A History of Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy

Hypnotic practices are believed to have been present in many religious rituals in ancient civilisations so it seems that rather than hypnosis being created it was more uncovered and brought to the fore.

We know that in the late 18th century a German Physician, Franz Mesmer used what was called ‘mesmerism’ to treat patients.  At the time he believed he was using an occult force he referred to as animal magnetism flowing through the practitioner to the patient.  Whilst the idea of it being supernatural was quickly discredited, the idea remained of interest and people began to use what we now call hypnosis without understanding how it worked.  In 19th Century, the Scottish surgeon James Braid studied it and started using the word ‘hypnosis’ which comes from the Greek god of sleep ‘Hypnos’.  He is typically considered to be the pioneer of hypnotism working through focused attention and suggestions.

The whole idea attracted more interest over time, with events such as the American Civil War acting as a catalyst; soon highly regarded medical professionals were writing about how effective it was and yet used no physical intervention They described it as a combination of psychologically mediated responses to suggestions.  Around 1880 the medical community started to really take up the idea of hypnotism and Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault founded the Nancy School of Hypnotism with Hippolyte Bernheim who is very much known for pioneering the idea of suggestion in therapy

In 1889 the Austrian physician Sigmund Freud heard about this concept and was impressed he visited Bernheim to learn more.  He started to use hypnosis to help people recall traumatic events they had apparently forgotten whilst he was developing his system of psychoanalysis.   He eventually discarded hypnosis in favour of free association which may have hindered it’s growth at the time.

Emile Coué became quite a celebrity of his time promoting a self-help method using the ‘Conscious Autosuggestion’ method. He is most famous for the phrase, ‘Day by day in every way I am getting better and better.’ His technique was one of affirmation and it has been championed in countless modern books.

Milton Erickson is probably the most influential figure on modern hypnosis.  Milton was an American psychiatrist born in 1901 and as a teenager he was paralysed by polio and as part of his recovery, he studied others.  He became fascinated by people and healing he was interested in using language in different ways to ‘talk’ to the unconscious mind of his clients.  Unlike many others, he didn’t spend time trying to understand the cause of the issue, instead he spent time trying to release their defences.  He had great success with treating clients and his methods are referred to and very much used today.  In particular he is credited with the development of indirect suggestion, he was subtler than many others and he used more normal language to treat his clients. We call his approach Ericksonian hypnosis and it forms the basis of much of Solution Focussed Hypnotherapy. .

Theodore Barber was one of the most impressive researchers in hypnosis and he developed the “cognitive-behavioural” theory of hypnosis and these days the client is seen as an important participant in the process rather than a passive attendee.   More personalised approaches are considered more effective and we believe that the route to change is help arbitrate the conscious and unconscious processes and beliefs.

Hypnosis today is a widely used therapeutic approach and there are increasing numbers of studies seeking to prove its effectiveness.   Hypnosis fits well with the move towards supporting the mental health of society and understanding what can cause poor mental health. Today hypnosis is often connected to mindfulness which has connections to Buddhist teachings.  People enjoy developing their present-moment awareness and non-judgmental mindset and can be combined with hypnosis to enhance the depth of relaxation and personal growth.  The truth is that hypnosis is of course still evolving and as we learn more about how the bran works, we can learn even more how best to use it to help.

Many well-known people are reported to have used hypnotherapy to help them achieve their goals when suffering from anxiety and low self esteem, wanting to lose weight, performance anxiety etc. For instance Winston Churchill used it to help with stress and sleep deprivation during the war, huge numbers of sports people use it including David Beckham and Tiger Woods.  Adele and Ewan McGregor were amongst many who used it to stop smoking.  Einstein and Mozart were both reported to come up with brilliance while hypnotised – the theory of relativity and the Cosi fan Tutte opera were both created while in that trance state.

I look forward to us all finding out more about how hypnosis and hypnotherapy work with advances in neuroscience.