Hypnosis in History Contents

Introduction.................................................................................3 1774 The Birth of Mesmerism.................................................9 5,000 Years Ago Ancient Hypnosis .........................................4

1784 The Fall of Animal Magnetism.....................................13

1819 The Pioneers of Mesmerism .........................................17 1850 The Nancy School.........................................................24

1843 Hypnosis Gains Credibility...........................................21

1882 Charcot's School ...........................................................28 1890 Shamanism and Trance Traditions................................37 2012 Hypnosis in History Credits..........................................44 1920 Hypnosis in the Modern Era .........................................41 1885 Freud and Coue.............................................................32

Free Online Video Courses from the AHA ...............................47 The Hypnotherapy Channel ...................................Back Cover

Hypnosis in History

To take the online exam and receive your FREE CEU Certificate go to the American Hypnosis Association.

This illuminating story is a must see for any student of Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy.

This 40 minute video documentary presents the revealing and fascinating history of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy. Starting with the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, our story guides you through the pivotal pioneers of Mesmerism and Hypnosis in Europe, and then into the 20th Century.

The American Hypnosis Association (AHA) in conjunction with HMIs Accredited College of Hypnotherapy is proud to present this FREE online course, Hypnosis in History.

Free Hypnosis in History Course

Hypnosis in History

5,000 Years Ago Ancient Hypnosis

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To better understand the position of Hypnosis in our world today, and the possible paths of its future, it is useful to examine the history of the many ways that humans have used hypnotic states of consciousness to understand themselves, and the world around them.

The history of Hypnosis is similar to the history of sleep documenting the cultural use of an inherent, universal biological response for therapeutic purposes. The use of hypnotic states for healing has been perhaps, a part of every culture throughout time. Some of the first recorded information comes from over 5,000 years ago, from the time of Egypt's Old Kingdom. The Temple of Imhotep in the ancient city of Saqqara was an important healing center in the late 3rd Century BCE.
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Hypnosis in History

Temple Sleep
Notable among its practices was a tradition called "temple sleep." Ailing individuals would journey to the temple in search of a cure from the gods.
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Sleep Temples
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After long rituals involving the ingestion of herbs, and hours of rhythmic recitation of prayers, the individual was led to a special darkened chamber to sleep and await a dream revealing a cure.

This practice eventually spread to Greece, where special "sleep temples" were built, dedicated to the god of healing, Aesclapius. Ailing individuals journeyed to the temple to undergo the proper rituals and dream of a cure in the sleep chamber, which was filled with snakes, the symbol of the God. We can now understand the divine answers and feelings of reassurance experienced by ancient peoples as the product of sensory overload, expectation and direct suggestion, but that does not diminish the physical and emotional healing that took place because of it.
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Oracles

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The use of hypnotic states was also exemplified in the ancient practice of oracles individuals employed by temples to divine the future.
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00:02:14.000

Like Sleep Temples in Egypt and Greece, individual expectation and overload were essential ingredients for both the oracle and the subject.

These were accomplished through preparatory processes including the drinking of herbal mixtures and being led by priests through chambers filled with candles and brightly painted images.

Oracle at Delphi
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The result of this process was a heightened suggestibility in the mind of the subject, creating a receptive environment for a profound emotional experience.

By far the most well-known in the ancient world was the Oracle at Delphi in central Greece, which was in continuous use for over a thousand years. The philosopher Heraclitus described it in the 6th Century BCE:

Hypnosis in History

"The lord whose is the Oracle at Delphi neither speaks nor hides his meaning, but gives a sign. And the sibyl with raving lips, uttering things mirthless, unadorned and unperfumed, reaches over a thousand years with her voice thanks to the god inside her."

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The God Apollo

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Seated over a crack in the earth which emitted intoxicating fumes, the job of the sibyl inside was to hear the questions of supplicants and open herself to receive an answer from The God Apollo.
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Individual expectation was built into the ritual for both the sibyl herself and the subject, given the oracles reputation.
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Alexander the Great Consulted an Oracle

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Her proclamations were not taken lightly she was consulted by people from all levels of society, including rulers seeking advice about matters of state.

Had the oracle not spoken favorably, it is entirely likely that Alexander would have cancelled or changed his campaign,
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Even the well-known conqueror Alexander the Great consulted an oracle in Egypt before embarking on a major campaign to conquer Persia in the 4th Century BCE.

