Charles Dickens’ Hypnosis Cure

Born in Geneva in 1802, Emile de la Rüe was one of Genoa’s most respected citizens and, together with his brother-in-law William Granet, head of the oldest Swiss bank in Genoa, founded in 1758 “Banque de la Rue Frères”. The respected de la Rüe family shaped the city’s social events thanks to their good relations with banks and politicians.

In October 1830, Emile married Augusta Granet, the daughter of an English banker who also did business in Genoa. The dance balls of de la Rües were already known, and now Emile and his wife had the ideal hostess.

It was probably on one of these balls Palazzo Brignole Rosso, when de la Rüe met the English writer Charles Dickens in 1844. He had been traveling through Italy with his family for a long time and stopped in Genoa.

Although Augusta de la Rüe seemed like the perfect woman for the successful banker’s side, she suffered from insomnia, headaches and strange cramps. Added to this was her fear of a supernatural being, which she called the Ghost and which, according to her own statements, appeared to her regularly.

Charles Dickens was already a respected writer and a big fan of the so-called mesmerism. He believed that he was Augusta with what he practiced mesmerism was able to help and offered his services. He had already been working on this very controversial early form of hypnosis for several years. Dickens was an enthusiastic student of the esteemed medical professor John Elliotson, who in his view demonstrated the great effectiveness of mesmerism against all critics.

Charles Dickens was so captivated by this method that he began to ‘bewitch’ family and friends. When he met Augusta de la Rüe in Genoa in 1844, the entertaining game became serious. During the time he was ‘treating’ the banker’s wife, he noticed that Augusta responded extremely positively to the hypnosis sessions. It even seemed to help; she reported that she was able to sleep through the night again and was more relaxed.

The treatments increasingly resembled sessions between therapist and patient. To what extent is practiced? mesmerism helped to improve the well-being of Augusta de la Rüe cannot be said with certainty from today’s perspective. Perhaps it was precisely the conversations that brought the mental balance back into balance.

In a letter to Emile de la Rüe, Charles Dickens is impressed by the husband’s affection for his wife “…true depth, intensity and seriousness of your devotion to Madame De la Rüe or of the loving and diligent vigil you about her. All have endured their sufferings. Believe me, I admire and feel your fortitude under such a test…”

Charles Dickens travels back to England with his family in 1845. His own wife does not seem to have been dissatisfied with it, as she never really approved of her husband spending so much time with another woman.

It would be a short period of peace for the de la Rüe family. In April 1849, the city was rocked by an uprising lasting several days in which the Genoese fought for their independence from the Kingdom of Sardinia. The city was bombed continuously for hours. While the majority of foreigners living in Genoa sought safety on the ships moored in the port, the de la Rüe fled to Sampierdarena, then a separate town outside Genoa.

In 1870, Emile de la Rüe died of smallpox while on his way back from Venice. Charles Dickens died the same year from complications of a stroke. Augusta survived her husband by 17 years.