COUE, EMILE

born Feb. 26, 1857, Troyes, Fr. died July 2, 1926, Nancy French pharmacist who in 1920 at his clinic at Nancy introduced a method of psychotherapy characterized by frequent repetition of the formula, Every day, and in every way, I am becoming better and better. This method of autosuggestion came to be called Couism. An apothecary at Troyes from 1882 to 1910, Cou in 1901 began to study under Ambroise-Auguste Libeault and Hippolyte Bernheim, leading exponents of hypnosis. Although stressing that he was not primarily a healer but one who taught others to heal themselves, Cou claimed to have effected organic changes through autosuggestion.