The History of Hypnotism: From Ancient Civilizations to Nowadays

How did hypnosis exist in ancient times? How did hypnosis techniques improve from ancient
times to nowadays? Below, I will explore how hypnosis has been used in ancient and modern
history.

In ancient civilizations, hypnosis was mainly used for healing purposes, especially in the
religious ceremonies. People who applied hypnosis were referred as the witch doctors, medicine
men, healers, shamans etc.

The earliest evidence of hypnosis was found among shamans. Shaman paid special attention to
the concentration while healing others. He did not use any chemicals or alcoholic substances in
the first 24 hours of the process. Because he needed strong concentration, so he avoided anything
distracting. During the process, shaman made himself as comfortable as possible, which allowed
his subconscious mind to become strongly focused. Only after this he started the journey for
healing.

All the activities during the healing process were rhythmic and monotonous. The repetition and
constancy allowed shaman's subconscious mind to become strongly focused which helped him to
connect with the spirit of the patients and heal them this way. So, shaman entered in a powerful
process of visualization and suggestion during which he willed the sick person to be healed.

The hypnosis experience of shamans has been widely used for creating modern hypnosis models.
The father of modern hypnosis - Franz Anton Mesmer researched the techniques of shamans and
used them to improve his famous hypnosis theory - animal magnetism.

Hypnosis has been widely used in ancient places such as Egypt, Greece and others. There are lots
of helpful hypnosis formulas and techniques in an Egyptian medical text - Ebers Papyrus which
is the first written record of hypnosis techniques. In Ancient Greece, there was The God of
Sleeping - Hypnos. The words hypnosis and hypnotism come from this Greek name.

Sleep temples played an important role in the ancient societies. People believed the power of
sleep temples and went there for healing purposes.

Avicenna made a distinction between sleep and hypnosis. In his "Book of Healing" he talks
about the hypnotic process and how one can create conditions in another person to accept the
reality of hypnosis.

In ancient societies, hypnosis like techniques were mainly used to put people into a sleep state,
not in a hypnotic trance. Today, it is commonly accepted that hypnosis is much more different
than sleep, but the ancient hypnosis techniques are still very helpful for learning and
understanding the hypnotic process.

This is a brief description of ancient history of hypnosis and how people used it in the past.
Learning ancient history of hypnosis helps to improve the new hypnosis techniques and
understand the modern hypnosis better.

The first type of modern hypnosis was animal hypnosis. In 17th century farmers could calm
chickens hypnotically using different techniques. In France, farmers learned to hypnotize hens to
sit on eggs not their own. In 1800-s people hypnotized birds, rabbits, frogs and others. B.
Danilewsky experimented with animal hypnosis and studied its physiological workings in
animals.
Austrian doctor, Franz Anton Mesmer (1733-1815) who is acknowledged as the "Father of
Hypnosis" started the concept of magnetism. Mesmer believed that there was a quasi-magnetic in
the every air we breathe and a "cosmic fluid" could be stored in inanimate objects, such as
magnets and transferred to patients for curing their illness.

Mesmer cured a woman, who suffered from a convulsive malady. During one of the woman's
attacks he applied three magnets to the patient's stomach and legs while she concentrated on the
positive effects of the "cosmic fluid". Her symptoms subsided when Mesmer gave her this
treatment. Mesmer believed that "cosmic fluid" was directed through his patient's body, her
energy flow was restored and she regained her health in this way.

He could restore the sight of a young famous, female musician, Mille Paradies, who had gone
blind at age 4 when she heard a noise at her bedroom door. Mesmer had great success treating
thousands of people with "animal magnetism" and the process referred to as mesmerism.

A student of Mesmer, Marquis de Puysegur (1751-1825) first described and coined the term for
"somnambulism". He used "animal magnetism" on a young peasant. During this process
Puysegur noticed that the patient could still communicate with him and respond to his
suggestions. Puysegur thought that the will of the person and the operator's actions were
important factors in the success or failure of the magnetism and he believed that a "cosmic fluid"
was not magnetic, but electric.

An English surgeon, Dr. John Elliotson (1791-1868) reported in 1834 numerous painless surgical
operations performed using mesmerism.

A Scottish surgeon, James Braid (795-1860) gave mesmerism a scientific explanation. He found
that some experimental subjects could go into a trance if they simply fixated their eyes on a
bright object. He believed that mesmerism is a "nervous sleep" and coined the word hypnosis,
derived from the Greek word "hypnos" which means sleep. Braid rejected Mesmer's idea that
hypnosis was induced by magnetism.

French neurologist, Jean Martin Charcot (1825-1893) used hypnosis to treat hysterics and
categorized it as an abnormal neurological activity.

Auguste Ambroise Leibeault (1823-1904) and Hippolyte Bernheim (1837-1919) were the first
who regarded hypnosis as a normal phenomenon.

Freud was interested in hypnosis and read Bernheim's book on hypnosis "De la Suggestion" to
find a physiological explanation of suggestion in the nervous system. As he observed patients
enter a hypnotic state, Freud began to recognize the existence of the unconscious. However,
Freud rejected hypnosis as the tool to unlock repressed memories, instead favoring his
techniques of free association and dream interpretation. With the rise of psychoanalysis in the fist
half of the 20-th century hypnosis declined in popularity.

The modern study of hypnotism is usually considered to have begun in the 1930s with Clark
Leonard Hull (1884-1952) at Yale University. His work Hypnosis and Suggestibility (1933) was
a rigorous study of the phenomenon, using statistical and experimental analysis. Hull's studies
demonstrated that hypnosis had no connection with sleep ("hypnosis is not sleep, ... it has no
special relationship to sleep, and the whole concept of sleep when applied to hypnosis obscures
the situation").
Hypnosis therapy has been widely used in World War I, World War II and the Korean War.
Hypnosis techniques were merged with psychiatry and were especially useful in the treatment of
what is known today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

In 1950s medicine started to use hypnosis for therapy. In Britain, in 1952, a Hypnotism Act was
instituted to regulate stage hypnotists' public entertainments. In 1955 British Medical Association
recognized therapeutic use of hypnosis and in 1958 the American Medical Association approved
a report on the medical use of hypnosis.

Two years after AMA approval, the American Psychological Association endorsed hypnosis as a
branch of psychology.

Milton Erickson (1901-1980) developed many tips and techniques in hypnosis that were very
different from what was commonly practiced. His style is known as an Ericksonian Hypnosis,
which has greatly influenced many modern schools of hypnosis.

Dave Elman (1900-1967) was one of the pioneers of the medical use of hypnosis. Elman's
definition of hypnosis is still widely used among many professional hypnotists. He is known for
having trained the most physicians and psychotherapists in America, in the use of hypnotism.

He is also known for introducing rapid inductions to the field of hypnotism. One method of
induction which he introduced more than fifty years ago, is still one of the favored inductions
used by many of today's masters.

John Cerbone is best known for his work in the area of instant inductions (speed-trance
induction). His work draws on the six methods of inducing trance (boredom, confusion, loss of
equilibrium, eye fixation, misdirection, shock and overload) in a unique technique that produces
instant induction in 3-7 seconds. Richard Nongard has been a collaborator in developing these
methods with Cerbone.

Today, hypnosis is highly effective and popular medical tool. It is widely used for habit control -
stop smoking, weight control and other health problems. Many hypnotists run their own stage
and street hypnosis business. And others do hypnosis just for fun (hypnotize their friends, parents
etc.)

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