...

Hypnotic or suggestive therapy is one of the oldest of all healing techniques. Its origin goes back many millennia, indeed many ancient cultures and civilisations knew of hypnosis and used it as a therapeutic device. Hypnosis has its roots in ancient history. Holy men have always attempted to heal through inducing a trance, often through ritual and substance taking. For example, the Greeks had "Shrines of Healing" where people were given healing suggestions while in a trance. Way back around 2600 BCE, writings in China mentioned chanting and hand gestures to induce trances. Later around 1500BCE the Hindu Vedas was written. This document included a description of methods for inducing trances in religious rituals. Documents from the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Indians, Chinese, Persians and Sumerians show extensive studies in hypnosis, altered states of consciousness and parapsychology. From the Sleep Temples of Egypt through the histories of ancient Greece and Rome some form of hypnosis has always been an intimate part of all cultures. The Druids in Ancient Britain and Gaul also used hypnosis in healing and spiritually uplifting rituals.  So hypnosis is at least 5,000 years old.  Some scholars claim that it could be as old as prehistory as certain cave paintings show priests apparently in state of trance as well as geometrical designs thought to depict visions seen in an altered level of consciousness.

Between the 9th and 14th centuries there was a great flowering of civilisation in the Mediterranean and Middle East, which laid the foundations of modern science, and medical and philosophical knowledge from Ancient Greece, Egypt and early Eastern civilisations was revitalised.  During that revival a deep understanding of human psychology was achieved and therapeutic processes such as analysis, altered states of consciousness and hypnosis were used to alleviate emotional distress and sufferings; thus preceding psychotherapy and hypnotherapy as we know them today by quite a few centuries.

The shamanic tradition is still alive and well in the modern world and by rhythmic drumming and monotonous chanting together with eye fixation, the Shamen of today can still produce catalepsy of the body just as shamen of old did.  This helps to give the shaman the appearance of having magical powers just as they have done for centuries. Much of what has been done in the past by the village witchdoctor, shaman, cunning man or wise woman, can be attributed to the fostering of a strong belief, conviction, expectation and imagination in the one being healed.  The chanting and singing often takes the form of what we would term as suggestion. After all, if the most powerful and magic person you know tells you that you will become well, you are very likely to do just that. Of course in many cases where such an individual administered to a sick person, they would have recovered eventually anyway, and this intervention just speeded up the healing process.  The same can be said for much of modern medicine. Trance like states occur in many shamanistic, druidic, voodoo, yogic and religious practices.

It has long been believed by many healers that thoughts and emotions can influence the body. Therefore it is possible to influence a physical sickness by working on and realising particular emotions and by changing thoughts and behavioural patterns.  The Romans said “mens sana in corpore sano” or "healthy mind in healthy body". This saying seems to confirm that for many centuries it has been believed that physical and emotional well-being have an effect on one another. To put this into perspective one only has to consider how our health declines after periods of stress or as a consequence of radical events.  The division between body and mind in medicine is something that only took place around 1750.  The holistic health movement aims to reverse this trend.

This is also the reason why non-Western kinds of medicine see the human being as a whole consisting of body, mind and soul.  Traumatic experiences are not only stored on an emotional level but also on the physical level. The emotional charge of the different traumas can influence our immune system and health conditions. Through processing old traumas and the emotional charges that are connected to a certain sickness it is possible to find resources inside of us that could help us start the healing process.  So lets look at all of this in more detail.

Prehistory

Because it all started so long ago, way back before people started to write things down, the very early origins of Hypnotic like behaviours are 'shrouded in mystery and magic'.  However much can be inferred. One of the best descriptions of the prehistory development of suggestion therapy is given by Brian Inglis in his book Natural Medicine, in which he deals with Shamanism, Witch Doctors, Suggestion, etc.

As people evolved they began to rely on memory, rather than instinct, to tell him which berries were safe to eat, and from which springs it was safe to drink.  But instant and intuition where sill important to them.   If consciousness could be suspended for a while, instinct or intuition might provide the answers to many questions.  It was probably easier for them to suspend consciousness than it is for us today, bombarded as we are with so much left brain 'head stuff'. An individual who could dissociate and enter into a state of trance, in order to consult instinct, was consequently regarded as of great value to the tribe.  He or she would be the obvious choice to be appointed as tribal doctor.  It would have been form these people that shamanism would evolve.

When explorers, missionaries, and traders began to describe what they had seen of tribal customs, their reports showed that tribes all over the world employed what they variously described as shamans, witch doctors or medicine men, chosen because of their ability.  Sometimes the tribal doctor would simply become abstracted, as if unaware of his surroundings.  On recovering consciousness, he would relate what he had seen, and learned, in his trance. More often (or perhaps it was more often reported because it was more striking to western observers) he had what looked like a fit, foaming at the mouth and going into convulsions, until a voice sounding unlike his own would speak through him, or sometimes to him.  Needless to say, most of these missionaries and explorers where bigoted and wrote highly biased accounts of what they had seen.

Ancient Egypt

According to John G. Howells in the book he edited World History of Psychiatry "One of the interesting psychotherapeutic methods used in ancient Egypt was the 'incubation', or 'temple sleep'. This method was associated with the name of Imhotep, the earliest known physician in history. Imhotep (he comes in peace) was the Physician Vizier to the Pharaoh Zoser (3rd dynasty)." 

