Brief History of Hypnosis
Hypnosis is certainly not new. There are indications that hypnosis was used in ancient India, Egypt and Greece with the sleep temples. In 1027, Avicenna, a Persian psychologist and physician seems to have been the first to make a distinction between sleep and to what we now call hypnosis and even referred to hypnosis in his book called The Book of Healing.
In the 1700's, there was a man named Maximilian Hell who used magnetism to heal people. Now you may be wondering why I would be talking about magnetism in an article about hypnosis. Well, it's because one of Maximilian's students was a man named Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer is responsible for the word mesmermism which is still associated with hypnosis today.
Mesmer used a misleading term called “animal magnetism” to heal people. Mesmer believed that this magnetic power resided only in the bodies of animals and humans. He believed that this was why he able to pass a magnet or a stick over a wound, and bleeding would stop. Mesmer is also responsible for many of the myths surrounding hypnosis today.
Mesmerism continued for many years. However, in 1842, a man named James Braid rejected the idea that hypnosis has anything to do with magnetism and determined that trance was a physiological process due to fixation on a bright moving object. He coined the wordhypnosis from the Greek work hypnos which means sleep. He later realized that hypnosis was not a type of sleep, and tried unsuccessfully to change the term to “monoideism” (single-idea-ism), but it was too late.
Hypnosis was common practice by doctors in field hospitals during the Civil War until chemical anesthesia was introduced.
The British Medical Association in 1955 approved the use of hypnosis in the areas of psychoneuroses and hypnoanesthesia for pain management in childbirth and surgery. The BMA also advised all physicians to learn the fundamentals of hypnosis. In 1956, Pope Pius XII gave his approval for hypnosis in an address from the Vatican. In 1958, the American Medical Association approved hypnosis for medical use and encouraged research, and in 1960 the American Psychological Association endorsed hypnosis as a branch of psychology.
In the 1700's, there was a man named Maximilian Hell who used magnetism to heal people. Now you may be wondering why I would be talking about magnetism in an article about hypnosis. Well, it's because one of Maximilian's students was a man named Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer is responsible for the word mesmermism which is still associated with hypnosis today.
Mesmer used a misleading term called “animal magnetism” to heal people. Mesmer believed that this magnetic power resided only in the bodies of animals and humans. He believed that this was why he able to pass a magnet or a stick over a wound, and bleeding would stop. Mesmer is also responsible for many of the myths surrounding hypnosis today.
Mesmerism continued for many years. However, in 1842, a man named James Braid rejected the idea that hypnosis has anything to do with magnetism and determined that trance was a physiological process due to fixation on a bright moving object. He coined the wordhypnosis from the Greek work hypnos which means sleep. He later realized that hypnosis was not a type of sleep, and tried unsuccessfully to change the term to “monoideism” (single-idea-ism), but it was too late.
Hypnosis was common practice by doctors in field hospitals during the Civil War until chemical anesthesia was introduced.
The British Medical Association in 1955 approved the use of hypnosis in the areas of psychoneuroses and hypnoanesthesia for pain management in childbirth and surgery. The BMA also advised all physicians to learn the fundamentals of hypnosis. In 1956, Pope Pius XII gave his approval for hypnosis in an address from the Vatican. In 1958, the American Medical Association approved hypnosis for medical use and encouraged research, and in 1960 the American Psychological Association endorsed hypnosis as a branch of psychology.
