History of Hypnosis

Hypnotic or suggestive therapy is the oldest of all healing techniques that has been used throughout many centuries. The concept of trance phenomenon recurs throughout history, where some form of hypnosis appears part of many cultures. References to it can be found in the Bible. The best known links to modern hypnosis are the "sleep temples" of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, which were places of pilgrimage and healing.
In the middle Ages belief in miraculous cures associated with religious shrines was widespread. Healing was brought about by touch and prayer.

Modern Hypnotherapy commenced during the 18th Century when Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer developed the theory of "Magnetism". When Mesmer argued that the planets influenced mankind through their magneic effects on the "fluid" which occupied all space. He discovered that he could induce people into a trance like state and concluded that he himself must be a kind of magnet, hence the term "Animal Magnetism". This idea was soon discredited by a French Royal Commission, which found that the magnetic fluids did not exist. However Mesmer is now regarded as a pioneer in the development of Hypnotism.

In the 19th Century Scottish Dr James Braid resurrected interest in the healing potential of trance. Braid re-examined Mesmerism and he discovered that simple suggestion was just as effective as Mesmerism, or any other method to induce trance like states. It was he who coined the term "Hypnosis" for the induction of a trance like state through simple suggestion. After the Greek word sleep - Hypnos. It was also braid who gave us the swinging watch technique for inducing trance.

In the early part of the 20th Century hypnosis was used almost exclusively by stage hypnotists, thereby projecting a hopelessly distorted view of the very powerful therapeutic tool. However, in 1955 the British Medical Association endorsed the practice of hypnosis in Medical School education, since then it has become a valuable addition to conventional medical treatment.

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