Hypnosis in History

changing the course of history with it. Many traditional European and Near Eastern trance traditions like sleep temples and oracles ended with the advent of Christianity over the course of the 1st Millennium CE.
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Many Christian rituals and holidays specifically incorporated local pagan traditions in order to make an easier transition to the new belief system, often incorporating trance inducing elements like incense, images, and singing.

Self Test
A. B. C. D.

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Question: Hypnosis took what form in Ancient Egypt? Imhotep Healing Temple Sleep Dream Chamber Prayer Ritual

Hypnosis in History

1774 The Birth of Mesmerism

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Hypnosis as we know it today had its origins in the unique medical practices of Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer, a physician who lived in Vienna, Austria during the mid 18th Century. Mesmer was a fervent believer in the more esoteric aspects of Western medical tradition, including the influence of astronomy and magnets on human health.

Animal Magnetism or Mesmerism

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He eventually named this fluid and its manipulation Animal Magnetism and developed an elaborate theory regarding its affect on health. Mesmer believed that every individual had magnetic fluid flowing through channels throughout his body, and that blockages in the flow of this fluid caused emotional or physical disease, and that certain individuals had more or less innate animal magnetism the ability to manipulate the flow of this fluid.
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In 1774 during a magnetic treatment with a female patient, Mesmer felt that he perceived a fluid flowing through the womans body whose flow was affected by his own will.

Hypnosis in History

Paris, France
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He moved to Paris in the late 1770s and found more interested students there than in Vienna. The process of Animal Magnetism, or Mesmerism, laid the foundations for the later development of Hypnosis.

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A contemporary English doctor described Mesmers techniques in vivid detail:

His patients were received with an air of mystery and studied effect. The apartment, hung with mirrors, was dimly lit. A

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With this, and with each other, they were placed in relation by means of cords, or jointed rods, or by holding hands; and among them slowly and mysteriously moved Mesmer himself, affecting one by a touch, another by a look, a third by passes with his hand, a fourth by pointing with a rod.

profound silence was observed, broken only by strains of music which occasionally floated through the rooms. The patients were seated around a sort of vat which contained a heterogeneous mixture of chemical ingredients.

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One person became hysterical, then another; one was seized with catalepsy; others with convulsions; some with palpitations of the heart, perspirations, and other bodily disturbances.

The method was supposed to provoke in the sick person exactly the kind of action beneficial to his recovery. To the ignorant the scene was full of wonderment.
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The extraordinary tales of Mesmer's personal power over individuals are probably part exaggeration, part real results of his confidence and skill in the use of the means he wielded.

King Louis XVI Magnetism: Fact or Fiction?

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By the mid 1780s, Mesmers dramatic practices had drawn the amazement and scrutiny of the citizens of Paris, including that of King Louis XVI himself, who commissioned a panel of renowned scientists to examine Animal Magnetism as fact or fiction, once and for all.
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Hypnosis in History

Self Test

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Question: Where was Franz Mesmer living when he first developed his theory of Animal Magnetism? A. B. C. D. Paris Berlin Vienna Geneva

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1784 The Fall of Animal Magnetism

Louis XVIs panel included medical doctors from the Royal Faculty of Medicine in Paris as well as respected scientists from other fields.
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These included the chemist Antoine Lavoisier discoverer of oxygen and hydrogen; Dr. Joseph Guillotin co-founder of the Academy of Medicine in Paris and the inventor of the guillotine;

astronomer Jean Bailly a senior member of the French Academy of Sciences who studied the moons of Jupiter; and American scientist and Ambassador to France, Benjamin Franklin.
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Hypnosis in History

00:09:12.000

After months of investigation and observation, the commission determined that Mesmer had not discovered a real physical fluid, that the human body did not contain previously undiscovered channels, and that any effects of his treatments were due to solely to the "imagination" of the subjects.
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His reputation ruined by the commission's findings, Mesmer returned to Vienna the following year, eventually returning to the countryside near his place of birth, living out the last 30 years of his life in near total obscurity. Though the idea of Animal Magnetism had been debunked within scientific circles, a number of individuals continued the practice into the 19th Century, many making their own unique changes to the underlying theories and procedure, some performing it in stage Mesmerism shows.
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The Marquis de Puysegur

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Mesmerism took a turn toward something closer to modern Hypnosis with one of Dr. Mesmers followers, the Marquis de Puysegur, a lower nobleman of the French aristocracy. The story of his session with a peasant named Victor is widely thought to be the first use of Mesmerism to improve the mood or psychological state of a person.
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The story is described in detail by an English doctor of the time:

Hypnosis in History

He took occasion to mesmerize the daughter of his agent and another young person, for the toothache, and in a few moments, they declared themselves cured. This questionable success was sufficient to lead M. de Puysegur, a few days after, to try his hand on a young peasant of the name Victor, who was suffering with a severe fluxion on his chest.

