A BRIEF HISTORY OF HYPNOSIS

The Use of hypnosis dates back to religious leaders, witch doctors, medicine
men and shamans. Soothsayers in ancient Egypt and Greece used the trance
state for their various healings. The healing effect of astral bodies and
magnets was propounded by Paracelsus (1493-1541). He assumed that
magnets were responsible for curing disease.

Father Hehl, in 1771, applied steel plates to the naked body to elicit cures in
Vienna. Mesmer elaborated on this concept and used a means of passes to
effect his cures. He called this animal magnetism and the technique
became the rage in Europe during the latter part of the 18th century.

Mesmer, unknowingly, established the basis for current-day group

psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and spiritual (soul) healing. His later disciples
were Petetin, the discoverer of catalepsy; the Marquis de Puysegur, who first
described artificial somnambulism; and de Barbarin, who magnetized without
paraphernalia and whose followers called themselves Barbarinists. In
Sweden and Germany, the latter group were called Spiritualists. Mesmerism
quickly spread all around the world and lasted until about 1840, when it
finally disappeared from the world of therapy.

The Scottish surgeon James Esdaile reported hundreds of painless operations

between 1840 and 1850 using hypnosis while in India. In 1849, Crawford
Long brought to light the fact that Mesmerism was being used in the United
States for surgery. Dr.Long is best known for his work with the general
anesthetic ether.

The father of modern hypnotism was James Braid from Great Britain. At first
a skeptic, Braid began his scientific inquiry into the technique after
witnessing a demonstration in Manchester in 1843 by La Fontaine (a Swiss
Mesmerist). Braid concluded that the results obtained were not due to
magnetic fluids, but that the phenomena were due to suggestion alone,
acting upon a subject whose suggestibility had been artificially increased.

Unfortunately, Braid coined the term hypnosis from the Greek word
hypnos, meaning sleep. When he later recognized that hypnosis was not a
sleep state, he tried to rename this state as monoideism, but the term
hypnosis had taken hold on the public and the scientific community, and his
efforts failed to rectify the situation. Braids greatest contribution was his
discovery that hypnosis could take place without a formal induction. This
discovery was ignored for over a century.

The true founder of suggestive therapy was Liebault, whose book Du

Sommeil was published in 1866. Liebault is known for his statement to his
patients, If you wish to be treated by drugs, you will have to pay me fee; if
however, you allow me to treat you by hypnotism, I will do it free of charge!
His integrity, selflessness, devotion to the needy, and success with hypnosis
attracted the attention of Hippolyte Bernheim, a renowned neurologist from
Nancy, who, at first skeptical, later became an ardent proponent of hypnosis.
Together they developed Braids theories and treated over 12,000 patients.

They both viewed hypnosis as a function of normal behavior and developed

the concept of suggestion. Both considered symptom removal to be harmless
yet effective. Their views overturned those of Charcot, who maintained that
it was a dangerous from of hysteria.

Hypnosis further evolved as a science in 1886 when Bernheim published De

la Suggestion, in which he pointed out that suggestion was the basis of
hypnosis. It was his credibility that allowed hypnosis to gain in stature.

Around 1880 however, Dr.Breuer, a Viennese general practitioner, introduced

a most important innovation in hypnotic therapy that extended the
application of hypnosis far beyond the mere suggesting away of symptoms.
He accidentally discovered that when one of his patients was induced to
speak freely under hypnosis, she displayed a profound emotional reaction
followed by the disappearance of many of her symptoms. When Freuds
attention was drawn to this case, he joined Breuer in investigating it more

fully and succeeded in confirming his result. The importance of this discovery
lies in the subsequent change in emphasis in hypnotic therapy from the
direct removal of symptoms to the elimination of their apparent causes.

Later, Freud gave up on hypnosis and developed free-association and

psychoanalysis. This was primarily because he was not able to induce deep
trances in many of his patients. His own ego worked against the field of
hypnosis in that he disparaged the entire discipline of hypnotic suggestion.

The need for rapid treatment of war neuroses during World Wars One and
Two and the Korean conflict led to a tremendous interest in hypnotherapy.
The merger of hypnotic techniques with psychiatry was one of the important
advances to come out of these conflicts.

On September 13, 1958, the Council on Mental Health of the American

Medical Association formally accepted hypnosis and recommended its
inclusion in the curriculum of medical schools and post graduate residencies.
The British Medical Association had previously recognized hypnosis for
psychiatric and surgical use.

Today, thousands of dentists, physicians, psychologists, and other health

professionals receive training in hypnosis. There are even proprietary schools
that will train the lay public in the use of hypnosis. Hypnosis had emerged as
a valuable tool in medicine and psychotherapy. Despite the many obstacles it
has faced, it is fully recognized and utilized by many scientists.

The following is a list of some of the many benefits that can be attained
through hypnosis:

Increased relaxation and the elimination of tension

Increased and focused concentration
Improved memory (hypermnesia)

Improved reflexes
Increased self-confidence
Pain control
Improved sex life
Increased organization and efficiency
Increased motivation
Improved interpersonal relationships
Slowing down the aging process
Facilitating a better career path
Elimination of anxiety and depression A4
Overcoming bereavement
Elimination of headaches, including migraine headaches
Elimination of allergies and skin disorders
Strengthening ones immune system to resist any disease
Elimination of habits, phobias, and other negative tendencies (self-defeating

sequences)
Improving decisiveness
Improving the quality of people and circumstances in general, that you attract into

your life
Increasing your ability to earn and hold onto money
Overcoming obsessive-compulsive behavior
Eliminating insomnia
Improving the overall quality of your life
Improved psychic awareness
Establishing and maintaining harmony of body, mind and spirit

Hypnosis occurs spontaneously to everyone on daily basis

Hypnosis is a temporary condition of altered attention, which may
spontaneously appear (see below),or be deliberately induced by the person
himself or by someone else with the cooperation of the person being acted
upon.
Perhaps you were engrossed in a book or newspaper and didnt hear
someone talking to you. Or your children didnt hear a word you said. Have
you ever had the experience of driving and arriving at your destination not
really sure how you got there? You know you werent asleep. You were
operating on an automatic level while your mind was somewhere else. That
somewhere else was in hypnosis. It happens regularly to most of us probably

several times a day. Hypnosis is our automatic pilot functioning. It is also our
safety valve when we have had too much input.