The history of hypnosis helps us to understand the benefits and
explore the fears of its use. Hypnosis as a therapeutic process
has been linked to many miraculous cures of human ailments. Though
it is the tool that has helped many, the myths that surround hypnosis
serve to limit its use. Many falsehoods associated with hypnosis
are the result of the entertainment industry, dating back to the
late 1700's.
Many plays of the period fed off the mystery,
success and rumors of what was called 'magnetism' or 'mesmerism'.
Even today, many confuse the hypnosis used on the stage for entertainment
with clinical hypnotherapy used to relieve many patients of disorders
that other therapies and medicines can not. The media of past and
present have cast a shadow over a powerful discipline which purpose
from the beginning was to heal the sick. Yet patients today still
benefit from its use.
The man credited with the discovery of the
mental state now called hypnosis was Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer, a man
so famous for his healing ability the terms "mesmerizing"
and "mesmerized" were coined based on his work. Dr. Mesmer
had ideas well ahead of his time and maybe even ahead of this enlightened
age. Dr. Mesmer believed that good health was a result of the harmonious
ebb and flow movement of a magnetic fluid within the body, and that
disease was the result of a blockage of this fluid. He believed
that since the heavenly bodies of the universe affected areas of
the earth (like the moon affects tidal movements of the ocean) this
universal influence must also affect the animals upon the earth.
This fluid he called 'Gravitas' or animal magnetism.
His practice started with the discoveries
made by a man named Paracelsus, the physician, whose real name was
Philippus Aurealus Theophirastus and who lived 100 years or so prior.
Paracelsus had success in curing disease with the use of magnetized
iron. Dr. Mesmer was fortunate to live in a day when magnets, as
we know them, were just starting to being manufactured in various
sizes and shapes. With this new technology and older wisdom, Dr.
Mesmer was successful in curing a number of disorders by stroking
the magnet over the diseased area of the sick person's body.
Later
experiments led Dr. Mesmer to believe the magnet wasn't as important
as the magnetic energy, which he called magnetic fluid, that flowed
from his hands, thus creating the distinction between the healing
power of organic magnetism (magnetic energy of the magnet) and animal
magnetism (magnetic energy which flowed from an individual). Both
processes proved extremely successful in curing the so-called un-curable.
As this news spread, hundreds of patients came to Dr. Mesmer's home
clinic to be relieved of their disorders even when help was available
from other medical techniques.
The attention given to Dr. Mesmer's practice
by the European royalty, as well as the commoner, led the medical
community to attempt to discredit the effects of 'magnetism'. Many
of the misunderstandings of hypnosis we have today began with rumors
spread by those who wanted Dr. Mesmer branded a charlatan. The polarization
of the community led to a royal commission to be assembled to prove
or disprove Dr. Mesmer's theories. The commission was made up of
a number of notable scientists within Europe and included Benjamin
Franklin of The United States. The commission findings were that
the patients appeared to be cured of their ailments, yet the commission
was convinced that in each case the cure was all in patient's mind.
These findings were not in Dr. Mesmer's favor,
because in those days even if the symptoms were relieved, a patient
was not considered cured unless the cure was provided by a proven
medical remedy. Despite this, Dr. Mesmer and others who believed
in his doctrine continued their practices, and formed The Society
of Harmony as a means to educate others in the use of magnetism.
Dr. Mesmer continued practicing animal magnetism on into his eighties.
The other magnetists (as they were called),
were also successful using Dr. Mesmer's methods. Some found their
success in the hands on healing art of Animal Magnetism, others
in the use of magnets, and others influencing the patient's mind
to facilitate healing. The most notable of these was a man named
Marquis de Puseyger. The Marquis believed in the healing power of
the patient's mind. He was also the man history credits with discovering
'induced somnambulism', a state of deep hypnotic trance. Although
reaching this unconscious state is not needed to receive the benefits
offered by hypnosis, it is the deepest state achieved in a hypnotic
induction.
The Marquis would induce the somnambulistic
state in his patients, and then ask them what would be needed to
cure their illness. The patients would prescribe their own remedies.
Not only would this be successful in healing the patient, the patient
would also correctly tell the Marquis when their healing would fully
take place, and other futuristic information.
This is where hypnosis got in trouble with
the Church. Many hypnotherapists, even today, are told that hypnosis
is the work of the devil or that a patient will lose their God-given
right to free will. These beliefs, were created by playwrights,
movies and storybooks, that failed to reveal a person in the hypnotic
state will never do anything that is against their moral character.
The actual reason the Church condemned the use of hypnosis was,
'The Vatican finally condemned the practice of inducing somnambulism
(hypnosis) in 1841 and in 1856, prohibiting this means of predicting
and divination'. (The encyclical is in Binet, A. and Fere, C. (1908)
Le Magnetisme Animal (5th Ed.), Paris p.38.) Just like it was prohibited
at that time for anyone to read and interpret The Bible, only priests
were allowed to foretell or predict the future.
Practitioners in the field of psychology
later changed the name of magnetism, and induced somnambulism, to
the term hypnosis. Even though some found the use of hypnosis valuable,
it received another blow, this time from an influential man. It
has been reported, Sigmund Freud attempted to use hypnosis in working
with the subconscious mind. However, due to a speech impediment
was unable to use it successfully, and denounced the value of its
use.
Despite the myths of hypnosis, many pioneers
still created miracles with its use. The latest and most famous
of these was Dr. Milton Erickson, a medical doctor who through the
use of self-hypnosis relieved himself of polio. His polio left him
trapped in a wheel chair, yet allowed him to study human behavior
as maybe no man before him or after him. This extraordinary study
led Dr. Erickson to refine hypnotic techniques to the healing tools
they are today. Patients from thousands of miles away came to Phoenix,
Arizona to seek this man's help in healing their mental or physical
ailments, and Dr. Erickson helped them in some cases by just telling
a simple, yet hypnotic story. Dr. Erickson's well respected career
spanned from the 1930's to the 1980's, and those who instruct in
his methods teach Ericksonian hypnosis.
The use of hypnosis today, as in the past,
can be a major help to anyone who wants to enrich their life or
improve their health. It is as natural a process as sleep. In fact
to achieve, or awaken from, the deeper state of sleep, we must first
cross through the hypnotic state. Daydreaming is a popular form
of self-hypnosis. Many hypnotherapists, following the Ericksonian
model, believe that life is one hypnotic trance after another, and
these states of being are forming our personal realities. When visiting
a hypnotherapist, what you are actually doing is using hypnotic
techniques to pull yourself out of a current, undesired trance state
and, with help from your therapist, create a new reality or experience
of life, one that lets you achieve your goals and aspirations to
live life more fully.
Michael Bennett is a master practitioner
and trainer of NLP and Hypnotherapy, licensed and certified through
the Society of NLP. He operates a school for teaching these disciplines
to health professionals and persons interested in improving the
quality of their lives.
Later
experiments led Dr. Mesmer to believe the magnet wasn't as important
as the magnetic energy, which he called magnetic fluid, that flowed
from his hands, thus creating the distinction between the healing
power of organic magnetism (magnetic energy of the magnet) and animal
magnetism (magnetic energy which flowed from an individual). Both
processes proved extremely successful in curing the so-called un-curable.
As this news spread, hundreds of patients came to Dr. Mesmer's home
clinic to be relieved of their disorders even when help was available
from other medical techniques.