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What was M. de Puysegur's surprise, when, at the end of a few minutes, Victor went off into a kind of tranquil sleep, without crisis or convulsion, and in that sleep began to gesticulate and talk, and enter into his private affairs.

Then he became sad; and M. de Puysegur tried mentally to inspire him with cheerful thoughts; he hummed a lively tune to himself inaudibly, and immediately Victor began to sing the air. Victor remained asleep for an hour, and awoke composed, with his symptoms mitigated.

Artificial Somnambulism
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While reflecting upon this episode, the Marquis noted a connection between some of Victor's reactions and sleepwalking, and became the first person to refer to this reaction as "Artificial Somnambulism, a term which has carried with us to this day.

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Self Test

00:11:29.000

Question: Which French Nobleman first used the term "Somnambulism" in connection to Hypnosis? A. B. C. D. de Cuvillers de Puysegur Lavoisier Victor

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1819 The Pioneers of Mesmerism

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One of these early practitioners was a man named Abbe Faria, who wrote a book on the subject in 1819 entitled, "On the Cause of Lucid Sleep."

Abbe Faria

Though Mesmer's theories about the mechanics of animal magnetism were proven to be false, many early Mesmerists continued to practice and expound upon their own theories and procedures into the 19th Century.

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The Count of Monte Cristo

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Abbe Faria was near the end of his life when he wrote this work, and the road which led him there reads like a novel - literally.

Chateu d'If Prison

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He was the real-life basis of a character of the same name in the Alexandre Dumas classic "The Count of Monte Cristo." But the real-life Abbe Faria did not die in prison like in the novel, but eventually served out his prison sentence and moved to Paris, where he became fascinated with Mesmerism.

He befriended many notable revolutionaries during this time, which was suspicion enough for Napoleon Bonaparte to throw him into the infamous Chateu d'If prison for nearly 20 years.

Born in a Portuguese colony on the coast of India in 1746, he spent the majority of his life as a Catholic Priest and a Doctor of Theology. In his 40's he became involved in an attempted revolt in his native India and fled to France, which itself was in the throes of its own revolution.

Lucid Sleep
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Based on his lengthy observations of Mesmerism once he was free, he wrote his influential book, which put forward the idea Mesmerism was a mental process of the subject. He called the state "Lucid Sleep" and explained it as the result of a combination of "visual fixation" and "mental fatigue."
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Etienne de Cuvillers Hypnotism and Hypnotists

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Just a year later another Mesmerist, Etienne de Cuvillers, published the first work to name the phenomenon "Hypnotism" and call the practitioners "Hypnotists," based on the Greek word for "sleep."

April 12, 1829 First Recorded Use of Hypnosis

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The first recorded instance of using Hypnosis for anesthesia in surgery was on April 12, 1829 in Paris. Dr. Jules Cloquet worked in conjunction with a local mesmerist by the name of Chapelain to perform surgery on a female patient with breast cancer.
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Herbert Mayo, an English surgeon, described the operation:

She was then like an ordinary sleep-walker, and would converse with indifference about the contemplated operation, the idea of which, when she was in her natural state, filled her with terror.
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She was prepared for the operation by Monsieur Chapelain, who on several successive days threw her into trance by the ordinary mesmeric manipulations.

Hypnosis in History

During the whole of the operation, the patient in her trance exhibited not the slightest sign of suffering. Her expression of countenance did not change; nor was the voice, the breathing, or the pulse at all affected. When asked by Dr. Mayo why he did not begin utilizing this state for all his operations, the French doctor replied that "he had not dared; that the prejudice against Mesmerism was so strong at Paris that he probably would have lost his reputation and his income by doing so."
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The public distrust of Mesmerism led to many such instances of hypnotists keeping their results quiet, without publication, which in turn contributed to the air of mystery surrounding the subject.

