accept therapeutic suggestions.
[edit] See
Edmonds and Dexter, Spiritualism (New York, 1853).
Epes Sargent, Planchette, the Despair of Science (Boston, U.S.A., 1869).
Mrs de Morgan, From Matter to Spirit (London, 1863).
W. Stainton Moses, Spirit Teachings (London, 1883).
Proceedings S.P R. passim.
Th. Flournoy, Des Indes à la planète Mars (Geneva, 1900).
F. Podmore, Modern Spiritualism (London, 1902).
F. W. H. Myers, Human Personality (London, 1903).
Pierre Janet, L'Automatisme psychologique (2nd ed., Paris, 1894).
Morton Prince, The Dissociation of a Personality (London, 1906).
(F. P.)
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