However to some extent mesmerism was still in practice by some of the
followers of Mesmer. 1800: a young surgeon in London named James Braid went to see a demonstration by a mesmerist named La Fontaine. In those days, the mesmerist used to stand near the head of the patient and make downward passes over the body. What came to noticed by Braid that the patient’s eyes during the process would remain in an upward lock stare, looking at the mesmerist. Braid realise if the eyes are fixed o something create the atmosphere to get into trance. He coined the new term to describe the state as neuro-hypnosis. Braid found that mesmerism did not involve energy transfer. He surmised that mesmerism worked simply because suggestion caused the patients to go into trance. oo>38 1843: James Braid wrote the first book on hypnosis named ‘Neuryphnology’. In this book he clarified that the fixation on a single point or idea is what causes hypnosis to occur. Interestingly, Braid later decided that ‘Hypnosis’ is not the right term of the process, which he took from the Greek God of sleep, “Hypnos”. Because ‘Hypnosis’ is not sleep, he tried to change the name to ‘“Monoideaism’. However, the name ‘Hypnosis’ was so popular till that time that nobody accept this new improved name. Dr. James Braid is considered as the father of Modern Hypnosis. During the same period, James Esdail, a medical doctor in Madras, India, wrote a book entitled ‘Mesmerism’. Esdail did over 500 operations with the help of mesmerism for pain control and trance formation for oprtion, many of which would have been extremely painful without an aesthetic. But, chloroform was discovered almost immediately after this and so all the findings of Dr. Esdail remained unnoticed. 1864: Dr. Liebault, in the city of Nancy, France developed a system of therapy using hypnosis. A medical colleague named Bernheim sent a patient to visit Liebault, and the patient was cured overnight. Bernheim decided to investigate this thing called hypnosis and son after formed a partnership with Liebault to establish the Nancy School of Hypnosis. Sigmund Freud studied with Bernheim at the Nancy School and initially used hypnosis in his practice. But later on he stopped using hypnosis. 1943: Clark Hull at Yale University published his classic work ‘Hypnosis and Suggestibility’ the first psychological study of hypnosis. He said, “Anything that assumes trance, causes trance”. During the same period Milton Erickson who was influenced by Hull, practiced hypnosis almost daily from 1920 to 1980. Erikson’s study change the face of hypnosis forever. George Estabrooks is another major practioner of hypnosis. 1950: Dave Elman created a powerful set of rapid induction techniques which offer a different approach than those of Erikson and Estabrooks. 1964: Lesli LeCron was also a grounder breaker. LeCron popularised ideomotor finger signals. There are many more contributors for different hypnotic techniques in the present time. References: 1] Hypnosis: A Comprehensive Guide, Ted Jams, Crownhouse Publishing House, UK. 2] Secretes of Hypnosis, Dr. Bruce Goldburg, Jaico Publishing, Delhi. History of Hypnosis 1500: Paracelsus, the Swiss medical doctor use magnets and hands on technique with passes on patients to heal them. 1600: Irishman Valentine Greatrakes healed people by laying hands on and using magnets for passes. 1725: Maximilian Helh was using magnets to help people. One of his student named Franz Anton Mesmer watched the process and took the magnets to Vienna for use in practice. One day he was unable to find his magnets so he just made some passes with his empty hands over the patient, and the patient was healed. This was simply a kind of non-verbal suggestion which cause a trance on patient. After his early successes, Mesmer claimed that it is his own bodily magnetism (energy) which is curing patient and not the magnet. This creates a great controversy and problem for Mesmer in future. He started calling this energy as ‘Animal Magnetism’. At the height of his fame in Vienna, Mesmer moved to Paris and became a favourite of the French aristocracy. In the late 1700’s everyone who was anyone went to Dr. Mesmer for one of his magnetic cures. Mesmer became very successful so much that the medical community of the time challenged his methods and claimed he was a fraud.