Self Test

Question: What is the meaning of "hypnos" - the Greek origin of the word "Hypnosis"? A. B. C. D. Sleep Trance To Discover To Heal

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1843 Hypnosis Gains Credibility

Once the early mesmerists began proposing new theories and finding new applications for Mesmerism, the practice began to gain more legitimacy among doctors and scientists moving into the mid 19th Century.
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Dr. James Braid

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In 1841 a Scottish medical doctor, James Braid, went on to become one of the most important figures in the history of Hypnosis after he observed his first mesmerist show at the age of 46. Born in rural Scotland, James Braid went on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh and became a respected general surgeon in Manchester, England. Though he may have heard of Mesmerism during his training or career, the first time he actually observed it was at a travelling show performed by a Swiss Mesmerist, and the practice greatly intrigued him.
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Hypnotism and Hypnotist

00:16:31.000

After the show he obtained permission to closely observe the mans subjects, and after months of intense observation, Dr. Braid had developed the core of his theory regarding the practice.

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Disliking the connotations of the term Mesmerism, he adopted de Cuvillers terms Hypnotism and Hypnotist, becoming the first to use these words in English. He explained in his first book that: I have now entirely separated Hypnotism from Animal Magnetism. I consider it to be merely a simple, speedy, and certain mode of throwing the nervous system into a new condition, which may be rendered eminently available in the cure of certain disorders.

I feel quite confident we may have acquired in this process a valuable addition to our curative means; but I repudiate the idea of holding it up as a universal remedy; nor do I even pretend to understand as yet, the whole range of diseases in which it may be useful.

I trust, therefore, it may be investigated quite independently of any bias, either for or against the subject, as connected with Mesmerism; and only by the facts which can be adduced.

Eye Fascination
00:17:32.000

Dr. Braids writings and experiments with hypnotism quickly made him the leading figure in Hypnosis in the English speaking world. His scientific approach and willingness to engage in debate gave Hypnosis a new, respectable face compared to the mystery and controversy surrounding Mesmerism. He clearly
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Take any bright object (I generally use my lancet case) between the thumb and the fore and middle fingers of the left hand; hold it from about eight to fifteen inches from the eyes at such position above the forehead, as may be necessary to produce the greatest possible strain upon the eyes and the eyelids, and enable the patient to maintain a steady fixed stare at the object.

00:17:55.000

summarized his basic eye fascination induction in an 1843 book:

The renewed scientific interest in Hypnosis prompted by James Braid not only led to new ways of thinking and talking about the practice, but to new studies and applications as well.

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The pupils will be at first contracted: they will shortly begin to dilate, and after they have done so to a considerable extent, and have assumed a wavy motion, if the fore and middle fingers of the right hand are carried from the object towards the eyes, most probably the eyelids will close involuntarily, with a vibratory motion.

Self Test
A. B. C. D.

00:18:48.000

Question: James Braid was best known for...

Medical Hypnosis Treatment of Neurosis Performing Stage Shows First use of the term Hypnosis in English
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1850 The Nancy School

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After James Braids new research into Hypnosis during the 1840s and 50s, scientists around Europe began experimenting with the process in ever greater numbers.

For the last half of the 19th Century, the greatest amount of research and academic debate came out of France, spurred on by an intense ideological rivalry between two dramatically conflicting schools of thought. The Nancy School, led by Ambroise Liebeault and Hippolyte Bernheim, and the Salpetriere School, led by JeanMartin Charcot.

Ambroise Liebeault
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Not long after graduating from medical school and opening a small general practice in the French town of Nancy, Ambroise Liebeault became acquainted with a student of James Braid and became fascinated with the concept of hypnotism.
00:20:14.000

After learning the skill, he began independently using it with his

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patients, attempting to ease their pain and quicken their healing. Had his practices not come to the attention of a professor of neurology at the University of Nancy a number of years later, it is likely that Dr. Liebeault would have faded out of history as yet another country doctor dabbling in Hypnosis.
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Dr. Hippolyte Bernheim

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But as fate would have it, a patient came to Dr. Liebeault who was troubled with chronic sciatica and found no relief from the treatments of the young university professor trying to help him.

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After a short series of Hypnosis, which resulted in the disappearance of his chronic pain, the patient returned to visit the university doctor, Hippolyte Bernheim, to let him know that he was cured.

Dr. Bernheim was fascinated and puzzled at his patients unexpected speedy recovery and quickly became acquainted with Dr. Liebeault in order to learn about his methods. Though nearly 20 years apart in age, and both possessing very different sets of skills and experiences, the two doctors became friends and professional colleagues, soon taking other interested doctors under their wing, teaching them Hypnosis and experimenting with its possible uses.
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Suggestive Therapeutics
00:21:19.000

The Nancy School as Liebeault and Bernheims organization came to be called, believed that Hypnosis was a natural curative process that operated through the use of mental suggestion, a concept that they called suggestive therapeutics.
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Confabulation and False Memories

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Liebeault pioneered the idea of using different hypnotic depths for different presenting issues, as well as the use of repetitive suggestions.

