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History

There is some history dating back at least to the 1700s of the use of mentalism and other methods some of which are now labeled as 'hypnosis'. The first recognizable practitioner of hypnosis was Franz Anton Mesmer, an Austrian physician of the 18th-century (1734-1815). He believed that there was a quasi-magnetic fluid in the very air we breathe and that the body’s' nerves somehow absorbed this fluid. As a doctor, his main concern was how to effectively treat his patients, and he considered disease to be caused via a blockage of the circulation of this magnetic fluid in the blood and the nervous system. Curing disease would, in his view, involve correcting the circulation of this liquid.




A Drawing of Mesmer in his prime


Initially, he used a magnet, and later his hand, which was passed over the diseased body in an attempt to unblock the magnetic flow. The hand (and later the eyes) was believed to unblock the fluid by increasing its amount and flow as his hand passed over the affected area. The term 'animal magnetism' was born, and the procedure referred to as Mesmerism.




MESMER'S TUB


Abbe Faria was the first man who attempted to use the power of suggestion to cure illnesses. He was eventually discredited but his followers continued to hypnotize people with his techniques. The term hypnosis came from a Scottish physician, James Braid, who used the Greek word for sleep to create the term in 1843.




From a statue of the Greek God Hypnos (redrawn from fragments)


James Braid (1795-1860), a Scottish surgeon working in Manchester. He found that some experimental subjects could go into a trance if they simply fixated their eyes on a bright object, like a silver watch.




Dr. Braid's first attempt to hypnotise


Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893), a leading neurologist of his day and head of the neurological clinic at the famous Salpetriere in Paris, used hypnosis to treat hysterics. He concluded that hypnosis was an induced seizure when his hysteric patients showed epileptic-like symptoms when they were in a trance




Doctor Charcot's lecture at the Salpetriere


Hippolyte Bernheim (1837-1919), a professor of medicine at the University of Nancy regarded hypnosis as a special form of sleeping where the subject's attention is focused upon the suggestions made by the hypnotist. He therefore emphasized the psychological nature of the process of hypnosis.
By the 1920s, hypnosis became the focus of experimental investigation by psychologists like Clark L. Hull (1884-1952), who demystified hypnosis saying that it was essentially a normal part of human nature (1933). The important factor was the subject's imagination - some people were more responsive or suggestible' than others to hypnosis.
Support for the teaching of the therapeutic use of hypnosis in medicine finally came in 1955 from the British Medical Association, who was closely followed in 1958 by the American Medical Association. Today, an International Society of Hypnosis coordinates and assesses standards and practices of professional hypnotists across the world. Hypnosis is currently used in dentistry, medicine and psychology and has proved helpful if used alongside more conventional treatments and therapies. Now it is generally seen as a form of 'relaxation', and it is possible to teach individuals how to hypnotize themselves (via progressive relaxation techniques). It is widely used in the treatment of addictions (e.g. in aiding smoking cessation), but should always be conducted by a professional in a controlled setting.

Hypnotism versus Mesmerism

Hypnosis is often confused with Mesmerism, its historical precursor. The terms ‘mesmerise’ and ‘hypnotise’ have become quite synonymous, and most people think of Mesmer as the father of hypnosis, or at least as its discoverer and first conscious exponent. Oddly enough, the truth appears to be that while hypnotic phenomena had been known for many thousands of years, Mesmer did not, in fact, hypnotise his subjects at all. It is something of a mystery why popular belief should have firmly credited him with a discovery which in fact was made by others.
Franz Anton Mesmer held that trance and healing were the result of the channeling of a mysterious "occult" force called "animal magnetism." In the mid-Eighteenth Century, this became the basis of a very large and popular school of thought termed Mesmerism. However, in 1843, James Braid proposed the theory of hypnotism as a radical alternative, in opposition to Mesmerism. Braid argued that the occult qualities of Mesmerism were illusory and that its effects were due to a combination of "nervous fatigue" and verbal suggestion. A bitter war of words developed between Braid and the leading exponents of Mesmerism.




Hypnotist mesmerising a patient



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