Émile Coué

Émile Coué
Born (1857-02-26)February 26, 1857
Troyes, France
Died July 2, 1926(1926-07-02) (aged 69)
Nancy, France
Occupation Pharmacist; psychologist
Spouse(s) Lucie Lemoine (1858–1954)

Émile Coué de la Châtaigneraie (French: [emil kue də la ʃɑtɛɲʁɛ]; 26 February 1857 – 2 July 1926) was a French psychologist and pharmacist who introduced a popular method of psychotherapy and self-improvement based on optimistic autosuggestion.[1][2]

Considered by Charles Baudouin to represent a second Nancy School,[3][4] Coué treated many patients in groups and free of charge.[5][6]

Life and career

Coué's family, from the Brittany region of France and with origins in French nobility, had only modest means. A brilliant pupil in school, he initially intended to become an analytical chemist. However, he eventually abandoned these studies, as his father, who was a railroad worker, was in a precarious financial state. Coué then decided to become a pharmacist and graduated with a degree in pharmacology in 1876.

Working as an apothecary at Troyes from 1882 to 1910, Coué quickly discovered what later came to be known as the placebo effect. He became known for reassuring his clients by praising each remedy's efficiency and leaving a small positive notice with each given medication. In 1886 and 1887 he studied with Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault and Hippolyte Bernheim, two leading exponents of hypnotism, in Nancy.

In 1910, Coué sold his business and retired to Nancy, where he opened a clinic that continuously delivered some 40,000 treatment-units per annum (Baudouin, 1920, p. 14) to local, regional, and overseas patients over the next sixteen years.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In 1913, Coué and his wife founded The Lorraine Society of Applied Psychology (French: La Société Lorraine de Psychologie appliquée). His book Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion was published in England (1920) and in the United States (1922). Although Coué’s teachings were, during his lifetime, more popular in Europe than in the United States, many Americans who adopted his ideas and methods, such as Norman Vincent Peale, Robert H. Schuller, and W. Clement Stone, became famous in their own right by spreading his words.

La méthode Coué (The Coué method)

La méthode Coué

    Continuously, unjustly, and mistakenly trivialised as just a hand-clasp, some
unwarranted optimism, and a ‘mantra’, Coué’s method evolved over several
decades of meticulous observation, theoretical speculation, in-the-field testing,
incremental adjustment, and step-by-step transformation.
    It tentatively began (c.1901) with very directive one-to-one hypnotic inter-
ventions, based upon the approaches and techniques that Coué had acquired
from an American correspondence course.
    As his theoretical knowledge, clinical experience, understanding of
suggestion and autosuggestion, and hypnotic skills expanded, it gradually
developed into its final subject-centred version—an intricate complex of
(group) education, (group) hypnotherapy, (group) ego-strengthening, and
(group) training in self-suggested pain control; and, following instruction in
performing the prescribed self-administration ritual, the twice daily intentional
and deliberate (individual) application of its unique formula, "Every day, in
every way, I’m getting better and better".
                 Yeates (2016c), p.55.

General

The application of his mantra-like conscious autosuggestion, "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better" (French: Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux) is called Couéism or the Coué method.[15] Some American newspapers quoted it differently, "Day by day, in every way, I'm getting better and better." The Coué method centered on a routine repetition of this particular expression according to a specified ritual—preferably as much as twenty times a day, and especially at the beginning and at the end of each day.[16] When asked whether or not he thought of himself as a healer, Coué often stated that "I have never cured anyone in my life. All I do is show people how they can cure themselves." [17] Unlike a commonly held belief that a strong conscious will constitutes the best path to success, Coué maintained that curing some of our troubles requires a change in our unconscious thought, which can be achieved only by using our imagination.