The Temples of Imhotep were busy centres for incubation or sleep therapy and 'shrine sleep' is still encountered in some parts of Africa and the Middle East.  Under the influence of incantation, and through the performances of religious rituals, sick persons were psychologically prepared for such therapeutic procedures. Some ancient Egyptian paintings depict an apparently sleeping person with others who seem to be making hypnotic passes over them. Perhaps the best source of reference to hypnosis in early Egypt comes from the famous 3rd century C.E. Demotic Magical Papyrus which was discovered in the 19th century in Thebes. Column 16 of this papyrus gives instructions for preparation of a lamp which is to be used in a ritual: It states: “You take a boy and sit him upon another new brick, his face being turned to the lamp and you close his eyes and recite these things which are written above down into the boy's head, seven times. You make him open his eyes. You say to him: 'Do you see the light?' When he says to you, 'I see the light in the flame of the lamp', you cry at that moment, saying 'Heoue' nine times. You ask him concerning everything that you wish.”

The Ancient Hebrews

William Kroger and William Fezler in their book Hypnosis and Behaviour Modification, discuss the ancient Hebrew's use of magical rites and incantation.  The would use meditation with chanting, and breathing exercises and fixation on the letters of the Tetragrammaton (Hebrew name of god - י‎ (yodh) ה‎ (heh) ו‎ (vav) ה‎ (heh) or יהוה‎ (YHWH) - in Hebrew the vowels are not written.)  These ritualistic practices were rather similar to auto hypnosis and produced an ecstasy state called Kavanah. "In the Talmud, Kavanah implies relaxation, concentration, correct attention (motivation) and all enhanced the ritualistic procedures." (Kroger and Fezler).

Herbert Benson in his book The Relaxation Response cites other traditional religious practices capable of achieving altered states of consciousness and what he calls the 'relaxation response').

The Hellenistic Period

The Hellenistic period of Greek history was the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE and the annexation of the Greek peninsula and islands by Rome in 146 BCE.  During this period (and later) there were numerous Aesculapian Sleep Temples.  The name derives from Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine, and his Sleep Temples were much in use, especially forthe mentally ill. A room was set aside for those who would sleep in the Temple, having been prepared by the priests; and whose dreams were interpreted by the priests so as to cast out 'bad spirits' and bring balance and healing. The method was partly suggestion; the awe produced by the priest, the solemn procedure and the powerful effect of atmosphere within the Temple, all heightening the effect of suggestion.  The other part of the cure was of course the dreem interpretation which was a way to access the patient's intuition regarding what ailed them and what would cure them. 

Dr. Mac Hovec in his book Hypnosis Before Mesmer reports that the Aesculapian priests sometimes used a brush to symbolically remove any unhealthy symptoms and thus promote the suggestion of healing. Sometimes they would use a cloth, or touch with the hand for the same purpose. Some cultures might call this type of suggestion "sympathetic magic".  Whatever you call it, it is of course the same thing. This, of course, is very similar to Mesmer's passes with or without contact.

The Druids

The Golden Age of the Celts started when the Romans withdrew and ended with the invasion of the Saxons. Although little detail is recorded (the Celts had a taboo against writing down sacred things) their Druids are believed to have acted in a similar way to the Aesculapian priests, possibly in wooden dream towers, possibly in woodland glades under the stars, to promote healing through suggestion and gain intuitive insights from dreams.  It is certain that trancework, whether induced by hypnoses, substances, dancing, hopping, chanting or a combination of these, was extremely important in the work of the Druids, their spirituality and their healing.

Karakhanid Empire - Central Asia

A book written in Turkish called Kutadgu Bilig (1069), or Qutadğu Bilig, is a Karakhanid work written for the prince of Kashgar. Translated, the title means something like "The Wisdom which brings Happiness" or "The Wisdom that Conduces to Royal Glory or Fortune" (Dankoff, 1), but is often translated more concisely as "(The) Wisdom of Royal Glory." The text reflects the author's and his society's beliefs, feelings, and practices with regard to quite a few topics, and depicts interesting facets of various aspects of life in the Karakhanid Empire.  The book tells about the Efsuncus. These were a kind of medical auxiliary, who used suggestion to ward off jinns (or demons, negative influences). They enjoyed a status rather less than that of physicians.

Pietro D'Abano (1246 or 1250?‑1316)

Pietro d'Abano, also known as Petrus de Apono or Aponensis, was an Italian physician, philosopher, and astrologer. He was born in 1250 (or according to others 1246), in the Italian town from which he takes his name, now Abano Terme.  He believed that that suggestion (pracentatio) when practiced by a kind and, at the same time authoritative personality, had definite effects on mentally disturbed people well disposed toward this method of treatment' .  Pietro D'Abano could well have been described as a Suggestionist but this was 400 years before Mesmer. There was no need for magnets, but D'Abano might well have considered that Mesmer's 'trappings', however erroneously conceived, may well have heightened the effect of suggestion.

Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815)

Franz Anton Mesmer was born on the 23rd of May 1734, on the German-Swiss border, at a place called Bodensee (Lake Constance).  Although he is often called the “Father of Hypnosis” it is probably for correct to call him “Father of Modern Hypnosis”.  We should not forget that he was building on a tradition going back to the birth of humankind.  He was raised in a Swiss-German family, in the village of Iznang, and was the third of a family of nine children to be born to Anton Mesmer Senior and his wife. Unfortunately there is not a great deal known about the parents of Mesmer, except that his father was a gamekeeper and a forest warden for the Bishop of Constance.

