WHAT IS SLEEP-LEARNING?: Page 8

parakeet 1,300 words; by a 63-year-old grandmother who is memorizing the New Testament; by a writer who is memorizing die dictionary at the rate of three pages a night. Psychotherapists submit favorable reports on the use of sleep-teaching techniques for implanting therapeutic suggestions in the subconscious mind to supplement treatment during waking hours. "There appears to be enough evidence to indicate that treatment during sleep is not only possible in theory but also effective in practice," writes Dr. Ernst Schmid-hofer, chief of the Neuropsychiatric Service of the Memphis Veteran's Administration Hospital. Psychologists have also reported success in breaking bad habits ranging from over-eating to speech defects. Mothers, following their suggestions, have been able to train their children out of thumb sucking, bed wetting and nail biting through the use of sleep recordings. Since certain diseases and mental disorders are the psychosomatic symptoms of a subconscious block, it is felt that the inner conflict must be recognized and faced consciously by the patient in order to overcome the problem. Since suggestion is the tool of psychotherapy, it must be concluded that pre-recorded therapeutic messages (sleep tapes) can take their rightful place beside drugs and hypnosis as an effective device for reaching the subconscious. Certainly the cases reported indicate that there is a great value potential in this form of therapy. It has been stated that sleep-suggestion may eventually replace hypnosis medically, since doctors and psychiatrists can make