The Origin and History of Hypnosis

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Hypnosis or hypnotism is a psychological phenomenon of exceeding
interest to both layman and scientist. Its history is as old as that
of the human race, and it has been utilized by the most primitive
people, ancient and modern, in the practice of religious and medical
rites to intensify belief in mysticism and magic.
The striking character of this psychological manifestation, its
inexplicable and bewildering phenomenology, and the seemingly
miraculous results it produces, together with its long use for the
bewilderment of the observer, have served to surround it with an aura
of the supernatural and the unreal. As a consequence, the attitude of
the general public toward this phenomenon, now scientifically
established, has been, and too often still is, one of superstitious
awe, misunderstanding, incredulity, antagonism, and actual hostility
and fear. This attitude is perpetuated by the exploitation of hypnosis
by the charlatan and the stage performer and the well-intentioned but
mistaken and inadequate utilization by inexperienced experimenters and
medical men.
The scientific history of hypnosis began about 1775 with Anton Mesmer,
whose name is still attached to it, but unfortunately, even this
scientific beginning was founded on a mystical belief that it was
constituted of a peculiar cosmic fluid with healing properties.
Mesmer's use of hypnosis began with his discovery that suggestion in
various forms could be used to induce a condition resembling sleep in
certain types of patients, and that, in this state, therapeutic
suggestions could be given to alleviate and even remedy their
complaints and symptoms.
Unfortunately, Mesmer failed to recognize the purely psychological
character of his discovery and attributed it to a cosmic force he
termed animal magnetism. Although Mesmer successfully treated large
numbers of patients on whom orthodox medical procedures had failed, he
fell into disrepute because of the mysticism with which he surrounded
his therapy. Nevertheless, his discovery and utilization of it served
to lay a foundation for the therapeutic use of hypnosis and for a
recognition of the validity of psychotherapy as a medical procedure.
Since Mesmer's time there has been a succession of scientific men,
chiefly medical, who have contributed greatly to its scientific
growth. Elliotson, the first British physician to use a stethoscope,
used hypnosis effectively about 1817 in his medical practice and
published extensively on its suitability for certain types of
patients. Esdaile, through Elliotson's writings, became so interested
that he succeeded in having a government hospital built in India
primarily for the use of hypnosis, where he extended its use to all
types of patients, especially surgical.
In 1841 James Braid, an English physician who bitterly opposed
mesmerism, was induced to make a physical examination of a mesmerized
subject. He recognized both the validity of the phenomenon and its
psychological character, with the result that he coined the terms
hypnosis and hypnotism and initiated the first scientific studies of
hypnosis as a psychological condition of extensive medical and
scientific significance.
Since then, clinicians first and psychologists later, among them many
outstanding scientists, have contributed increasingly to a better
understanding and utilization of hypnosis as a scientific tool and as
a medical procedure of immense value for certain types of patients.
Particularly has interest been developing rapidly during the last 25
years among psychiatrists and psychologists. During the last 15 years
there has been an increasing wealth of publications dealing with the
effective use of hypnosis in the fields of psychiatry and experimental
psychology.
Regrettably, however, there is still a persistence of outmoded ideas
and concepts of hypnosis which vitiate experimental studies and
therapeutic efforts. For example, some psychologists are still
publishing studies based upon techniques and psychological concepts
belonging to the 19th century, and some medical men still employ it
for direct symptom relief rather than as an educative procedure for
the correction of personality disorders.
As yet the scientific study of hypnosis is still in its infancy
despite the development of a healthy, intense interest in it as a
scientific problem of merit. There is still lacking an adequate
general appreciation of the need to integrate hypnotic studies with
our present day concepts and understandings of personality, of inter-
and intrapersonal relationships, and psychosomatic interrelationships
and
interdependencies.
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