Scientific suggestion therapy employs the wares of the medicine-man
Freud and Psychoanalysis (Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 4)
Even the so-called highly scientific suggestion therapy employs the wares of the medicine-man and the exorcising shaman. And why not? The public is not much more advanced either and continues to expect miraculous cures from the doctor.
And indeed, we must rate those doctors – wise in every sense – who know how to surround themselves with the aura of a medicine-man.
They have not only the biggest practices but also get the best results.
This is because, apart from the neuroses, countless physical illnesses are tainted and complicated with psychic material to an unsuspected degree.
The medical exorcist betrays by his whole demeanor his full appreciation of that psychic component when he gives the patient the opportunity of fixing his faith firmly on the mysterious personality of the doctor.
In this way he wins the sick man’s mind, which from then on helps him to restore his body to health.
The cure works best when the doctor himself believes in his own formulae, otherwise he may be overcome by scientific doubt and so lose the proper convincing tone. ~Carl Jung; CW 4; Freud and Psychoanalysis; Page 578.