Both parents were very strong Christians (Catholics), and tried encouraging the young Mesmer into the priesthood, but he was having none of it. He grew up in a world turning more and more towards science. Mesmer obtained a scholarship to enter the University of Dillingen in Bavaria, at the age of 16, and he spent four years there studying logic, metaphysics and theology. He also studied at the University of Ingoldstadt, in Bavaria. After two years at the University of Vienna, reading law, Anton Mesmer decided to apply to the medical schools, where he took his degree after six years. Despite the claims made against Mesmer, it would appear to be indisputable that his academic knowledge was well founded.  He spent sixteen years at Universities and was awarded two doctorates in medicine and philosophy. 

Mesmer's great interest in astronomy was evident in the thesis he wrote for his final doctorate. This was entitled: "The Influence of the Planets on the Human Body". Some of Mesmer's many detractors mistakenly believed him to be involved in astrology, when in fact he was concerned with physical forces that operate within the solar system. Mesmer himself cites Newton's hypothesis of 'a certain subtle spirit' pervading all material bodies by the force of which they attract one another. Newton also writes of 'electric and elastic spirit'.

In his thesis, Mesmer termed 'animal gravitation' what, in his later writings, became 'animal magnetism'. The magnetic properties of pieces of lodestone and later, magnetic iron ore, have interested and puzzled countless enquiring minds. At the time of Mesmer, in eighteenth century Europe, magnets were sometimes used in the treatment of nervous illnesses, and there were reports of cures of stomach troubles and toothache.  He believed that when the ebb and flow of the fluids within a human organism was disturbed through being out of harmony with the universal rhythm, mental or nervous illness could result.  Anton Mesmer, using a mixture of conventional methods and the application of magnets, quickly drew attention to himself in Vienna, and some of it was hostile. He obtained a number of remarkable cures for apoplectic lameness, epilepsy, hysteria, melancholia and fitful fever. His method with horse shoe magnets was to apply them to the patient's body, at the soles of the feet and upon the chest.  To his credit, Mesmer emphasised that the magnets were not crucial. He had demonstrated that almost anything would do in place of magnets e.g. metals, wood, silk, paper, stone, glass and water.

After qualifying Mesmer met a well-off aristocratic widow, who was ten years his senior, and soon after made her his wife. It was Frau Mesmer’s connections that helped to build a prosperous practice for the recently qualified Mesmer.   In 1773 a young female relative of Frau Mesmer called Franziska Oesterlin, who suffered with a nervous disorder, became one of Mesmer’s first clients.  In treating her, Mesmer formed his profound belief that there was a “Quasi Magnetic Fluid” or “Cosmic Fluid” that was in the very air we inhale. Somehow after being inhaled this fluid absorbs itself into and through the nervous system and travels around the body via the blood. He believed that blockages of “Quasi Magnetic Fluid” in the nervous system could cause disease, illness and psychological problems.  He thought that this was the case with Frau Oesterlin, so he came up with a solution for apparently clearing these blockages and correcting the flow of “Quasi Magnetic Fluids” around the nervous system, and thus curing the disease. He had some strong magnets made for him by Maximilien Hell, who was a professor of astronomy and a Jesuit priest. He would pass these magnets over the blockages, thus correcting the ebb and flow of these “Cosmic Fluids”. Mesmer and Hell soon got into a quarrel over who discovered the magnets and their phenomenon.  Hell published a report of twenty successes in a Viennese news sheet.  After reading Father Hell's report, Mesmer published a letter to the public, in which he asserted that the magnet merely acted as a conductor of the force or fluid that influenced the patient. This was dated January l9th, 1775.

In 1775 Mesmer achieved hypnosis by waving his arms across a person, possibly for hours. This technique became known as the the Mesmeric Pass.  Although he often achieved a trance-like state in this patients, it is said that this may have been connected to boredom rather than actual hypnosis. Mesmer enjoyed publicly performing such acts, and was very much a artist in his work. However, through this type of performance he managed only to alienate those interested in science at the time, and led to humiliation rather than fame.

Mesmer found he could cure people of different diseases without medicine or surgery, and he believed he had a magnetic force which could regulate the flow of magnetic fluids in people to produce cure. In many cases his cures were successful and this method of healing came to be known as Mesmerism. Mesmer treated both very rich and very poor people. For the less well-off he ‘magnetised’ a tree from which hung ribbons or cords for his followers to hold and receive his magnetic therapy. Another method he used was to fill a large tub with water, containing bottles of iron filings. Protruding out of the tub were iron rods which the common-folk held onto. Many of the patients had violent seizures or fell into deep sleeps which could cure many different kinds of ailments.  He published his first book on the subject in 1775, called Schreiben Uber die Magnetiker (Memoirs about the Magnet).

It is not entirely clear why Mesmer decided to leave Vienna, but what is certain is that the faculty were unhappy about his use of 'animal magnetism' and Mesmer himself was weary and disheartened because of the criticism, and his being involved in a protracted disagreement, and unpleasant scenes, with the family of a blind girl who disputed his claimed cure. In February 1778 he moved with his wife to Paris, and founded a clinic with his friend,  Dr. Charles D'Eslon, on the Place Vendome.

