A powerful
healing tool for the benefit of mankind
The use of hypnosis (trance) as a therapeutic tool is as old as man himself.
As far as can be traced back through time, we can find records of hypnosis being used to heal and to make change. Hypnosis has been used under many different names down through the centuries and the
use of hypnosis for healing can be traced back to around 3000 BC in Egypt.
Both the new and old testaments of the Bible speak of what could be deemed to be hypnosis, and the ancient Greeks and
Romans had sleep temples where those seeking healing would be put into a trance like sleep.
Their dreams would be interpreted by the priests. By rhythmic drumming and monotonous chanting together with eye fixation,
the Shaman of today can still produce catalepsy of the body and 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 or wise person, can be attributed to the fostering of a strong belief, conviction,
expectation of being healed, and 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, you will become well, it is possible
that you will do just that. Of course, it is possible, where such an individual administered his magic to a sick person they
could have recovered, eventually, anyway and this intervention just quickened the healing process.
It is believed, by
many healers, that mind and body influence one another. Our physiology affects our emotions and visa, versa. Freud was aware
that the way we think, negatively, can affect our well being. He also, believed the opposite, positive thinking, to be true
The Romans said ‘MENS SANA IN
CORPORE SANO’, healthy mind in healthy body.
It is believed that
up to 75% of all illness is Psychosomatic - physical in nature, psychological in origin – obviously, the Romans could
not have known this, scientifically, but it does seem they knew it nevertheless!
Modern hypnosis began with Franz Anton Mesmer (1734 – 1815)
in the 18th Century. Mesmer was a medical graduate, from the famed
medical school of Vienna,
and after studying as a Jesuit priest, he became interested in magnetism. Mesmer
became Europe’s foremost expert at magnetic healing, where magnets where passed over
the body to effect a healing. His results where, seemingly, miraculous and he
became very famous. Mesmer believed all living things contained a kind of magnetic
‘fluid’ and if properly balanced, by using magnets, they would be healthy.
This is where the term ‘Animal Magnetism’ comes from. Mesmer forgot his magnets one day and so just made
passes over the patient with his hands and was surprised to find that they got better.
From there on, he thought he had sufficient magnetic fluid in himself top affect the cures.
James Braid (1795-1860) coined the terms ‘hypnotism’ and ‘hypnosis'
- Hypnos is the personification of sleep in Greek mythology.
The son of Nyx and Erebus, and the twin of Thanatos ("death") - in 1843. He was a Scottish surgeon working in Manchester. He found that some people could
go into a trance if there eyes where fixated on a bright object like a pocket watch for instance. He believed that a neurological process was involved and that the process could be very useful when no
organic origin could be found for a person’s disorder.
James Esdaile (1808-1859) another Scottish surgeon working in India would use eye fixation to prepare a patient for
surgery and slow sweeping motions, putting them into a deep hypnotic sleep, causing full amnesia throughout the body.
Braid and Esdaile where among the first to use a scientific approach in their research and use of hypnosis. These pioneers removed hypnosis from the realms of ‘mysticism’, and started
experimenting with what could really be achieved with Hypnosis and its ability to help people with problems. Other scientific
pioneers include, Liebeault, Bernheim, Brewer and Freud.
Amongst those individuals who have been fundamental to the current view of hypnosis are: Milton Erikson, Dave Elman,
Ormond McGill, Charles Tebbetts, Gil Boyne and Michael Yapko.
Ormond McGill was, it is true, a stage hypnotist; but he preserved the public interest in hypnosis. Charles Tebbetts
was also involved in stage hypnosis, in the early part of his career, but these where different times to those we live in
today. At that time, stage hypnosis engendered a desire to know more about this curious art and, in part, brought the therapeutic
use of hypnotherapy forward during the last century.
Dave Elman, who trained more Doctor’s and Dentist’s, in the use of Hypnosis, than any other person, brought some measure of acceptance to hypnosis from the medical profession, in the
USA. The Council on Medical health, of
the American Medical Association, accepted the use of hypnotherapy in 1958.
Probably the most important contributor to the acceptance of hypnotherapy as both an art and a science, was the grandfather
of hypnotherapy – Dr Milton H Erikson.
Dr Erikson was a psychiatrist and hypnotherapist with outstanding professional credentials and because of his solid
medical background he had credibility within the medical profession. Other
people worthy of note for their contribution to the advancement of hypnotherapy as a healing art and as a science in the 20th
century are: Haley, Rossi, Rosen, Abramson, Menninger, Shenek, Magonet, Wolberg, LeCron, Bordeaux, Wetzenhoffer, Erwin and
Simonton, who continues to do amazing things with cancer patients using mental imagery and focusing on beliefs and belief
systems amongst other things.
Today, Hypnosis is becoming more accepted as an effective method of life change and a valuable aide to
improve the Human Condition!