In 1891 Bernheim related the story of a particular patient to whom he suggested an invented memory while in Hypnosis. He told the patient that during the previous night, his sleep had been disturbed by a noisy neighbor who spent much of the night singing with the windows open. Upon awakening, and when asked by Dr. Bernheim about his sleep the night before, the patient recounted the invented memory and swore to its reality.
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00:21:54.000

Bernheim, on the other hand, became fascinated with confabulation and false memories the ability of hypnotized patients to invent new memories or accept false suggested ones as fact, and provided some of the earliest research on the subject.

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Hypnosis in History

00:22:19.000

Bernheim also felt that trying to understand Hypnosis as a single phenomenon was restrictive, and suggested that it was the result of numerous factors leading to a state of suggestion.

The Salpetriere School

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Throughout the late 19th Century the work of the Nancy School was under intense opposition from a more highly regarded group academically Charcots Salpetriere School in Paris.

Self Test

Question: Liebault and Bernheim are credited with what hypnotic phenomena? A. B. C. D. Mental Suggestion Eye Fascination Confabulation Artificial Somnambulism

00:22:41.000

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1882 Charcots Salpetriere School

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Jean-Martin Charcot
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Although The Nancy Schools ideas eventually gained the upper hand in the early 20th Century, their theories were widely criticized and questioned at the time of their publication because of the notoriety of their opposition, the head of the Salpetriere School.

Known for his many contributions to medicine in his own right, Charcot was the first medical researcher to describe and name both Multiple Sclerosis and AML, or Lou Gehrigs Disease as it is now known.

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Born in Paris in 1825, Jean-Martin Charcot became one of the founders of modern neurology when he opened up the worlds first clinic entirely devoted to the study of the brain and the mind in Paris Salpetriere Hospital in 1882.

Hysteria

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But aside from physical disorders, he was also fascinated by disorders of the mind and was a leading researcher in the field of hysteria a term used at the time to describe a

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00:24:21.000

wide variety of psychological and developmental disorders, particularly ones affecting the patients perception of their physical bodies.

State of Hypnosis
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Given his imposing academic credentials and professional respect, practicing doctors and young researchers gave strong weight to Charcots opinions on any subject, including Hypnosis.

The Salpetriere School, as Charcots circle of students at his clinic was known, maintained that Hypnosis was actually just a symptom of hysteria a disturbed, atypical mental state that should never be induced in any ordinary person due to its destabilizing effect on the mind.
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Through his work with hysteria, Charcot came to the conclusion that hysterical patients entered a state of Hypnosis during their outbursts, and that therefore, only people suffering from hysteria could enter the hypnotic state.

Charcot only used Hypnosis when dealing with hysterical patients because he felt he could utilize the state to work against itself. He explained his reasoning in an 1889 paper:
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"Not infrequently we see hysterical symptoms manifest themselves at the first attempt of Hypnosis, which may thus be the occasional
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cause of hysteria. One avoids this danger, and consequently a heavy responsibility, by operating, as I have ever done, only upon subjects that are manifestly hysterical."
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The Nancy School deplored these kinds of claims by Charcot as fear tactics, meant to quell opposing research, and the two schools waged academic warfare for the next 20 years in scholarly journals over these sorts of issues, tearing apart the ideas and characters of the opposing side.

But with time, more and more researchers began seeing the arguments and experimental results of the Nancy School as equally valid. Although the intensity of the rivalry made it difficult for either side to gain broad support for their respective views at the time, the desire to outdo the other side led to great advances in researching the field of Hypnosis, opening up a new generation of young medical students to new ideas about the relationship between the mind and the body.
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Initially, the consensus of European scientists swung in the favor of the Salpetriere School, primarily due to the reputation of its founder.

Sigmund Freud
00:26:20.000

One of these young men was a German student by the name of Sigmund Freud, who observed the practices of both schools over
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the fall of 1885, changing the focus of his ambitions from neurology to psychology as a result, and changing the field of mental health forever.

Self Test
A. B. C. D.

00:26:37.000

Question: Charcot only used Hypnosis on which kind of patient? Hysterical Female Physically Disabled Those suffering from chronic pain

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1885 Sigmund Freud and Emile Cou

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When a young Sigmund Freud went to study at Charcots Salpetriere School in 1885, he was drawn by his interest in neurology.