Mesmer became very famous in Paris and the French government, at the suggestion of Marie Antoinette, offered him a life pension and enough money to set up a clinic. When Mesmer first set up his clinic there was no lack of interest. His reputation had preceded him, and there were many wealthy patients to be seen at high fees, as well as those who would pay less. After several months, he moved to a house in the village of Ceteil, just a few miles from Paris, and it was here that the famous baquet made its first appearance.  This was a large round oak barrel about the height of a low table.  People would sit around it to be near to the movable iron rods that pierced its cover. The lower ends of the rods located into the vessels of magnetised water, and each vessel itself was immersed in water containing iron filings, glass filaments and some other material. Variations included cords to replace the rods, and sand to replace the water.

This contraption made it possible for Mesmer and his assistants to treat a number of patients together in a form of group therapy. Patients sat around the baquet, holding hands to assist the circulation of the 'magnetic fluid', and bringing the affected parts into contact with the rods or cords. Anton Mesmer would move among them, resplendent in his lilac silk robe, sometimes talking quietly and from time to time making passes with his iron wand or hands. He would also 'fix the patient with his penetrating eyes'. There would usually be some appropriate piano music and, just occasionally, Mesmer himself would play his glass harmonica.

Mesmer and D'Eslon shortly moved back into Paris and converted the building known as the Hotel Bullion, in the Rue Coq Heron. They were so successful that often would-be patients had to leave without treatment, bitterly disappointed. Mesmer realised that he did not need the baquet, so he used a large tree, as he had done before in Vienna, and often a hundred people were said to be sitting around the tree in the Paris suburbs and holding cords that were attached to the branches of the tree. Many of these subsequently reported that they were cured or felt better. It is not difficult to see why Mesmer was attacked by orthodox medical practitioners.

In 1779 Mesmer published another book, Memoire Sur La Decouverte Du Magnetisme Animal (Memoirs about the Discovery of Animal Magnetism), which contained his ideas.

In 1782, Mesmer and his associates founded the Society of Harmony. One hundred subscribers would each pay 100 Louis D'or (over £500 at present values) and receive, in return, full instruction in Mesmer's methods and a franchise to practice in specified towns.

These unorthodox beliefs and methods of treating illness and disease used by Mesmer were frowned upon by most of his contemporaries, and within medical circles Mesmer was treated as an eccentric outsider, receiving a lot of flak for his beliefs. Nevertheless, clients and patients would still come from far and wide to see this wonderfully flamboyant individual, to experience this phenomenon, and to get treatment or a cure for their ailments.

Because Mesmer refused to allow the government representatives to supervise the clinic a huge controversy raged and in 1784 the King of France appointed a Commission to investigate mesmerism. The report concluded that animal magnetism and the magnetic field were figments of the imagination and Mesmer’s practices and theories were regarded as worthless. The fact that many people had been cured of their ailments seemed of no consequence.

On 15th March 1815, at the age of 81 years, Franz Anton Mesmer died in Switzerland. Mesmer had apparently been told by a gypsy in Paris years earlier that this was the age at which he was going to die, and it has been said that he believed her and was prepared for the end to come.  A self-fulfilling prophesy perhaps?  Further evidence for the power of suggestion?

Professor Jean Deleuze

During Anton Mesmer's declining years and after his death, Mesmer's pupil and friend, the Marquis de Puysegur, continued to practice and teach animal magnetism. Later, de Puysegur's student and friend, Professor Jean Deleuze, demonstrated post-hypnotic suggestion..  This could possibly be the first time that post-hypnotic suggestions was demonstrated by anyone other than a shaman.

Marquis de Puysegur (1751-1825)

After Mesmers' death one of his disciples, Armand de Puysegur, carried on his work and took it one step further. He discovered that the spoken word and direct commands induced trance easily and noticeably faster than "Mesmeric Passes" and that a person could be operated upon without pain and anaesthesia when in trance. In 1784, at the age of 33 years, the Marquis de Puysegur discovered how to lead a client in to a deep trance state called “somnambulism”, using relaxation and calming techniques. The term “somnambulism” is still widely used among hypnotherapists today in reference to a deep hypnotic trance state and sleep-walking.  This technique was used for many following decades by surgeons in France including Dr. Recamier who performed the first recorded operation without anaesthesia in 1821 and Dr. Cloquet.

The Marquis de Puysegur described three cardinal features of this deep trance state or somnambulism.  These were: Concentration of the senses on the operator, Acceptance of suggestion from the therapist, Amnesia for events in a trance.  Over two hundred years later these three theories of Puysegur still stand.

John Elliotson (1791 - 1868)

John Elliotson was undoubtedly a leading physician of his day. He introduced the use of the stethoscope into England and was noted for other medical advances. Elliotson was appointed Professor of the Practice of Medicine, in 1831, to University College, and was mainly instrumental in founding University College Hospital.  John Elliotson had seen the demonstrations of Chenevix in 1829, but it was the lectures of Dupotet, in 1837, that sparked off his own researches into animal magnetism. But he ran into considerable opposition to this work and, in 1838, the Council of University College ordered Elliotson to cease the practice of mesmerism. He was so incensed that he resigned his appointments at both College and Hospital.  In 1843, Elliotson and his followers started the publication of a quarterly journal called the Zoist, to which Elliotson contributed numerous medical articles, including reports on painless mesmeric operations of thigh, leg, arms, breast, etc. According to Milne Bramwell, the influence of the Zoist, which ran from April 1843 until December 1855, resulted in mesmeric institutions being formed in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and elsewhere.  While the Zoist contained much that would be acceptable to the scientific community, it also devoted a good deal of space to subjects like clairvoyance, phrenology and odylic force, which were ridiculed by Elliotson's prejudiced detractors.

