History of Hypnotism

History of Hypnosis
Altered state trance work goes back to the origins of the species. Every culture that we have any knowledge of shows indications of the use of trance work to access the spiritual plane and procure healing. Many tools were used to induce these states, including fasting, meditation, sleep deprivation, extreme pain, dance, inhaling fumes, taking substances, employing darkness, flickering candles, incense, and chanting to name a few.
	Franz Anton Mesmer pioneered the idea that led to modern day hypnotism. He coined the word ‘animal magnetism’ and felt that the energy field around humans and animals was what accounted for his unusual cure rate. He used a ritual atmosphere, verbal commands, and a series of hand passes to induce trance. He was doing his main work between the time of the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Those who employed his methods were known as ‘mesmerists.’
In the early 1800’s, an English doctor named James Esdaile used hand passes to produce anesthesia for more than two thousand surgical operations in India. At a time when conventional procedures resulted in horrendous mortality rates, he lost comparatively few patients, the rate of healing was accelerated, and the infection rate was low. If ether had not come along around this time, hypnotism would have undoubtedly gained a stronghold in medical usage for this facet alone. Today, those who cannot tolerate the effects of chemical anesthesia turn to the use of medical hypnosis. Hypnosis for dental procedures is a blessing for those who fear going to the dentist.
	In 1841 a mesmerist named LaFontaine conducted public experiments in Manchester England, where a Scottish surgeon saw him. This man, Dr. James Braid, gave the procedure the name hypnotism, derived from the Greek word for sleep. As he researched the technique more, he discovered that it really was not a state of sleep, but by this time the term had caught on and his efforts to change it were not successful.
By the end of the 1800’s, many schools were teaching and using hypnotism. Unfortunately, there was a lot of feuding between these different institutions, which did not advance the standing of hypnotism as a whole. Freud studied at two of the most important schools at that time, but he was not a good hypnotist. He acknowledged the value of the field and went on to develop his own therapy called psychoanalysis.
Hypnotism was quick and easy, in contrast to Freud’s methods, in which patients were allowed to talk about their troubles for years if need be. As physical medicine and psychological medicine both became more regimented and regulated, hypnotism fell out of style.
	Stage performers promulgated many erroneous myths about hypnotism in general and further damaged its reputation, as did fiction works such as novels about Svengali and Dracula, and films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The story of Rasputin and his supposed hypnotic influence over the Czarina of Russia further added to the idea that hypnotism was a malignant force for mind control. In actual fact, hypnosis is the best tool we have for gaining mastery over our own mental processes, and ALL hypnosis is self-hypnosis. No hypnotist or hypnotherapist can gain control over your mind. Brain washing and other methods for exerting mind control over others involves torture and other drastic measures. Charismatic leaders gain control over those who voluntarily give their power over to them. Even in these extreme cases, the subject always maintains some level of control over their own minds.
In the 1920’s there was a revival of scientific interest in hypnotism. Pavlov studied it in relation to his work in conditioned responses. American scientists such as Salter, Schultz and Jacobsen studied it under the names of ‘autogenic training’ and ‘progressive relaxation.
	During WWII it was used to treat ‘shell shock’ successfully. European psychiatrists used it successfully for many ailments and it began to once again gain acceptance as a respected mode of treatment. Dr. Milton Erickson's work with hypnosis greatly expanded the field and it grew in respectability. In 1958 the AMA officially acknowledged the value of hypnotism as an important therapy.