| Hypnosis has been practiced in one form or another throughout all of recorded history. Many historians can trace it back to the records kept in ancient temples of the early Egyptians. According to William Kroger, M.D. and William Fezler, Ph.D. it has been part of religious
practices throughout the world since the first records were kept. Links
can be made to hypnosis in many world religions as well as pagan practices.
Some of these include exorcisms by the Assyro-Babylonians, soothsaying by the
Egyptians, Jewish mysticism, Byzantine Catholicism, Taoism among the Chinese,
Sufism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Tibetan Buddism and Zen, and Yoga.
In the modern era, many credited German physician Fran Anton Mesmer with being
the 'father of modern hypnosis'. In 1773, he developed a technique known
as "Mesmerism" based on the theory of "animal magnetism" which says that our
bodies are full of invisible fluid, which he called ether, that is affected by
magnets, stars and the planetary bodies. Any disruption of the flow of
this fluid results in sickness, according to Mesmer's theory. He used iron
rods and magnets to 'realign' the magnetic fields of the body, which he believed
aided the flow of the fluid or "ether" thus correcting whatever maladies had
been incurred.
In the 1800's a Scottish physician, James Braid, came up
with the term 'hypnosis' when he determined that magnets were not necessary to
produce the altered state or trances. In 1893 the British Medical
Association determined that Mesmer's state and the state of hypnosis were
different entirely, and that only the hypnotic state had the ability to treat
any medical conditions.
Also in the 19th century, Sigmund Freud used hypnosis for a time until he came
up with his psychoanalytic technique. He did not lose his belief in
hypnosis, rather he saw his own technique as a more developed branch of the
practice.
In the 20th century, Milton Erickson became a more
consensus 'father of modern hypnotherapy' than his predecessors. His
method takes into account the personal experiences, thought processing style,
and frame of reference when formulating a treatment plan. Treatment
involves helping the subject reframe their perception of events and their
evaluation of those events and other interactions. His work also focuses
extensively on accessing the subconscious thought processes, as well as
observation of non-verbal communication patterns. Many variations have
been made on his work to date, however, his basic theories are still the
cornerstone of modern hypnotherapy. |