James Esdaile (1808 - 1859)

One of the regular contributors to the Zoist was James Esdaile, a Scottish surgeon, who made his first Mesmeric experiments in 1845, when in charge of the Native Hospital at Hooghly, in India. He subsequently used Mesmeric analgesia successfully in numerous operations though he was not the first. (The first recorded operation using mesmerism to produce analgesia was carried out by Dr. Topham and Dr. Squire Ward, in amputation of a leg).  The client would be placed into a trance state in which he remained throughout the procedure. Esdaile assisted in 300 major operations and over a thousand minor ones. Esdaile’s mortality rate was 5 percent. This was good at the time in India, as most other physicians had over a 50 percent death rate while completing similar operations.

In 1846, Esdaile was given command of a small hospital in Calcutta. Despite a petition attesting to its success, this Mesmeric hospital was closed down. A second hospital making full use of mesmerism was established in 1848, entirely supported by voluntary contributions, the greater bulk of which came from the native population.

By the time Esdaile was ready to leave India, he had carried out thousands of painless operations, and no less than three hundred of them were major operations. These included nineteen amputations and the removal of scrotal tumours. Despite Esdaile's vigorous defence of mesmerism for painless surgery the introduction of ether (and later chloroform) signalled the virtual end of that application of mesmerism. One year after leaving India, in 1852, James Esdaile published his pamphlet entitled "The Introduction of Mesmerism as an Anaesthetic and Curative Agent into the Hospitals of India".  Hypnosis is still widely preferred as an alternative to conventional anaesthetics, especially in the dental profession.

James Braid (1775 - 1860)

James Braid was born Fifeshire, Scotland.  He was to become a eye doctor and pioneer in hypnosis.  He developed his interest in mesmerism quite by chance.  James Braid was to give the phenomena usually associated with mesmerism a "respectable" scientific rationale, and it was he who coined the word "hypnotism" (from the Greek Hypnos, to sleep). Following his discovery that it was not necessary to go through all the palaver of Mesmeric passes, Braid published a book in which he proposed that the phenomenon now be called hypnotism.  This was, at least in part,  an attempt to set what he was doing, apart from the work of Mesmer, which he considered to be unscientific.

One day, when he was late for an appointment, he found his patient in the waiting room staring into an old lamp, his eyes glazed. Fascinated, Braid gave the patient some commands, telling him to close his eyes and go to sleep. The patient complied and Braid's interest grew. He discovered that getting a patient to fixate upon something was one of the most important components of putting them into a trance. The swinging watch, which many people associate with hypnosis, was popular at the time as an object of fixation.

Braid first witnessed mesmerism in 1841 when it was demonstrated by Lafontaine. He was not impressed by this, believing mesmeric effects to be due to trickery.  But Braid was present at a second session when Lafontaine's presentation of a somnambulism was greeted with accusations of trickery, and several members of the audience, including Braid, went up onto the rostrum to investigate the 'mesmerised' girl. Braid tested her by forcing a pin beneath a finger nail and was very impressed that she showed no signs of discomfort. Thereafter, Braid carried out numerous experiments and became a true convert. 

James Braid's classic 'Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep', appeared in 1843, and sold eight hundred copies.  Braid's scientific approach to hypnotism, and his new terminology, made it easier for many influential people to embrace the subject who would not otherwise have done so. But even more important was Braid's assertion that hypnotic effects were a subjective phenomenon, and not produced directly by the hypnotist.  While it is true that the Abbe Faria, in 1814, had anticipated Braid's important findings, Braid's total contribution was on a considerable scale. 

During his research into hypnosis he formed the following ideas, most of which still stand today:

1) That in skilled hands there is no great danger associated with hypnotic treatment and neither is there pain or discomfort.

2) That a good deal more study and research would be necessary to thoroughly understand a number of theoretical concepts regarding hypnosis.

3) That hypnosis is a powerful tool which should be limited entirely to trained professionals.

4) That although hypnotism was capable of curing many diseases for which there had formally been no remedy, it nevertheless was no panacea and was only a medical tool which should be used in combination with other medical information, drugs, remedies, etc., in order to properly treat the patient. James

Braid died suddenly of a heart attack on March 25th 1860, at the age of 85 years. He maintained an interest in hypnotism throughout his life and made major contributions to the therapy that we use today.

The Nancy School

Auguste Ambrose Liebeault (1823 - 1904), and Hippolyte Bernheim (1840 - l919) founded the so called Nancy School, which was to prove to be of very great significance in the establishment of a hypnotherapy acceptable in many quarters.  Liebeault is often described as a 'simple country doctor', but by offering to treat the peasants of Nancy without charge, he was able to amass a considerable experience and expertise with hypnosis. His first study of hypnosis began in 1860. In 1882 he obtained a cure for sciatica in a patient long treated without success by others.