Although stressing that he was not primarily a healer but one who taught others to heal themselves, Coué claimed to have effected organic changes through autosuggestion.[15]

Self-suggestion

Coué identified two types of self-suggestion: (i) the intentional, "reflective suggestion" made by deliberate and conscious effort, and (ii) the involuntary "spontaneous suggestion", that is a “natural phenomenon of our mental life … which takes place without conscious effort [and has its effect] with an intensity proportional to the keenness of [our] attention” (Baudouin, 1920, pp. 33–34). Baudouin identified three different sources of spontaneous suggestion:

A. Instances belonging to the representative domain (sensations, mental images, dreams, visions, memories, opinions, and all intellectual phenomena);
B. Instances belonging to the affective domain (joy or sorrow, emotions, sentiments, tendencies, passions);
C. Instances belonging to the active or motor domain (actions, volitions, desires, gestures, movements at the periphery or in the interior of the body, functional or organic modifications).[18]

Two minds

According to Yeates (2016b, p. 42), Coué shared the theoretical position that Hudson had expressed in his Law of Psychic Phenomena (1893): namely, that our "mental organization" was such that it seemed as if we had "two minds, each endowed with separate and distinct attributes and powers; [with] each capable, under certain conditions, of independent action" (p. 25).

Further, argued Hudson, it was entirely irrelevant, for explanatory purposes, whether we actually had "two distinct minds", whether we only seemed to be “endowed with a dual mental organization”, or whether we actually had “one mind [possessed of] certain attributes and powers under some conditions, and certain other attributes and powers under other conditions” (pp. 25–26).

Development and origins

Émile Coué (1857-1926)

    Coué … had been operating a free clinic at his home in Nancy, France, [since
1910] where he used the psychological technique of non-hypnotic suggestion as
group treatment, not only for the supposed mental and physical healing of his
patients, but also for enabling them to improve their character and to attain a
confident self mastery.
    He argued that no suggestion made by himself became a reality unless it was
translated by his patients into their own autosuggestion.
    Hence they really healed themselves, and could do this even without his
presence if they used the formula "Every day, in every way, I’m getting better
and better."
    Rather than making any effort of the will about it, they were to employ this
suggestion while in a state of passive relaxation, such as upon awakening or
just before going to bed at night.
    At these times, they rapidly and ritualistically repeated it twenty times,
counting with a string of twenty knots which they slipped through the fingers
one at a time.
    Used in this manner, Coué argued, the idea of the formula would penetrate
the unconscious mind, where it would bring about the desired changes in body
or mind.
    This would happen, he believed, because the unconscious governed all our
thoughts, behavior, and organic functions.
    Indeed, it was so powerful that it controlled us like puppets, unless we in turn
learned how to control it through the self-administration of autosuggestions
which, once accepted by it, would be realized by means of its special powers.
    While Coué did not denigrate the conscious self and reason, he certainly
diminished its role, likening it to a little island on the vast ocean of the
unconscious.
    But despite such an emphasis on the unconscious, he avoided any mental
analysis of it, arguing that it was better not to know the nature of its contents.
                 Rapp (1987), pp.17-18.

Coué noticed that in certain cases he could improve the efficacy of a given medicine by praising its effectiveness to the patient. He realized that those patients to whom he praised the medicine had a noticeable improvement when compared to patients to whom he said nothing. This began Coué’s exploration of the use of hypnosis and the power of the imagination.

His initial method for treating patients relied on hypnosis. He discovered that subjects could not be hypnotized against their will and, more importantly, that the effects of hypnosis waned when the subjects regained consciousness. He thus eventually turned to autosuggestion, which he describes as

... an instrument that we possess at birth, and with which we play unconsciously all our life, as a baby plays with its rattle. It is however a dangerous instrument; it can wound or even kill you if you handle it imprudently and unconsciously. It can on the contrary save your life when you know how to employ it consciously.[19]

Coué believed in the effects of medication. But he also believed that our mental state is able to affect and even amplify the action of these medications. By consciously using autosuggestion, he observed that his patients could cure themselves more efficiently by replacing their "thought of illness" with a new "thought of cure". According to Coué, repeating words or images enough times causes the subconscious to absorb them. The cures were the result of using imagination or "positive autosuggestion" to the exclusion of one's own willpower.

