This article is about the clash of two explanatory paradigms, each attempting to account for the same data of human experience. In the first half of the nineteenth century, physiologists investigated reflex actions and applied a recently coined word, "automatism," to describe actions which, although seeming to arise from higher centers, actually result from automatic reaction to sensory stimuli. Experiments with spinal reflexes led to the investigation of the reflex action of the brain or "cerebral automatisms." Reflex actions of this kind were used to explain everything from acting compulsively to composing symphonies. Physiological explanations of phenomena of this kind seemed insufficient to some and, in the 1880s, Frederic Myers and Pierre Janet developed psychological frameworks for understanding these phenomena, positing hidden centers of intelligence at work in the individual, outside ordinary awareness, which produce what came to be called "psychological automatisms." Their attempts to unify this psychological framework with the existing physiological one failed. Nevertheless, their work played a crucial role in paving the way for what Ellenberger called dynamic psychiatry, which accepts the reality of an unconscious dynamic of the psyche.

Rigorous, controlled laboratory investigations into what have been called "supernormal" abilities have revealed replicable experimental evidence for precognition, the ability to predict randomly determined future events, and micropsychokinesis, the ability to mentally influence the probability of random events such as the output of a truly random number generator. However, the effects are small among the general population, while individuals already prescreened for talent show larger effects. Improving performance on tasks testing supernormal abilities is a high priority for those interested in understanding these effects. Here, we empirically examined the idea that using hypnotic suggestion to put individuals in a self-transcendent state of unconditional love would produce above-chance precognition and micropsychokinesis in unscreened participants. Using a crossover study design, 35 participants (gender mix ϭ 71% women; M age ϭ 53.5 years) received two hypnotic suggestions on two different days: one to enjoy experiencing unconditional love, the other to enjoy accessing precognition abilities. Both suggestions were related to a significant and lasting increase in self-reported feelings of unconditional love, but supernormal abilities did not improve from before to after suggestion in either condition. However, post hoc analyses revealed that performance on a precognitive remote viewing task was significantly higher than chance prior to the unconditional love suggestion, and this performance was significantly higher in participants who reported greater feelings of unconditional love. Additional research is required to confirm or reject this tentative but potentially revealing relationship and to further examine the influence of the clinical use of hypnotic suggestion to boost feelings of unconditional love.

In 1970 Henri Ellenberger called attention to the previously unrecognized importance of Franz Anton Mesmer's “animal magnetism” in the rise of psychodynamic psychology in the West. This article takes the next step of tracing the course of events that led to Puységur's discovery of magnetic somnambulism and describing the tumultuous social and political climate into which it was introduced in 1784. Beginning from the secret and private publication of his first Mémoires, only a few copies of which remain today, the original core of his discovery is identified and the subsequent development of its implications are examined. Puysègur was initiated into his investigations by Mesmer's system of physical healing, which bears some resemblance to the traditional healing approaches of the East. But Puységur took Mesmer's ideas in an unexpected direction. In doing so, he accomplished a turn toward the psychological that remains one of the distinguishing features of Western culture.

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The TARP improved the effectiveness and safety of potassium-replacement therapy over the traditional NRP without negatively affecting timeliness of care.

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