Hypnosis is a tool that allows us to explore the unused potential of our minds to accomplish the goals we desire. Not all medical experts of Hypnosis would agree that Hypnosis is a state of increased suggestibility during which ideas and instructions become readily acceptable to the subconscious mind.
Hypnosis can eradicate and replace long-established habits and attitudes that the patient wishes to change.
Although modern scientific and medical hypno-therapy is 2 or 3 centuries old, Hypnotism itself dates back for millennia. Although no named as such, some elements of Hypnosis are indistinguishable from certain trancelike states induced during ancient religious ceremonies involving rhythmic drumming, chanting, or deep meditation.
Hypnosis has been used in United States since the mid- 1800s, and was the subject of deep studies to many psychologists of the time like Sigmund Freud, Pierre Janet, and Alfred Binet among others.
The origin of hypnosis are inseparable from the history of the ancient cultures, including the Sumerian, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman. All of them used Hypnosis in some form.
The Sumerian practiced Hynosis 4000 years before the Time of Christ, as described on cuneiform tablets. The 'priest of Erech' had a manuscript that proved that 'cures had been achieved' through Hypnotic therapy. The practice 3 levels or grades of Hypnotherapy: Light, Medium, and Deep.
In Egypt, the 'Ebers papyrus,' found through excavations in their sacred places, shows methods of Hypnosis that were used as a therapy tool. Priests were regarded as doctors in ancient Egypt, and they used the 'Power of Suggestion.' Patients would stare at metal discs, which created a 'fatigue' that would cause them to fall into a hypnotic sleep. This technique came to be known as 'fixation' and is commonly used in Hypnosis today.
In Greece, the individuals affected by some sort of unknown frequencies in their brains, went to sleep temples that were used as healing places, to restore the brain health or other maladies. The patients followed special diets, took special baths, and participated in special cleansing rituals. The priest told them about cures that helped others in their condition, which encouraged them mentally and stimulated their expectations for the same healing to occur with them.
In ancient Rome, doctors served as middlemen between the gods and the ill. Certain philosophers also began to use the 'power of suggestion' that was used by physicians.
In India, the Sanskrit book known as 'the Law of Manu,' the ancient science of India, defines 3 different levels of Hypnosis as the sleep-waking, dream-sleep, and ecstacy-sleep states.
Many of the healing techniques documented in the Old Testaments in the Scripture have been linked to hypnosis. In pre-Christian times, the Jews used professional exorcists. These practices are described as what we know today as Hypnosis.
In the 2nd century BC, a poet named Porphyrus reported an argument between 2 students, Plotinus and Olympius, over the beliefs of their masters regarding Hypnosis. To settle the disagreement, Olympius challenged Plotinus to prove his gift in the 'art of hypnosis.' People gathered around and watched attentively. Plotinus stared at Olympius for a few minutes, in an intimidating way, and called out (using the minds of the audience as a resonance and at the same time unifying the thought), 'Behold, his body shrivels like a purse!' Olympus, receiving the suggestion mentally, felt a great pain shoot through his body, and agreed that the mental strength and the power of suggestion of Plotinus was far superior to his own.
- Paracelsus (1493-1541), famous for saying, "the deciding factor in a cure is the Inner Doctor," was an alchemist, a doctor of medicine, and possibly a time traveller as well. He discovered the usefulness of mercury as a mean of allaying and ameliorating some of the symptoms of syphilis, and his innovative medical skills included stroking a patient's body with a natural magnet - a lodestone. This technique have been closely allied to an early form of proto-hypnosis, in which healing suggestions accompanied the moving magnet. He was at risk of being executed because of the various treatment methods he used, being Hypnosis one of them, were considered satanic.
- Valentine Greatrakes, known as 'the great Irish stroker', continued with Paracelsus' magnet techniques. He actually worked with Robert Boyle (1627-1691), who carefully noted Greatrakes's method of magnetic stroking. The technique consisted of drawing the pain from the afflicted part towards the end of the limb and then out of the body altogether.
- Maximilian Hell (1720-1792) was an astronomer and Jesuit priest who achieved cures through the use of magnets. Maximilian's healing methods consisted of applying magnetized steel plates to the patient's images of diseased organs or places where pain existed in the body, and 60% to 80% improvement were obtained in his patients' physical condition.
- Johann Joseph Gassner (1727-1779) was a Catholic priest at Klosterle and later at Pondorf, now part of Winklarn in Bavaria. He firmly believed that illness was caused by demons and evil spirits. Working as an exorcist, he cured patients by a process that involved driving out the evil spirits responsible for their illnesses.
- Friedrick Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) studied Hypnotism under Father Maximilian Hell, who despite his unusual surname, was a Jesuit. Mesmer believed that he could cure sick people by magnetizing their fluids. This was achieved by passing a hand along the length of the patient's body, from the top of the head to the soles of the feet. This would cause a convulsive effect, and the patient would then fall into a deep sleep. In 1774 , Mesmer gave one of his patients a dose of 'medicine' that contained a significant quantity of iron. He then ran magnets over her body, and the patient described her strange feelings. She said it was as if tides, or streams, of fluid energy were running through her body and she reported that she felt much better for several hours afterwards. Memer was not convinced that the magnets were solely responsible for her improvement. He developed a theory of 'animal magnetism' that involved healing power flowing from him to the patient. Louis XVI commissioned the 'Royal Academy of Sciences' to examine Mesmer's doctrines. He was discredited, ridiculed, and called a quack by the 'commission.' The patients' convulsions were considered 'immoral', despite the healing impact afterward. Mesmer died discouraged and in poverty.
- James Braid (1795-1860), and English ophthalmologist, observed experiments conducted by the magnetist, LaFontaine. He studied these experiments to disprove the ancient theory of Hypnosis that dealt with the view and behavior of the unseen world. After practicing the techniques on his wife, friend, and servant, however, he was able to make them fall asleep by staring at the button on the tip of his nose.
- Sigmund Freud confirmed the occurrence of Hypnosis, but was unable to perform it successfully on his clients and therefore discourage the use of it.
- Emile Coue developed the doctrine of self-hypnosis or auto-suggestion. He believed any individual can be a powerful hypnosis-therapist. He also proposed 3 laws of hypnosis-therapy: concentrated attention's law, the dominant effect's law, the dominant action's law.
- Jean Martin Charcot (1825-1893) was a neurologist who worked with many illnesses. He used a 'shock technique' to startle groups of people and cause them to fall into a hypnotic state.
- I.P. Pavlov believed that Hypnosis and the 'power of suggestion' are phenomena that are inherent in daily life.
The British Medical Association 'approved the study of hypnosis' in medical schools and postgraduate curricula, and 'approved its use' for psychiatric and surgical purposes.
The American Medical Association followed suit and integrated hypnosis into its curricula.
Doctors in World Wars I and II used Hypnosis to treat neuroses. During the Korean War, hypno-therapy and psychology became connected together.
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