INFORMATION CENTER:
HISTORY OF HYPNOSIS

Ancient forms of hypnosis
Hypnosis has a long and illustrious history dating back to early man. The Australian aborigine is considered by anthropologists as a throwback to the Stone Age. They have used self and guided hypnosis as far back as the arrival of homo sapiens. In our time the Australian government has intruded on this ancient society but as little as 50 years ago there still were tribes deep in the outback that slept around a winter fire stark naked. The only defense against the cold was self hypnosis that was passed down from generation to generation. That was similar to the Old Testament that was passed from elders to each new generation. A startling
example of ancient hypnosis is the ”Ebers Papyrus” now in the British Museum. It has been carbon dated to the 2nd Dynasty some 3000 or more years ago. A translation of the hieroglyphics revealed an induction of the trance state that could be used by a hypnotherapist today.

“Hypnos” is the Greek word for sleep. The word hypnosis was coined by the respected English physician, James Braid, (1889). Before then it was “Mesmerism”, a word still used today to describe a fixed, staring state. Franz Anton Mesmer, (1734 to 1815), a German Doctor of Medicine, practicing in France, claimed to cure disease of mind and body with a therapy called “animal magnetism” which started with the trance state. For a decade he became a phenomena in the Western world. He demonstrated his prowess throughout Europe and England. Disciples traveled to the United States and Canada. He was discredited by a French Royal commission in 1784. They did not doubt his ability to effect certain cures but insisted, and rightly so, that without the strong input of the patient's imagination, it would not work. As an aside, an interesting fact to Americans is that Benjamin Franklin, then Ambassador to France and an outstanding scientist, was a member of that Royal Commission.

It took two decades before some inspired English physicians said: “If it works, why not use the focused imagination of the patient.” One of them, James Esdaile, performed over 2000 tumor and cancer surgeries without any other anesthesia than hypnosis. At that time (1830’s) surgery patients died more from the shock of pain than from the surgery. Esdaile had the highest percentage of recovered patients in the English Empire. He, of course, was almost destroyed by the scorn heaped upon him and others like him. Rather than attend one of his operations the medical societies of the time denounced him as a faker. Modern anesthesia began in the United States in 1846. At Boston General Hospital, the surgeon John Collins Morton, used ether for the first time and changed the practice of medicine all over the world. Hypnosis was once more relegated to the dust bins of the profession. The surprising fact today is that hypnosis is used all over the world in many hospitals, particularly for patients who, for medical reasons, cannot use anesthesia. Childbirth is the most common modality.