HISTORY OF HYPNOSIS

A Brief History

The practice of hypnosis is most often traced back to an Austrian physician named Franz Mesmer (1734-1815). From him comes the term "mesmerism". Mesmer discovered that individuals could be "cured" from many diseases by having them hold onto "magnetized" rods and suggesting to them they would be healed. This worked well until around 1782 when an entourage, which included Benjamin Franklin, was sent to investigate this miracle worker and determined that if the people get better it is by their own imagination. So mesmerism lost its great following until it reappeared in a revised form with a new term, hypnosis, derived from Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep by a man named Dr. James Braid in 1841. Dr. Braid used a "fixed gaze" to produce a "sleeplike" state.

From that time we find such names as Professor Jean Charcot, who in 1878 began experiments and revitalized hypnotism. This was done at the School of the Salpetriere in Paris. The School of Nancy in French Lorraine also emerged with Dr. Liebeault as its chief investigator. Hypnotism also had its early advocates in surgery. In 1846 Dr. James Esdaile was one of many who performed many operations using hypnosis alone.

PSYCHOLOGICAL
Perhaps the most famous of these early "mind explorers" was Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), who learned hypnosis from Charcot and others. He then studied with a man named Josef Breuer who co-authored a paper called Studies in Hysteria in which the famous Anna O. case was presented. Together they showed how hysterical symptoms were actually repressed memories and could be unlocked with hypnosis. Eventually Freud developed free association because he was uncomfortable with the intimate nature of hypnotism.

RELIGION
Not to leave religion out in the cold, a man name Phineas Quimby, an early follower of magnetism was sought out by a woman named Mary Baker who found relief from Quimbys techniques. They worked together after that until disagreements led her to begin the Church of Christ with revised magnetic and hypnotic techniques learned from Quimby. The history of many modern day American churches can be traced back to the founders dabbling with hypnotic techniques. Go figure. But such has been the case of hypnotism from the beginning!

MEDICAL
Around 1945 a man by the name of Milton Erickson began to incorporate hypnosis into his MD Psychiatric practice and hypnotherapy began to gain a reputation as a viable form of treatment. From studies of Erickson come Ericksonian hypnosis and the foundation of study and practice called Neuro Linguistic Programming.

In 1958 hypnosis was finally accepted by the American Medical Association.

Hypnotism Today

This brings us to the creative use of hypnotism by today's practitioners. Every major city in America and most countries will have their share of hypnotherapists. One look in the phone book and you will find a variety of uses for hypnosis: smoking cessation, weight loss, stress control, elimination of fears and phobias, sports motivation, confidence building, regression therapy, test anxiety, better concentration, sleep disorders, pain control, inner child healing and almost any area you can imagine. I've had clients who have come to me to relearn a foreign language they haven't used in 20 years and walk out of my office speaking their second language fluently! The use of hypnotism in entertainment is gaining wide appeal. As a stage hypnotist also, I perform around the country and travel the world amazing audiences with the spellbinding effects of hypnotism! The uses of hypnotism are limited only by ones imagination.

Today there are dozens of professional hypnosis organizations which are dedicated to the study and understanding of hypnotism. On one hand we have the professional community of psychologists, doctors and so who limit their membership to their associates. We also have the students of professional hypnotherapy who have studied at schools of hypnotism and have learned their craft well. They are called Certified Hypnotherapists. Most Certified Hypnotherapists will have more precise training in the art and science of hypnotism/hypnotherapy than their friends in the psychological community. That is why more and more academic professionals are receiving advanced training in hypnosis in specialized schools such as our own Hypnotism International.

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