Born in 1856 in what is now the Czech Republic, Sigmund Freud was raised in a middle class Jewish family and eventually went to medical school at the University of Vienna.

00:27:37.000

By the end of his time there, he had discovered a new passion for psychology, including Hypnosis, which also led him to the Nancy School, to see another take on the subject.

Josef Breuer
00:27:48.000

His first professional exposure to Hypnosis occurred a few years before he went to study under Charcot, through collaboration with his mentor and eventual colleague Josef Breuer.
00:27:57.000

Breuer was treating a young woman suffering from hysteria that began with the diagnosis of her fathers terminal illness and severely worsened after his death.
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Anna O.

Given the pseudonym Anna O., the patient suffered from a variety of physical and mental symptoms with no apparent cause, including pain in various parts of the body, speech disturbances, and periodic refusal to eat or drink.
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Breuer used Hypnosis to try to temper her symptoms through relaxation. While in Hypnosis, he often let her talk freely, and sometimes explored memories that seemed to arise for no reason.

Psychoanalysis
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Through his two years of intense therapy with Anna O., Breuer developed the core theory and practice of psychoanalysis, which in turn was taken on and developed by Freud. In the early years of his private practice, Freud used Hypnosis with many of his patients, preferring a more dominant, paternalistic technique. But after further developing psychoanalysis and free association, he rejected traditional Hypnosis on the grounds that it did not effectively do away with client resistance, yielding only incomplete information and temporary results.
00:29:02.000 00:28:49.000 00:28:41.000

It was partially due to Freud's personal role in developing

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psychology as a field of academic study that Hypnosis is not taught at most universities to this day. But in spite of the setback caused by Freuds rejection of the practice, Hypnosis continued to become more widely accepted around the turn of the Century, including by such organizations as the British Medical Association in 1892.
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Emile Cou
00:29:25.000

Placebos and Positive Suggestions

00:29:33.000

Another influential figure in Hypnosis around the turn of the 20th Century was the French pharmacist turned hypnotherapist Emile Cou.

Born in 1857, Cou owned and operated his own pharmacy in a small French city, and noticed the strong effects of placebos and positive suggestions, observing that people seemed to heal faster when he praised a medication and left a positive note reminding the patient of the dosage.
00:29:50.000

After he learned about the Nancy Schools ideas about suggestive therapeutics, he began studying under Liebeault and Bernheim in 1901, and soon began offering supplemental Hypnosis sessions to his pharmaceutical clients.
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Conscious Autosuggestion
00:30:03.000

After a number of years of practicing traditional Hypnosis, Cou came to feel that the suggestions repeated by the clients themselves were more effective and long-lasting, leading him to become one of the earliest proponents of self-Hypnosis, or as he called it conscious autosuggestion.
00:30:19.000

00:30:27.000

His general self-improvement affirmation "Every day, in every way, Im getting better and better" became his famous catchphrase.

He published a book on the subject in 1922 entitled Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion. He explained in it that: "Autosuggestion is an instrument that we possess at birth, and with which we play unconsciously all our life, as a baby plays with its rattle. It is however a dangerous instrument; it can wound or even kill you if you handle it imprudently and unconsciously. It can, on the contrary, save your life when you know how to employ it consciously." Early self-help proponents like Emile Cou and psychotherapists like Freud and Breuer helped expand the field of Hypnosis beyond the realm of medical Hypnosis and into the wider field of behavioral modification.
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00:30:36.000

00:30:55.000

Hypnosis in History

Self Test
A. B. C. D.

00:31:08.000

Question: What did Coue call Self-Hypnosis? The Placebo Effect Conscious Autosuggestion The Coue Method Suggestive Therapeutics

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00:31:40.000

1890 Shamanism and Trance Traditions

00:32:03.000

As Hypnosis began to receive more respect and research over the late 19th Century, researchers from other social sciences began to make detailed observations of hypnotic phenomena in exotic foreign cultures. One of the aspects that most fascinated them were trance traditions, the most widely known of them being Shamanism.

00:32:19.000

Derived from a Siberian term, Shamanism has come to define any healer that believes he heals by manipulating the power of spirits using a trance technique.

The term can be useful because it describes a social position common to many cultures across the world, from Asia to Africa to the Americas.

Classic Shamans
00:32:27.000

The classic Shamans of Siberia and Central Asia were some of the first to be studied by Europeans.