Bernheim was a fashionable doctor in Paris. As a consequence of this, he began making regular visits to Nancy, and the two men became good friends and colleagues. Bernheim published the first part of his book, De la Suggestion, in 1884. The second part, La Therapeutic Suggestive, followed in 1886.  These books by Bernheim established his friend, and Liebeault's own book, which had been published twenty years before and sold only one copy, were now quickly bought up.

Liebeault confined himself to working for the poor, refusing to accept any fees. From 1882 onwards, Bernheim made a practice of hypnotising all hospital patients who came into his care. After four years his five thousand hypnotic inductions yielded a seventy five per cent success rate. Several years later, the number of inductions had risen to ten thousand and the success rate was eighty five per cent.

Jean-Martin Charcot (1835 - 1893)

In 1882 (the same year that Bernhein had discovered Liebeault), Jean-Martin Charcot presented his findings on hypnotism to the French Academy of Sciences. Charcot believed that hypnosis was essentially hysteria and, being an neurologist of his day, he was listened to with great respect. In fact, Charcot had obtained much of his knowledge of hypnotism from his work with twelve hysterics at the Saltpetriere, and most of his conclusions on the subject were based on that tiny sample.  The Nancy school opposed Charcot's conclusion of hysteria, and won acceptance of hypnosis as an essentially normal consequence of suggestion.

Pierre Janet (1859 - 1947)

Pierre Marie Félix Janet followed on from Charcot. He studied under Jean-Martin Charcot at the Psychological Laboratory in Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, in Paris. In several ways, he preceded Sigmund Freud. Many consider Janet, rather than Freud, the true founder of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. He first published the results of his research in his philosophy thesis in 1889 and in his medical thesis, L'état mental des hystériques, in 1892.  He was one of the first persons to draw a connection between earlier events in the subject's life and their present day trauma, and coined the words ‘dissociation’ and ‘subconscious’. It was he who was largely responsible for the 'dissociation' theory of hypnosis. This French neurologist and psychologist initially opposed to the use of hypnosis until he discovered its relaxing effects and promotion of healing.  

In 1898 Janet was appointed lecturer in psychology at the Sorbonne, and in 1902 he attained the chair of experimental and comparative psychology at the Collège de France, a position he held until 1936. He was a member of the Institut de France from 1913. In 1923 he wrote a definitive text, La médecine psychologique, on suggestion and in 1928-32, he published several definitive papers on memory. Whilst he did not publish much in English, his Harvard University lectures in 1908 were published as The Major Symptoms of Hysteria and he received an honorary doctorate from Harvard in 1936.

Josef Breuer (1842 – 1925)

Josef Breuer (1842 – 1925) was an Austrian physician, born in Vienna whose works lay the foundation of psychoanalysis. He graduated from the Akademisches Gymnasium of Vienna in 1858 and then studied at the university for one year, before enrolling in the medical school of the University of Vienna. He passed his medical exams in 1867 and went to work as assistant to the internist Johann Oppolzer at the university. Josef Breuer discovered that, while hypnotised, some people could recall past events which seemed to help cure ailments they may have. He called this a "talking cure". This was put to use by the German army in the First World War who treated shell shock through hypnosis.

Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)

Sigmund Freud, born in Freiberg, Moravia, got involved in hypnosis between 1883-1887 and practised for some time.  In 1885 Sigmund Freud spent some time with Charcot, and was very impressed. He was also to translate into German Bernheim's De la Suggestion. In Vienna, Freud and his friend Joseph Breuer used hypnosis successfully in psychotherapy and, in 1895, they produced their classic Studies in Hysteria.

Freud had visited Nancy in 1889, and this visit had convinced him of the 'powerful mental processes which nevertheless remain hidden from the consciousness of men'. He discovered the 'positive transference' when a female patient he had awakened from hypnosis threw her arms around his neck. On this Freud wrote 'I was modest enough not to attribute the event to my own irresistible personal attraction, and I felt that I had now grasped the nature of the mysterious element that was at work behind hypnotism'. Later however, he was to abandon hypnosis saying that it was ineffective, and concentrated on developing psychoanalysis..  He had struggled with the technique and soon become bored.

He subsequently developed free association and psychoanalysis where he believed he had better control over the transference phenomena.  Freud died on the 23rd September 1939 of cancer, from which he had been suffering since 1923, after making a big impact on the world of psychology.

Émile Coué (1857 - 1926)

Another precursor of modern hypnosis and self development was Dr. Emile Coue who, at the end of the 19th century, was a believer in auto-suggestion and in the role of the hypnotist as a facilitator of change and healing by involving the total participation of the client in the hypnosis process.  By 1887 Coué was developing the theory of auto-suggestion, which is perhaps the first time ego-strengthening (a mainstay of traditional occult and shamanistic practices since the beginning of time) was used by the modern scientific community. He believed in the importance of the imagination in directing the will of the person, and performed experiments to study how making suggestions to people changed their actions.  His well known self-help statement: "Day by day in every way I am getting better and better", is still used in most self-improvement therapies.

Emile Coue formulated the Laws of Suggestion. He is also known for encouraging his patients to say to themselves 20-30 times a night before going to sleep; "Everyday in every way, I am getting better and better." He also discovered that delivering positive suggestions when prescribing medication proved to be a more effective cure than prescribing medications alone.

