In the late nineteenth century, German-speaking physicians and psychiatrists intensely debated the benefits and risks of treatment by hypnotic suggestion. While practitioners of the method sought to provide convincing evidence for its therapeutic efficacy in many medical conditions, especially nervous disorders, critics pointed to dangerous side effects, including the triggering of hysterical attacks or deterioration of nervous symptoms. Other critics claimed that patients merely simulated hypnotic phenomena in order to appease their therapist. A widespread concern was the potential for abuses of hypnosis, either by giving criminal suggestions or in the form of sexual assaults on hypnotized patients. Official inquiries by the Prussian Minister for Religious, Educational and Medical Affairs in 1902 and 1906 indicated that relatively few doctors practised hypnotherapy, whereas the method was increasingly used by lay healers. Although the Ministry found no evidence for serious harm caused by hypnotic treatments, whether performed by doctors or by lay healers, many German doctors seem to have regarded hypnotic suggestion therapy as a problematic method and abstained from using it.

中文翻译：

---

有危险的方法吗？1900年左右，德国关于催眠建议疗法的论述。

十九世纪末期，德语系医生和精神科医生激烈地讨论了通过催眠疗法进行治疗的益处和风险。尽管该方法的从业者试图为其在许多医学状况（尤其是神经疾病）中的治疗效果提供令人信服的证据，但批评家指出了危险的副作用，包括引发歇斯底里的发作或神经症状的恶化。其他批评者声称，患者只是为了安抚治疗师而模拟催眠现象。人们普遍担心的是，通过提供刑事建议或对催眠患者进行性侵犯的形式，可能会滥用催眠。普鲁士宗教部长的正式调查，1902年和1906年的教育和医疗事务表明，相对很少有医生进行催眠治疗，而外行治疗者越来越多地使用这种方法。尽管德国商务部没有发现由催眠疗法造成的严重伤害的证据，无论是由医生还是由非专业治疗师进行的，但许多德国医生似乎都将催眠建议疗法视为一种有问题的方法，因此放弃了使用催眠疗法。