Émile Coué and his method (I): The chemist of thought and human action

Abstract

The talented scientist, structured thinker, and successful apothecary, Emile Coue (1857-1926), transformed what he had learned of suggestion in the 1880s and scientific hypnotism in the 1900s into the Cou method of the 1920s. His method was an ordered sequence of rational, systematic, intricately constructed, subject-centred hypnotherapeutic interactions that stressed the significance of both unconscious and conscious autosuggestion, delivered a collection of well-polished commonsense explanations, a persuasive set of experiential exercises, a powerfully efficacious hypnotism-centred ego-strengthening intervention and, finally, detailed instruction in the specific ritual through which his empirically determined formula "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better" was to be self-administered twice daily. This paper examines Coue's work, the history and evolution of his method, the phenomenon of its wideranging impact during the 1920s in Europe, Britain, and the USA, and reflects upon aspects of its long-term influence on the domain of hypnotherapy and hypnotic suggestion.