The following is a timeline of important people and societies and their influences
and discoveries about hypnosis and hypnotherapy.
You may click a year to jump to the events of that century or read all the way
through at your leisure.
2630
B.C through 27 B.C
During this time many civilizations used forms of hypnotherapy to cure the sick
in their empires and villages. A description of how the Egyptians and Romans
used hypnosis are listed below.
Egyptians
Egyptians built sleep temples where a priest would cure patients of diseases
by putting his hand on his/her head and making suggestions that resulted in
cures.
Romans
A Roman man by the name of Aesculapis put his patients in a deep sleep and then
eliminated their pain by stoking the head with his hands.
In the 1700's hypnosis was very up
and coming and not taken seriously by most medical professionals of that time
partly because of the antics that occurred while a person was being treated.
Later in the century these antics were researched and more logical theories
on hypnosis were formed.
Father Gassner
Father Gassner came up with the idea that sick people were possessed by the
devil. To cure them he created a performance of sorts where he would
march out to a patient who was waiting on a stage. Once he reached the patient
he would touch them with a gold crucifix which would cause them to fall to the
floor. While on the floor Father Gassner would cast the demons out by saying
certain words and moving his crucifix around. Next a doctor would come out and
pronounce the patient dead which then prompted Gassner to revive the patient
and bring him back to life with no demons. This procedure was done regularly
in front of other doctors.
Franz Anton Mesmer
Shortly after hearing of Father Gassner's "healing" process Mesmer
did is own research in which he concluded that Gassner did nothing and it was
the metal in the crucifix that caused these cures. Mesmer coined the term Mesmerism
which is defined as a process used to induce trance that involves passes over
a person with a magnet. The magnet was believed to disrupt the electromagnetic
energies in a person's body to allow them to slip in to trance.
1800's
During the 1800's evolved in to a more sophisticated treatment, it was no longer a "show" like Father Gassner's methods. It became more structured and understood thanks to James Braid and turned in to more of a relaxed conversation through Freud.
James Braid
In 1842 James Braid renamed Mesmerism to hypnotism using the prefix "hypno"
after the Greek god of sleep Hypnos. While researching and studying hypnosis
Braid developed many ideas that still hold true today. They include but are
not limited to:
Dr. Ambroise-Auguste Liebeault
Liebeault was well known for "rapid hypnotherapy" because he did
not spend more that 20 minutes with his patients due to the fact he realized
that most hypnotherapy did not need to be conducted in deep trance. He would
put his subject in trance by simply placing his hand over them and saying relax
or sleep. This method seemed to work wonders for his patients. In the 1850's
he and a man by the name of Bernheim established the Nancy School which experimented
with various types of hypnotic indications.
Jean Marie Charot
Charcot was a French neurologist who stated that hypnosis was pathological state
that weakened the mind and lead to hysteria among patients. This discovery was
denied by the Nancy School of Medicine in France who said that Charcot was a
fraud and most things were figments of his imagination
Sigmund Freud
Freud is very well known throughout the field of psychology. His contributions
to hypnosis were in the form of a procedure called psychoanalysis. Freud was
not very skilled in hypnosis so he created his own method of treating patients
called psychoanalysis which used many techniques from hypnosis. Psychoanalysis
consisted of a person laying on a couch relaxing and Freud would give them suggestions
while placing his hands on their foreheads. The concept of hands on the forehead
and relaxation were borrowed from current hypnosis techniques.
1900's
During the 1900's hypnosis and hypnotherapy
grew in to a larger profession and as a result formed associations to help govern
the new developments and teachings of hypnosis and hypnotherapy.
Hadfield
After WWI ended Hadfield developed a technique called hypoanalysis. In hypoanalysis
the patient would be asked to remember previous incidents in an attempt to figure
out why they were having a problem. A definition would be using regression to
uncover damaging experiences.
Milton Erickson
Erickson wrote about 150 essays on his discoveries in hypnotherapy. He was well
known for essays on such topics as inducing trance, the relationship between
patient and therapist and limits of hypnotic experiences. His most respected
and well known discoveries were the fact that therapy must be adjusted for each
person, there is no general treatment for certain problems and every patient
is able to be cured it is the therapists job to help them realize this.
William J. Bryan Jr.
Bryan was the first president of the American Institute of Hypnosis and also
established the first university courses in hypnosis. The American Institute
of Hypnosis was formed on May 4 1955 and it's goal was and is to be a governing
body in the field and to regulate courses and requirements to enter the field.
1960's - present
Hypnosis has been advancing in uses, many diseases have become easier to treat
when combined with hypnotherapy. The American Institute of Hypnosis has expanded
and grown in to a hub for hypnotherapy information. Now people searching for
a therapist can call the institute and they will provide them with names, addresses
and phone numbers of qualified therapists. Also many more universities both
in the United States and abroad have started degree programs in hypnotherapy.
Recently hypnotherapy has been used in new ways such as "forensic hypnosis"
which is used by police and investigators to help witnesses recall details they
may have forgotten because of the shock or trauma of the events they saw. As
you can see hypnosis has grown a lot since Father Gassner and has become a very
important aspect of medical society and continues to develop and find new uses.
