Medicine: Psyche & Myopic

A man who is so nearsighted as to be legally blind, with a visual acuity rating of 20/200, has scored 20/20 on the eye chart under the influence of psychological suggestion. This striking case was cited last week by Psychologist Charles R. Kelley of Stamford, Conn., as part of his evidence that although myopia results from an immediate physical cause, elongation of the eyeball, the underlying cause may lie in the personality.

Dr. Kelley told the American Psychological Association that he tried hypnotism, and got good results with one subject who went into a deep trance. Then he tried “indirect suggestion,” an elaborate relaxing routine, on 14 subjects. All showed improvement, the average being equivalent to a change from 20-50 to 20-20 vision. Best guess to explain the improvement, said Dr. Kelley, is that suggestion temporarily altered the eyeball shape by relaxing the muscles. All the subjects relapsed into nearsightedness when the suggestion wore off.