Underlying principles

Coué thus developed a method which relied on the principle that any idea exclusively occupying the mind turns into reality, although only to the extent that the idea is within the realm of possibility. For instance, a person without hands will not be able to make them grow back. However, if a person firmly believes that his or her asthma is disappearing, then this may actually happen, as far as the body is actually able physically to overcome or control the illness. On the other hand, thinking negatively about the illness (ex. "I am not feeling well") will encourage both mind and body to accept this thought. Likewise, when someone cannot remember a name, they will probably not be able to recall it as long as they hold onto this idea (i.e. "I can't remember") in their mind. Coué realised that it is better to focus on and imagine the desired, positive results (i.e. "I feel healthy and energetic" and "I can remember clearly").

Willpower

Coué observed that the main obstacle to autosuggestion was willpower. For the method to work, the patient must refrain from making any independent judgment, meaning that he must not let his will impose its own views on positive ideas. Everything must thus be done to ensure that the positive "autosuggestive" idea is consciously accepted by the patient; otherwise, one may end up getting the opposite effect of what is desired.[20]

For example, when a student has forgotten an answer to a question in an exam, he will likely think something such as "I have forgotten the answer". The more he or she tries to think of it, the more the answer becomes blurred and obscured. However, if this negative thought is replaced with a more positive one ("No need to worry, it will come back to me"), the chances that the student will come to remember the answer will increase.

Coué noted that young children always applied his method perfectly, as they lacked the willpower that remained present among adults. When he instructed a child by saying "clasp your hands and you can't open them", the child would thus immediately follow.

Self-conflict

A patient's problems are likely to increase when his willpower and imagination (or mental ideas) are opposing each other, something Coué would refer to as "self-conflict". In the student's case, the will to succeed is clearly incompatible with his thought of being incapable of remembering his answers. As the conflict intensifies, so does the problem: the more the patient tries to sleep, the more he becomes awake. The more a patient tries to stop smoking, the more he smokes. The patient must thus abandon his willpower and instead put more focus on his imaginative power in order to succeed fully with his cure.

Effectiveness

Thanks to his method, which Coué once called his "trick",[21] patients of all sorts would come to visit him. The list of ailments included kidney problems, diabetes, memory loss, stammering, weakness, atrophy and all sorts of physical and mental illnesses. According to one of his journal entries (1916), he apparently cured a patient of a uterus prolapse as well as "violent pains in the head" (migraine).[22]

C. (Cyrus) Harry Brooks (1890–1951), author of various books on Coué, claimed the success rate of his method was around 93%. The remaining 7% of people would include those who were too skeptical of Coué's approach and those who refused to recognize it.

Medicines and autosuggestion

The use of autosuggestion is intended to complement use of medicine, but no medication of Coué's time could save a patient from depression or tension. Coué recommended that patients take medicines with the confidence that they would be completely cured very soon, and healing would be optimal. Conversely, he contended, patients who are skeptical of a medicine would find it least effective.

Criticism

"That Coué’s formula could be applied with a minimum of instruction was challenging; and the accounts of Coué’s method curing organic disease were just as threatening to the conventional medicine of the day, as they were inspiring to Coué’s devotees" (Yeates, 2016a, p. 19). "Most of us are so accustomed … to an elaborate medical ritual … in the treatment of our ills … [that] anything so simple as Coué’s autosuggestion is inclined to arouse misgivings, antagonism and a feeling of scepticism" (Duckworth 1922, pp. 3–4). According to Yeates (2016a, p. 18), although Coué never produced any empirical evidence for the efficacy of his formula and, therefore, his claims had not been scientifically evaluated, three subsequent experimental studies, conducted more than half a century later — i.e., those of Paulhus (1993) — "seem to offer some unexpected support for Coué’s claims".