Coue's Laws of Suggestion:

1) The Law of Concentrated Attention - "Whenever attention is concentrated on an idea over and over again, it spontaneously tends to realise itself"

2) The Law of Reverse Action - "The harder one tries to do something, the less chance one has of success"

3) The Law of Dominant Effect - "A stronger emotion tends to replace a weaker one"

A man of enormous compassion, Coue believed that he did not heal people himself but merely facilitated their own self-healing. He understood the importance of the subject's participation in hypnosis, and was a forerunner of those modern practitioners who claim, 'There is no such thing as hypnosis, only self-hypnosis.' Perhaps his most famous idea was that the imagination is always more powerful than the will. For example, if you ask someone to walk along a plank of wood on the floor, they can usually do it without wobbling. However, if you tell them to close their eyes and imagine the plank is suspended between two buildings hundreds of feet above the ground, they will always start to sway.

In a sense Coue also anticipated the placebo effect (treatment of no intrinsic value the power of which lies in suggestion: patients are told that they are being given a drug that will cure them). Recent research into placebos is quite startling. In some cases statistics indicate that placebos can work better than many of modern medicine's most popular drugs. It seems that while drugs are not always necessary for recovery from illness, belief in recovery is.

Oskar Vogt and Johannes Schultz

Dr. Oskar Vogt developed the induction method of fractionation, and one of his students, Johannes Schultz, was later to introduce Autogenic Training considered by many to be a form of auto-hypnosis.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849 - 1936)

The illustrious Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov, is best known for his discovery of the conditioned reflex, in spite of the fact he was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1904 for his work on digestion! After World War 1, hypnosis and its therapeutic uses experienced a revival when psychiatrists realised that soldiers suffering traumas (paralysis and amnesia) of a psychological rather than physical origin, were responding well to hypnosis and were rapidly cured. Despite this renewed interest, European scientists who had previously been to the forefront of the hypnosis saga for centuries devoted much less time and energy to the subject. Possibly by becoming more accepted and less controversial hypnosis was attracting less passion.

Milton Erickson (1932-1974)

Milton Erickson was a psychologist and psychiatrist pioneered the art of indirect suggestion in hypnosis. He is considered my many to be the father of modern hypnosis. His methods bypassed the conscious mind through the use of both verbal and nonverbal pacing techniques including metaphor, confusion, and many others. Erickson used hypnosis throughout his career to aid his clients’ progression and recovery.   He was a great and fast observer of people and could rapidly build rapport with his clients. His hypnotic methods, nowadays called Ericksonian Hypnosis, have, without a doubt, added another dimension to modern hypnotherapy. He was a colourful character and has immensely influenced the practice of contemporary hypnotherapy. His work, combined with the work of Satir and Perls, was the basis for Bandler and Grinder's Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

Albert Mason

In 1952 Albert Mason was a young anaesthetist based at a hospital in East Grinstead, Sussex, England, which had, after World War II become a specialist hospital for plastic surgery. One day the surgeon he was working with, a Mr. Moore, had been upset when the skin graft that he had carried out on a teenage boy hadn't worked, and indeed had made matters worse.  The boy was suffering with an extremely bad case of ichthyosis.  This is usually a hereditary condition in which the patient has fewer sweat and sebaceous glands than usual, which causes the skin to become dry and scaly.  The boy's body was almost covered in a thick, smelly, black layer of hard, dried skin which often oozed with a bloody serum.  The youth, nicknamed "the boy with elephant skin" had suffered from this condition since birth and conventional medicine had failed to help him. This was the second time he had been given a skin graft operation but each time the new skin flared up like the rest of his body.

Possibly unaware of the medic thinking of the time, that hypnosis was not intended to be used to heal congenital diseases, Dr. Mason offered to help the boy. In front of a dozen sceptical doctors, he hypnotized the boy and gave him suggestions that his left arm would become clear.  Five days later the blackened skin became crumbly and fell off to reveal underneath, reddened but otherwise normal skin. Ten days later the boy's arm was clear. Dr. Mason proceeded to use hypnosis on the other parts of the boy's body, achieving remarkable results and the case was reported in the British Medical Journal for 1952. Three years later Dr. Mason wrote a follow up article reporting that the results appeared to be permanent.

Albert was besieged with people suffering from Ichthyosis, they came from miles around, but he was never able to reproduce the success he had had with the boy. Albert's reasoning for this was that by then he 'knew' that Ichthyosis could not be treated with hypnotism and this was either being communicated to the patient somehow, or the belief was inhibiting his success.  The power of suggestion again?

The Hypnotism Act of 1952

In 1952, the British Parliament passed the The Hypnotism Act.  It was intended to protect the public against potentially dangerous practices in stage hypnotism.  Hypnotism is a powerful tool in the hands of properly trained doctors and therapists by many believe it is far too potent to mess around with for entertainment.  Throughout history there have been public demonstrations of hypnosis, with the presenters often following their shows with private consultations. However, the reputation of hypnotism was eventually compromised by numerous fakes employing crude routines and paid stooges.

Early in the 20th century interest was revived with the success of an American stage hypnotist, Ormond McGill. As well as pioneering hypnosis as TV entertainment, McGill wrote what is now known as the bible of stage hypnosis, his books The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism and Professional Stage Hypnotism.  In the UK, the revival of stage hypnotism was accompanied by a heightened concern about the possible dangers of stage hypnosis, and the 1952 Hypnotism Act was brought in.