Known for their rhythmic chanting, drum beating, and colorful costumes, the Shamans of Central Asia filled an important position in their societies, acting as a conduit for
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00:32:46.000

communication and healing with the spirit world.

00:32:56.000

In much the same way as the ancient Greek Sleep Temples, Shamans employed sensory overload, expectation, and suggestion in their rituals to heal and predict.

Though steadily falling out of favor in some places, Shamanism continues to play an important role in the lives of people across the world today.
00:33:04.000

Around the same time that researchers were first traveling to other countries in the late 19th Century to study unfamiliar cultures, unfamiliar cultures also began making themselves known right here in the United States.

00:33:20.000

Islamic Shamans in Afghanistan are becoming an increasingly rarer sight, while South Korean Shamans known as Mudangs, are prospering despite a modern lifestyle there, and African-based Vodun traditions continue to thrive across the Caribbean and South America.

The Ghost Dance

00:33:32.000

In 1889 and 1890, American settlers in the Great Plains were becoming alarmed at a popular new Native American trance movement - the Ghost Dance.
00:33:42.000

Developed by a self-proclaimed Native American prophet, the

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Ghost Dance was a trance-inducing ritual adopted by many Native American tribes across the Western and Central United States as a backlash to Euro-American encroachment. Tribes practicing the hours long ceremony of dancing, singing and drumming, believed that performing the ritual and concentrating on the central message of deliverance from European society would help bring about its destruction, and a subsequent resurgence of Native American ways of life.
00:33:56.000

Wounded Knee Massacre

00:34:12.000

Though a non-violent form of protest in practice, the United States military used bloodshed to end the movement at the infamous Wounded Knee Massacre. Had the settlers and military understood the nature of the movement as a coping mechanism for the Native Americans to adjust to a new, harder way of life, it is possible that bloodshed could have been avoided.
00:34:21.000

Swami Vivekananda Introduces Yoga

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In 1893, Swami Vivekananda presented the Indian tradition of yoga at the Chicago World's Fair, introducing the audiences to a technique that was hardly known outside of India at the time.
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Hypnosis in History

00:34:45.000

Self Test

Now a popular form of fitness and personal growth, yoga utilizes a hypnotic state brought about through deep breathing and mental and physical focus to calm the mind, relax the body, and to bring about spiritual growth.

00:35:06.000

Question: Which of the following is NOT a Shamanistic tradition? A. B. C. D. Mudang Vodun Islamic Shamanism Hinduism

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Hypnosis in History

1920 Hypnosis in the Modern Era

Once Hypnosis began expanding in the early 20th Century into new areas like self-help and psychology, its growth and research continued in unforeseen directions.
00:35:39.000

Stage Hypnosis
00:35:57.000

During the 1920s, Stage Hypnosis became many peoples first introduction to the practice in vaudeville acts. One stage performer from this time, Dave Elman, went on to become an influential hypnotherapist later in life and wrote the classic manual Hypnotherapy. It was also during this time that the first large-scale scientific study of Hypnosis was performed at the University of Wisconsin, led by Clark Hull. His 1933 book based on the findings, Hypnosis and Suggestibility, used years of clinical data to help explain
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00:36:04.000

00:36:13.000

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Hypnosis in History

exactly what Hypnosis is and what it can be useful for.

00:36:34.000

He confirmed over a hundred years of suspicion that Hypnosis was a different state than normal sleep and that it could not impart extraordinary physical or sensory capabilities, but that it did have a strong ability to reduce the perception of pain and alter memory.

Milton Erickson
00:36:48.000

One of Hulls students, in particular, became fascinated with Hypnosis after seeing a classroom demonstration and hearing about his professors study. This eager young student was named Milton Erickson, and he went on to become one of the most wellknown hypnotherapists of the 20th Century. Stricken with polio as a youth, Erickson used a self-taught form of self-Hypnosis to help overcome the lingering pain and stiffness caused by the disease throughout his life. Ericksons unique therapeutic style and techniques have become a popular genre in Hypnosis today, though some aspects remain controversial, such as the use of covert hypnotic inductions and encouraging negative symptoms or relapse.
00:37:17.000 00:37:07.000

Abreaction
00:37:32.000

During the Second World War, hypnotherapy was used for the first time in many American army hospitals to treat a wide variety
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Hypnosis in History

of psychological battle trauma, including anxiety, fears, phobias, and dissociation.