The psycho-medical establishment

According to Yeates (2016a, p. 19), the protests routinely made by those within the psychomedical establishment (e.g., Moxon, 1923; Abraham, 1926) were on one or more of the following grounds:

(1) "Healing of organic disease by "self-mastery" was impossible! Aside from "spontaneous remissions" of authentic disease (efficacious vis medicatrix naturæ!), reported "cures" were either due to mistaken diagnosis (it was never that disease!), or mistaken prognosis (it was always going to get better!). Anyway, even if it had been diagnosed correctly, there was no compelling evidence to suggest that Coué’s approach had been in any way responsible for the cure."
(2) "Even if it was true that, in some extraordinary circumstances, healing by "self-mastery" was possible, Coué’s failure to immediately eliminate those with counterproductive limitations — such as, for example, those lacking the required dedication, mind-set, talent, diligence, persistence, patience, etc. — resulted in many (clearly unsuited) individuals mistakenly postponing (otherwise) life-saving operations and delaying (otherwise) radical medical treatment far beyond any prospect of recovery or cure."
(3) "Despite the obvious fact that each ‘disease’ had a unique cause, a unique history, and a unique (and idiosyncratic) personal impact, Coué treated a wide range of disparate individuals in the same, single group session, in the same way; and, moreover, he treated them without any sort of detailed examination or differential diagnosis."
(4) "The method’s central "magical incantation" — a specific formula, uttered a specific number of times, in a special way, using a knotted string — aroused strong opposition, as it reeked of outmoded superstitious practices and beliefs."

The Press

While most American reporters of his day seemed dazzled by Coué's accomplishments,[23][24][25] and did not question the results attributed to his method,[26]), a handful of journalists and a few educators were skeptical. After Coué had left Boston, the Boston Herald waited six months, revisited the patients he had "cured", and found most had initially felt better but soon returned to whatever ailments they previously had.

Memorial bust of Coué (detail),
St Mary's Park, Nancy.

Few of the patients would criticize Coué, saying he did seem very sincere in what he tried to do, but the Herald reporter concluded that any benefit from Coué's method seemed to be temporary and might be explained by being caught up in the moment during one of Coué's events.[27] Whilst a number of academic psychologists looked upon his work favourably,[28] others did not.[29] Coué was also criticized by exponents of psychoanalysis,[30] with Otto Fenichel concluding: "A climax of dependence masked as independent power is achieved by the methods of autosuggestion where a weak and passive ego is controlled by an immense superego with magical powers. This power is, however, borrowed and even usurped".[31]

Memorials

On 28 June 1936, a monument erected to the memory of Coué, funded by world-wide subscription, and featuring a bust of Coué created by French sculptor Eugène Gatelet,[32] was dedicated in St Mary's Park, in Nancy. The bust was stored for safe-keeping during World War II and, post-war, was restored to its former position in 1947.

Works

Monument to Coué,
St Mary's Park, Nancy.