In 1994 a panel of experts was set up by the Home Office to examine any evidence of possible harm to people taking part in public entertainments involving hypnotism, and to review the effectiveness of the law governing hypnotism for entertainment. Publication of the expert panel's report was announced in parliament in 1995, which concluded that "there was no evidence of serious risk to participants in stage hypnosis, and that any risk which does exist is much less significant than that involved in many other activities." Nowadays the hypnosis stage show remains popular as both public and corporate entertainment. There are courses available on hypnotic stage techniques for those who wish to learn stage hypnosis online or on a professionally taught course.

British Medical Association Approval (1955)

Hypnosis was officially approved as a tool in medicine by the British Medical Association (BMA) in 1955

American Medical Association Approval (1958)

Dave Elman brought some measure of acceptance to hypnosis from the medical profession in the USA when the Council on Medical health of the American Medical Association accepted the use of hypnotherapy in 1958.

Dr. William J. Bryan Jr. (1924 - 1977)

William J. Bryan Jr. was a medical doctor, a minister of religion, and an attorney. He founded the American Institute of Hypnosis and became its first president, on May 4, 1955. It was founded to be an educational body devoted to promoting all the phases of hypnosis in field of medicine and dentistry. In so doing, the Institute was founded to fill a gap that existed in that area. The Institute had members from the field of medicine, dentistry, psychology, psychiatry, theology and other professional people. Its growth was rapid and become the world's most respected educational institution devoted solely to teaching hypnosis in medicine and dentistry to physicians and dentists all over the world.

His writings reveal his grand vision of life's interconnectedness. Religion, science, law; all these were related aspects of the magnificent gift of life. Part of Bryan's genius was his appreciation for "Mind-Body" unity. His articulation of the "wholistic" approach to therapy anticipated the psycho-biologists and their understandings of the "transduction" of mental-physical energies. Hypnosis, in his thinking, permitted the empirical and the mystic or spiritual to coexist. One could be a rigorous scientist and still have a heartfelt faith.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

In the 1970's a discovery was made in the field of self improvement and the harnessing of inner resources. Although it is not directly related to hypnosis, many of its techniques can be used with hypnosis or as an aid to hypnotic therapy.  It is a simple but brilliant technique created by Richard Brandler, an information scientist, and John Grindler, a linguistic professor.  They named it Neuro-Linguistic Programming.  It came about, in large part, by its two founders studying, understanding and developing the methods used by Milton H. Erickson in psychotherapy. NLP is a tool for improvement, using our neurology and thinking patterns (neuro), our way of expressing our thoughts and their influence on us (linguistic) and our patterns of behaviour and goals setting (programming).  It has been described as the ultimate software for the brain.

Hypnosis Today

And so we arrive at the current day in the history of hypnosis. There are many leading figures and pioneers in the world of contemporary hypnotism. There are new and exciting discoveries being made all the time and also “add-on” therapies that complement hypnotherapy, many of which have their roots in hypnosis. These are continually being developed.  The list of the psychological problems, phobias and fears that can be put in their place by these well-founded therapies is endless.  Some examples include stopping smoking, weight loss, improving low self-esteem and motivation, dealing with anxiety and panic, increasing athletic performance, curing procrastination, and curing phobias such as fear of heights, fear of spiders, snakes and other animals, fear of public speaking and fear of enclosed spaces. As I said before, the list is endless, but this is enough to give you an idea of the vast possibilities of the therapeutic uses of hypnosis today.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the story of hypnosis starts way back before history was recorded. Down the line it has received contributions from many colourful characters and cultures, but the true fact is that hypnosis is really a fully natural phenomenon. It occurs to people all the time in everyday life and it has been harnessed in many ways over the years, by many individuals who wish to progress the phenomenon and bring it up to date in their time. Modern hypnotherapy has survived controversies, mistrust and open hostility to reach its present position among the healing arts.

In the last three or four decades of the 20th century we witnessed an abundance of self-help and positive thinking therapies and methods, some of them openly using hypnosis, others more covertly.  Technological advancements, such as television, cassette recorders and tapes, video tapes and the globalisation of information through the Internet, have made the various uses of hypnosis better known, more accessible and popular.  The benefits of hypnotherapy are more and more recognised and for those who search for betterment of themselves and of their lives, hypnotherapy is available and very effective.

Whatever the particular controversy that happens to rage, perhaps most fair minded observers would agree that hypnotherapy has survived because enough determined individuals have fought on, and because enough people have benefited from it.

Bibliography

The Evolution of Hypnotism by Derek Forrest

Natural Medicine by Brian Inglis

Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis by Robin Waterfield

The New Encyclopaedia of Stage Hypnotism  by Ormond McGill

Hypnotherapy for Dummies by Mike Bryant & Peter Mabbutt

A Compulsion for Antiquity: Freud and the Ancient World by Richard H. Armstrong

World History of Psychiatry by Richard H. Armstrong

Safety of Stage Hypnosis - On the question of 'Is Stage Hypnosis Safe' the BBC reports on a landmark legal case in which a famous stage hypnotist was acquitted of causing mental illness in a participant in a TV show. -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/150850.stm