History of Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a type of alternative treatment, which is helping people in overcoming various problems. Now, in these days, everyone has heard the application of and advances in hypnosis but few have a good handle on the history of hypnosis.
The history of hypnosis can be traced back to ancient Greek and Rome religious centers. Here, you can gain information about history of hypnosis from the beginning right up to the present day.
The great thing regarding hypnosis history is that it has existed on earth in one or another form since the beginning of time. For example, consider the animal kingdom and those that lie dormant in the wintertime, closing out the activities of the world while they let their mind and body to rejuvenate. This is a form of self-hypnosis.
History of Hypnosis before 15th Century
In the history of hypnosis, before the 15th century, the diseases were believed as a type of punishment from the gods. However, the healers of that era were the priests, shamans, and witch doctors. They would do their practices to make an altered state of consciousness.
The healers, sometimes, would do this to the diseased person or to the healer himself depending on the type of disease. There were many different techniques in ritualistic ways such as chanting, drums, dancing, fire and drugs.
A common element in all these cases is, the patient would be given "suggestion" so that their conscious and subconscious mind would "accept", thus exploit the patients "power of belief" for healing purpose. Thus, the mind would conquest and starts healing the body.
Even with the history of hypnosis, nobody can actually pinpoint when it began, ancient Egyptians had the Temples of Sleep. With documentation and early paintings you can discover that the patients were given curative suggestion while in an induced sleep.
On the other hand, in the 3rd century of CE Demotic Magical Papyrus, a journal exposed in the 19th century that papyrus in his descriptions explained the ways to prepare a lamp to use in a special ritual. The sayings and this particular ritual were directly connecting to what we know today as hypnosis and hypnosis techniques.
Franz Anton Mesmer
Probably, with the history of hypnosis, the most famous person associated with early hypnosis is Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer (1734-1815), an Austrian physician, is widely recognized as the 'Father of Hypnosis'. He discovered the hypnosis techniques for treating patients without the need for surgery or medication.
He believed that there was a quasi-magnetic force regulated magnetic flows within the body, thus curing people. As this method of healing was actually quite successful, it was popularized as Mesmerism.
Mesmer used a several different hypnosis techniques and shortly became very famous in Paris. At that time, with the suggestion of Marie Antoinette, the French government helped him with a life pension and enough financial backing to open a clinic. Interestingly, Mesmer rejected and in 1784, the King of France started an investigation on his “practices.”
The outcome of the study, through the history of hypnosis, was that the method of healing people using hypnosis techniques, and the magnetic force treatment was Mesmer’s own imagination and wishful thinking. However, the government dismissed it though most of the people had been healed with this method.
Some Great Persons in the Hypnosis History
James Braid is another important person in the history of hypnosis. James Braid, a Scottish neurosurgeon, was the person who pioneered hypnotherapy. He was the person who coined the term “Hypnosis.” He discovered that with the help of hypnosis, a person’s psychological thoughts could be altered.
Dr. Sigmund Freud is the famous person who found that hypnotherapy could be useful to his daily work. He is commonly referred as the father of psychoanalysis. Another important person in the history of hypnosis is Ambroise-Auguste Liebault, who further brought hypnotism into the public eye.
Emile Coue, his assistant eventually pioneered a hypnosis technique known as conscious autosuggestion, which many of the concepts of hypnosis. Another great person in the history of hypnosis Milton H. Erickson worked to advance the public knowledge on hypnotherapy. He also wrote several texts on Hypnosis.
He was the person who stated Ericksonian hypnotherapy technique. The theories laid down by him eventually became the basis for the science known as neuro-linguistic programming. These people are the miles stones in the history of hypnosis, who are responsible for showing the effectiveness of hypnosis to the world.