Though unpopular today, the technique was reported to have achieved good results with the wounded soldiers.
00:38:00.000

The most common technique they used abreaction - involved taking the client back to the traumatic episode and reliving it to vent it out.

Hypnosis as a whole became more widespread and generally accepted moving farther into the 20th Century.

Moving into the 21st Century, media coverage of Hypnosis has moved steadily away from frightening Svengali imagery to a branch of mental health that can be a powerful tool to achieve personal goals. Abbe Faria or James Braid could not have dreamed of the applications of Hypnosis used today, like quitting smoking, increasing self-confidence, pain management, or even as an alternative to chemical anesthesia in surgery. So concludes our hypnotic journey, leaving the next chapters of the story to be written by future generations of hypnotherapists.
00:38:46.000 00:38:32.000

00:38:19.000

The innovation and creativity of Hypnotists of the past led, step by step, to the explosion of new ideas and schools of Hypnosis which appeared around the world in the second half of the 20th Century.

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2012 Hypnosis in History Credits Produced and Directed by George Kappas

George Kappas, M.A., M.F.T. is the Director of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute (HMI) Accredited College and Clinic of hypnotherapy located in Tarzana, California, USA.

Mr. Kappas is also the President of the American Hypnosis Association. Mr. Kappas utilized the resources of these two organizations to create this important documentary and offer it free online for all to see. Mr. Kappas is the pioneer of HMI Web TV Hypnotherapy Television 24/7 located on the Hypnotherapy Channel. The Hypnotherapy Channel is a free source of TV shows and presentations on Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy located at HMI Web TV as well as Roku and other web based entertainment outlets.

Narration John Melton, C.Ht.

Mr. Melton is a Certified Hypnotherapist and Instructor at HMIs College of Hypnotherapy with more than a decade of experience. Mr. Melton is in private practice with offices located at HMIs Hypnotherapy Clinic.

Mr. Melton is also featured as an Instructor in HMIs free online course, Foundations in Hypnotherapy. View John Melton's Hypnotherapist Biography.
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Hypnosis in History

Writer, Researcher Clayton Campbell

Mr. Campbell is an Anthropology Graduate student at Columbia University.

Mr. Campbell worked for the HMI Studios for one year contributing to many projects including the research and writing of Hypnosis in History.

Music Composition and Technical Director Leigh Spusta

Mr. Spusta has also created a series of hypnosis and spiritual based downloadable soundtracks also referred to as Alpha or Brainwave music. You can find Mr. Spustas Soundscapes in the HMI Bookstore.

Mr. Spusta is the Director and head of production for HMI Web TV. Mr. Spusta is also a talented musician who provided the original soundtrack for Hypnosis in History.

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Hypnosis in History

Edited by Ben Grant

Mr. Grant is HMI Web TVs post production editor and television programmer.

Mr. Grant is a graduate of Video Symphonys school of video editing and is a significant team member in all levels of HMI Web TV production.

Technical Supervisor Danish Aftab

Mr. Aftab is the Technical Supervisor for the HMI Web TV Studios and also serves as Operations Manager at HMIs College of Hypnotherapy.

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Hypnosis in History

We invite you to take more free online video courses from the American Hypnosis Association. Success is not an Accident: The Mental Bank Program Learn How to Hypnotize Others

Free Online Video Courses from the AHA

Discover the worlds largest online resource of Continuing Education in Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy. Free for AHA Members!

Relationship Strategies: The E&P Attraction

Or watch Hypnotherapy Television 24/7 free at... HMI Web TV - The Hypnotherapy Channel

American Hypnosis Association - Online Video Libraries

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Hypnosis in History

Hypnosis in History was created for the Hypnotherapy Channel which emanates from HMI's Web TV Studios from which they create and broadcast a wide variety of television shows, classes, news programs, documentaries, live hypnotherapy demonstrations, and more, all related to hypnosis, hypnotherapy, NLP, Imagery as well as diet, exercise, meditation, spirituality, mind body philosophies and more.

The Hypnotherapy Channel can be found on HMI Web TV as well as Roku and a growing number of other web based entertainment devices.

HMI Web TV was created and produced by George Kappas for the Hypnosis Motivation Institutes (HMI), Nationally Accredited College of Hypnotherapy. HMI Web TV provides a live broadcast feed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no cost or login required to watch HMI Web TV.

Hypnotherapy Television is unique, free, informative and interesting. We hope that you will find it a wonderful opportunity to explore the fascinating subject of hypnosis, hypnotherapy and the subconscious mind.