Hypnosis a History of Healing and Sensationalism

Few scientific endeavors or therapeutic interventions have attracted more controversy or sensationalism than hypnosis. In the professional and academic realm there has been spirited theorizing and disagreement about the definition, applications, and efficacy of hypnosis since its modern inception over 200 years ago with the work of Franz Anton Mesmer Hypnosis and hypnotic-like interventions have been used since the time of the ancient Greeks to relieve pain and suffering. In fact, the phenomenon of hypnotic analgesia has played a crucial role in increasing the acceptance of hypnosis as an identifiable altered state of consciousness.

From its earliest days, Mesmerism was employed to reduce or eliminate the most intractable pain. Throughout the first half of the 19th century, surgery, childbirth, and even amputations, were performed on patients who had been induced into a "Mesermic sleep." During this time the most celebrated figure of hypnotic analgesia and anesthesia was the Scottish surgeon, James Esdaile who practiced in India in the early to mid-1800s. His own writing as well as numerous reliable eyewitness accounts reveal that he performed hundreds of successful surgical procedures using mesmerism as the only form of anesthesia. Observers and the patients alike reported that little or no pain was experienced during or after the procedure. Moreover, surgery performed using Mesermic techniques appeared to result in less bleeding and shorter post-operative recovery.

Hypnosis as we now recognize it was significantly advanced through the writings of James Braid in the 1840s who began to differentiate between mesmerism and something he called “nervous sleep” which he later termed hypnosis. Like Esdaile, he was a Scottish surgeon interested in reducing the pain and suffering of his patients. Unlike some of his more flamboyant predecessors, however, he investigated the benefits and phenomena of hypnosis within a formal medical context.

After Braid’s death in the 1860s and the adoption of ether for anesthesia, hypnosis significantly declined only to later experience repeated cycles of acceptance and rejection. Notably, however, some of the most important early explorers in consciousness, Charcot, Janet, Bernheim, Prince, and Freud to name a few, found hypnosis important in the development of their psychological theories and understanding of the unconscious.

The 1950’s saw hypnosis begin to reestablish itself as an effective treatment for acute and chronic pain. While clinicians like Milton H. Erickson utilized hypnotic analgesia directly with patients, researchers like Hilgard and Hilgard studied it as a neurophysiological and psychological mechanism within a laboratory setting. Within this setting researchers have found hypnosis to be effective in reducing or eliminating a wide range of experimentally induced pain and more effective that other psychological interventions. This evidence has been substantiated in thousands of clinical settings as reported by the professional literature for the last forty years.

Hypnosis has had its dark side as well. At times through out its modern history, hypnosis has been mercilessly exploited in a non-professional context to a point at which it is credited with everything from sensational miracle cures to profound spiritual enlightenment. Even its originator, Franz Anton Mesmer, was investigated over 200 years ago for sensational claims by Benjamin Franklin and a French royal commission of scientists.

Currently, television, films, and books, have built the public's expectancy of the mystical power of hypnosis to a point where some patients become disappointed when it does not provide a miracle cure for which they hoped. These depictions, by the way, invariably involve vulnerable women.

Expecting a "miracle" clients often consult a hypnotherapist as a "last resort" rather than a natural and scientifically proven adjunct to their health care regime. "Therapists," and I use this label with fantastic reserve, who take advantage of this false public image, should be avoided at all costs. Likewise, this false expectation factor makes it imperative that the therapist demystify any unrealistic views of hypnosis that the patient may have before proceeding with treatment.

If you have questions about hypnosis claims please check out the hypnosis FAQ for more information