A HISTORY OF HYPNOSIS

A brief early history of hypnosis

Hypnosis has been around since the dawn of recorded time, and at least to the time of the ancient Babylonians, Greeks and Egyptians. It was know to Hippocrates. Indeed, hypnosis is named after the Greek word for sleep, hypnos, although the actual state of hypnosis is very different from sleep. It has, however, been called different names, by different cultures, different religions, and different individuals. The use of chants, drumming, and monotonous dancing rituals to change or alter consciousness fall under the definition of hypnosis. Such methods have been used successfully by the Druids, Vikings, Indian Yogis, Dervishes, Hindu priests, and holy men of all religions and denominations for centuries. In 2600 BC, the father of Chinese medicine, Wong Tai, wrote about techniques that involved incantations and passes of the hands. Accounts of what we would now call Hypnosis can also be found in the Bible, the Talmud, and The Hindu Vedas written about 1500 BC.

A selective modern western history of hypnosis

1775: Dr. Franz Mesmer developed healing by 'animal magnetism' or mesmerism, which was later renamed hypnosis.

1784: Count Maxime de Puysegut discovered a form of deep trance he called somnambulism.

1821: First reports of painless dentistry and surgery in France using magnetism. Many breakthroughs were made by such Frenchmen as Ambrose Liebeault (1823-1904), J.M. Charcot (1825-93) a Paris neurologist, and Charles Richet (1850-1935).

1791-1868: John Elliotson, President of the Royal Medical and Surgical Society of London and a professor at London University, professed belief in magnetism/mesmerism and used hypnotic trance to perform 1,834 surgical operations.

1795-1860: A London/Scottish eye doctor and physician, James Braid, renamed magnetism/mesmerism as HYPNOSIS.

1845-53: A British surgeon in India, James Esdail, performed 2,000 operations - even amputations - with the patients under hypno-anaesthesia and feeling no pain.

1857-1926: Another Frenchman, Emile Coue, pioneered the use of autosuggestion and the use of affirmations e.g. 'Day by day in every way I am getting better and better'.

1883-1887: Sigmund Freud, father of cathartic method, free association and psychoanalysis, become interested in hypnosis and began to practise it. Not being very good at it, he went on to develop psychoanalysis instead!

1891: The British Medical Association reported favourably on use of hypnosis in field of medicine.

1901-80: Milton H. Erickson MD, the recognised leading authority on clinical hypnosis, a master of indirect hypnosis, was able to put a person into a trance without even mentioning the word hypnosis.

1914: World War I - New Era of Hypnosis. Revival due to multiplicity of paralytic and amnesia cases with psychogenic origin and few psychiatrists available.

1925-1947: Use of hypnosis in dentistry developed in the US.

1950s: Both the British Medical Association and the American Medical Association issued statements supporting the usefulness of hypnosis as a form of therapy.

1958: British Hypnotherapy founded.

1962: A brain operation was performed under hypnosis in Indianapolis in the US.

1968: The British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis was founded, exclusively for medical doctors and dentists.

1973: The Hypnotherapy Register established in the UK administered by the National Council for Psychotherapists. Later to become the National Council for Hypnotherapy.

1977: British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis founded mainly for psychologists.

1977: Institute of Psychology and Parapsychology founded. Later to become Institute of Hypnosis and Parapsychology, a unregistered, non-profit making learned society in the UK and the US.

1979: During debate in the House of Commons the Institute of Hypnosis and Parapsychology is mentioned by name, and recorded in the Public Record of Hansard as using a code of conduct standards and ethics and that its members conformed with the requirements of the advertising standards authority.

1980: National School of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy and the Central Register of Advanced Hypnotherapists established.

1982: Corporation of Advanced Hypnotherapy and The Atkinson-Ball College of Hypnotherapy established.

1983: The Proudfoot School of Hypnosis established.

1984: London College of Clinical Hypnosis and the British Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists founded.

1987: Formation of British Society for the Practice of Hypnosis in Speech Therapy. The Soothsayer Foundation and the World Institute of Professional Hypnotherapists formed.

1989/90: The Institute of Hypnosis and Parapsychology evolves into the College and Association of Stress Management.

1991: Setting up of PSI Services plc as a commercial company to offer stress management and hypnosis techniques in employee assistance programmes to British industry.

1992: The Royal College of General Practitioners invites PSI Services plc to submit a 2,000 word paper on the use of hypnosis for the lesser psychiatric disorders. Paper published in the 1992 handbook circulating to 17,000 senior GP's.

1993: New Scientist publishes results of largest survey ever recorded of stopping smoking methods, spanning several continents - hypnosis proven to be streets ahead of anything else!

1995: National Association of Holistic Hypnotherapists established in the UK.

1997: http://www.hypnosis.org.uk website (known as 'Hypnosis UK') established by Dr. Charles Barr PhD to promote a wider understanding and acceptance of hypnosis.