References in fiction

"Of course the whole thing was Couéism: if one believed in it enough, it would come true."
"So Dr. Coué failed for her, as he did for many others, for which I lay no blame on him. His system was really a form of secularized, self-seeking prayer, without the human dignity that even the most modest prayer evokes. And like all attempts to command success for the chronically unsuccessful, it petered out."
Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better.[33]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ R. Gregory, The Oxford Companion to the Mind (1987) p. 169
  2. ↑ See Yeates (2016a), (2016b), and (2016c).
  3. ↑ Baudouin continuously spoke of a “New Nancy School”: e.g., Baudouin (1920), p.13.
  4. ↑ It is significant that Coué never adopted Baudouin’s designation "New Nancy School"; and, moreover, according to Glueck (1923, p.112), who visited Coué at Nancy in 1922, Coué was “rather annoyed” with Baudouin’s unauthorized characterization of his enterprise.
  5. ↑ Henri Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious (1970) p. 842
  6. ↑ Whiteside, T., "Better and Better", The New Yorker, (Saturday, 16 May 1953), pp.91-115.
  7. ↑ Aram, G.V. (1923). Emile Coué and His Method of Healing by Conscious Auto-Suggestion: An Interview with M. Coué, in G.V., Aram, E. Towne, & W.E. Towne, The Gist of Coué: Self Healing by Auto-Suggestion Clearly and Simply Explained, (pp.3-14). Holyoke, MA: The Elizabeth Towne Co., Inc.
  8. ↑ Baird, A. (1956/1923). "Bypassing the Will: Towards Demystifying the Nonconscious Control of Social Behavior", in A. Baird, I was There: St. James’s, West Malvern (pp.239-246). Worcester: Littlebury and Company Limited.
  9. ↑ Baudouin, C. (1923). Emile Coué and His Life-Work. New York, NY: American Library Service.
  10. ↑ Brooks, C. Harry (1922). The Practice of Autosuggestion by the Method of Émile Coué. George Allen and Unwin.
  11. ↑ Duckworth, J.H. (1922). Autosuggestion and its Personal Application. New York, NY: The James A. McCann Company.
  12. ↑ Kirk, Ella Boyce (1922), My Pilgrimage to Coué, American Library Service, (New York). 1922.
  13. ↑ Macnaghten, H. (1922), Emile Coué: The Man and His Work. New York, NY: Dodd, Mead and Company.
  14. ↑ Orton, J.L. (1935). Émile Coué: The Man and His Work. London: The Francis Mott Company.
  15. 1 2 "Émile Coué." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 26 Dec. 2008
  16. ↑ Marguerite Marshall. "Applied Auto-Suggestion of Famous French Healer Explained." Boston Post, January 4, 1923, p. 13.
  17. ↑ quoted by Frederick L. Collins, "Three Minutes With a Headliner." (Kingston Jamaica) The Gleaner, February 9, 1923, p.6.
  18. ↑ Baudouin, 1920, p.41.
  19. ↑ Coué, E: "Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion" (1922) p. 19
  20. ↑ Brooks, C. H., "The practice of autosuggestion" (1922) p. 62
  21. ↑ Coué, E: "How to Practice Suggestion and Autosuggestion", p. 45
  22. ↑ Wallechinsky, David. "Emile Coue (1857–1926) French Healer." The People's Almanac. 2nd Ed. 1975.
  23. ↑ Bronner, Milton, "What's Emile Coue's Game? Milt Bronner Sizes Up the Man", The Evening Independent, (Thursday, 18 January, 1923), p.1.
  24. ↑ Bronner, Milton, "Day by Day Story of Life as Coue Patient", The Millwaukee Journal Final, (Monday, 8 January 1923), p.1; "Patient Spends First Day Getting Better and Better", (Tuesday, 9 January 1923), p.1; "Give Yourself a Chance, Coue Told his Patients", (Wednesday, 10 January 1923), p.1; "Coue made ‘em Forget their Ills, Day by Day", (Thursday, 11 January 1923), p.1; "Coue Patients Declared Treatment Helped Them", (Friday, 12 January 1923), p.1; and "Coue Seemed Sincere in Desire to Aid Man", (Saturday, 13 January 1923), p.1.
  25. ↑ Stowe, L. B. 1923. The Druggist from Nancy: I. Monsieur Coué at Home. The Outlook, 133(3), 122-123.
  26. ↑ "Behind Closed Doors of Coué's Famous Clinic, Showing Marvelous New Method". Boston Post. August 13, 1922. p. 41.
  27. ↑ "Coué Patients Not All Helped by Treatment". Boston Herald. June 16, 1923. pp. 1, 4.
  28. ↑ Downey, J.E., "Practicing Coue", (Wednesday, 20 December 1922), p.4.
  29. ↑ McDougall, W. (1926). An Outline of Abnormal Psychology. London: Methuen & Co.. pp.123-124.
  30. ↑ Abraham, K., "Psycho-Analytical Notes on Coué's Method of Self-Mastery", International Journal of Psychoanalysis, Vol.7, No.2, (April 1926), pp.190-213.
  31. ↑ Fenichel, Otto (1946). The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis. p. 564.
  32. ↑ Bell, K., "Europe of Today: Statue of Coue to be Unveiled", The Delmarva Star, (26 April 1936), p.36.
  33. ↑ Lyrics: Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy).

References

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