Hypnosis has
been used in one form or another for thousands of years. It was used
in the sleep temples of Ancient Egypt and Greece. It was known to Hippocrates.
It has been called by different names by different religions, different cultures
and different individuals throughout history. Whatever changes or alters consciousness
can be classified under hypnosis. The use of chanting, drumming and dancing have
all been used to change the state of consciousness.
Such methods have
been used by the Druids, Vikings, Dervishes, Hindu priests, Indian Yogis
and holy men of all religions 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 label as "Hypnosis" can also
be found in the "Bible" (Genesis 2:21, 1 Samuel 26 12, Job 4:13, 33:15,
Acts 10:10), the Talmud, and the Hindu Vedas written about 1500 BC.
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Franz
Mesmer |
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to enlarge |
It
was in the late 1700’s that the Viennese doctor, Franz Anton Mesmer
(pictured right), created the forerunner of modern hypnosis, calling it, "animal magnetism".
Mesmer became a superstar to the public, but antagonizing the medical community,
which felt threatened by his success.
Mesmer
acknowledged the spiritual root of his work, which was the
healing work of a Jesuit priest, Father Maximillian Hell. In 1774, Mesmer witnessed
animal magnetism, when he watched the priest apply magnets to the bodies of persons
suffering from various spiritual ailments.
Unlike
the modern hypnotist, Mesmer rarely used words. He relied on passing
magnets around a "distressed"
person, and later on simply making passes with his hands.
His clients expected to experience relief from their problems by entering a convulsive
state after which they would feel released and calmed. He claimed that there
was some kind of invisible force, which traveled from the magnetizer to the person
seeking a cure.
Mesmer
built on ancient Masonic concepts of illness being evidence within the
individual of an imbalance of a universal fluid. The induction of convulsive
attacks or crises, created a healthy redistribution of the fluid. Thus, Mesmer
believed the process was physiological, but invisible. Mesmer’s concepts
tied into subjects of great interest to scientists of that era. His explanation
for creating these healing convulsions, in contrast to the faith cures of contemporary
miracle workers, has earned Mesmer the credit for founding dynamic psychiatry.
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The
Mesmer Tub |
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to enlarge |
In the beginning of
his evolution, Mesmer used to magnetize objects which his patients could
then touch or, in the case of "magnetized" water, drink or pour over
themselves. This was accomplished in two venues: people would be connected by
a rope to a magnetized tree, or share a large tub (pictured left) called a "baquet",
an 18th century version of a hot tub. Later, Mesmer found that simple "passes" of
his hands were sufficient to put patients into a trance where they emerged refreshed
and relieved after experiencing their convulsions.
French
psychiatrist Leon Chertok says, "Once Mesmer had dispensed with
actual magnets, there was no talking during the treatment,, so there were no
direct verbal injunctions. However, these were implicit in the therapist’s
attitude. The passes, the music, the setting, the atmosphere round the tub were
factors which were indirectly to increase the effect of the suggestion, but also
contributed in producing a kind of sensory deprivation which induced an alteration
of the state of consciousness, gradually ending in the ‘crisis’. Mesmer’s
patients did not all have attacks. Some showed, rather, a sort of lethargy, while
still being able to walk, talk, etc. In other words, they were hypnotized."
The
Marquis de Puysegur, (pictured right) a disciple of Mesmer, forever
altered the practice of "animal magnetism" by focusing his attention
on what happened to people in what we would call deep hypnosis and which he named "magnetic
somnambulism. He observed that when someone was in this state, his or her symptoms
and behavior could be influenced by what the "magnetiser" said. Chertok
says that Puysegur developed the following principles, all of which have stood
the test of time and still guide most therapists today
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Puysegur's
Tree |
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to enlarge |
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Convulsions
were not necessary; words were sufficient.
The magnetist
had to listen to the person seeking relief, often the client had to re-experience
painful feelings.
The sessions
had to be of regular frequency and duration.
The magnetist
had to be neutral and patient.
The symptoms
might return temporarily.
Chertok adds, "While
he was in a deep magnetic sleep, [the client] was asked to establish his own
diagnosis…and the form of his treatment…He was also asked to predict
the development of his treatment: when he would recover, when the attacks would
occur, etc. Thus was produced a kind of psychodrama in which the patient caused
the magnetist to play a part in a series of successive catharses."
The French Royal
Commission of 1774, after investigating animal magnetism, dismissed
the cures they observed by explaining them away as caused by the imaginations
of the subjects. The Commission failed to comprehend the power of the imagination.
Not only did they ignore the positive results of Mesmer’s work and the psychological
implications of the illnesses, they failed to realize that the cures were genuine
even if, as Dr. David Waxman explains, "…there appeared to be no physical
or organic origin to the illness."
A century later, Sigmund
Freud had helped to push hypnosis out of the limelight with his invention of
psychoanalysis. Freud sought to escape the hypnotism label for his work; he began
to use free association with no apparent awareness of that technique’s basic
similarity to the formal hypnosis he renounced. He would have his client recline
on a couch, eyes closed, with an occasional touch on the client’s forehead.
Part Two 
Some images
by Tavit Smith. Other Images Copyright T. Connelly 2000
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