As an introduction to these studies, it is well worth researching the colorful history of hypnosis, particularly when placed into the political and social settings of the day. You'll find it interesting to discover the legacy given to us by many bright and bold forerunners. Here is an excerpt from my book, Hypnotherapy: A Client-Centered Approach (Pelican Publishing, 2002).

As an introduction to this topic, it is well worth researching the colorful history of hypnosis, particularly in the context of the political and social settings of the day, to discover the legacy that many bright and bold forerunners left us. 

Many indications of the use of trance are found in most indigenous cultural groups from ancient Egypt to Greece, Africa, South America, the Pacific Islands, Asia, North America, and beyond. Trance states are associated with medicine men, witch doctors, soothsayers, and religious orders. More recently, trance states have been associated with extraordinary feats of strength, sports performance, and alternatives to medical anesthesia.

Although mesmerism and hypnotism have frequently been linked, it may be surprising to learn that Anton Mesmer did not intentionally use hypnosis, even though his experiments eventually led to the development of hypnosis and its applications. His methods include elements of hypnosis, but these were not based on deliberate attempts or understanding.

Based on earlier writings that linked magnetism to the movements of planets, Mesmer (1734-1815) believed, as did others of his time, that he practiced an elaborate and unorthodox treatment of illness. His method was a system of smoke and mirrors. As we know, drama can play a profound role in the healing process, and drama was what Mesmer provided.

The healing stage included a large tub (or baquet) containing water, magnets, and iron filings. Patients would hold iron rods immersed in the tub. Sometimes, the circle of patients grew so large that they would nearly be touching each other or holding onto a rope that was reputed to connect them. Mesmer would enter the scene dramatically, making "passes" in the air with his hands. Patients were previously instructed that these passes would direct them to a stream of magnetic fluid from the tub. He would touch one of the patients, who would go into convulsions and then claim to be cured. Many subjects reported hallucinations, such as streams of dust or flames emanating from Dr. Mesmer's hands or the magnets.

It is no wonder that his greatest success is involved in the remission of diseases considered hysterical in nature or origin. This is much the same way that cures are affected by faith healers. Notice the use of suggestibility, belief, drama, props, and the practitioner's confident attitude.

Mesmer's work received extensive criticism from the orthodox medical world in Vienna and Paris. He soon came under the investigation of the Commission of Inquiry, ordered by King Louis XVI. The commission, whose president was Benjamin Franklin, included such well-known scientists as chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743–94), who was beheaded by the guillotine, and the famous Dr. Joseph Guillotine.

The commission conducted its investigation using the scientific methods available then. It concluded that imagination without magnetism would still produce convulsions, and magnetism without imagination produced nothing. It was unanimously agreed that the magnetic fluid had no use whatsoever. In fact, it was determined that it did not exist.

Although the commission refuted any claims of success concerning Mesmer's magnets, its findings substantially supported the use of imagination in healing illnesses.

Although many believers in Mesmer's work continue their experimentation, most documents erroneously attribute their success to magnets. In hindsight, we can see that the curative elements were more aligned with the techniques of modern-day hypnosis.

A contemporary of Mesmer, Fr. Joseph Gassner, was a Catholic priest who created the trance phenomenon through religious ritual. Again, the drama combined with belief created substantial results. His place in history was assured when he facilitated a trance so deep in a woman that two physicians pronounced her dead, after which he revived her.

Marquis Chastenet De Puysegur played a small part in the history of hypnosis. As a student of Mesmer, he magnetized an elm tree in his hometown of Buzancy, France. Although misguided in his proposal to make diagnoses using extrasensory communication with the stomach, he is nevertheless credited with being the first person to induce somnambulism and to use hypnotic techniques in the diagnosis of disease.

 By the mid-1800s, Dr. James Esdaile published records of surgical operations in India using "mesmeric anesthesia." Other doctors and dentists reported similar successes. It is curious that the medical profession of that era received these studies with such ridicule and negation when, at the time, chemical anesthesia was not available.

It may have to do with the way certain papers were written. Exaggerated claims and a lack of substantiation may have created more harm than support for the art.

Scottish doctor James Braid coined the term "hypnosis" around 1842. Initially, the discipline was called "neurypnology," meaning nervous sleep. His work attempted to make hypnosis respectable, bringing it out of the arena of assumptions, myths, and speculation that had been attributed to mesmerism.

In the latter part of the 19th century, Braid created an atmosphere for hypnosis to emerge as a reputable science. However, by carefully gaining the attention and respect of the medical community concerning this issue, he could step them through the logic and functioning of hypnosis. He replaced the word "mesmerism" with "hypnotism. His successes were based on his simple method of having his patients stare at a fixed point long enough to create eye fatigue. Although some of Braid's claims were not entirely accurate, they also were more reasonable than most as those of Mesmerists.

An important aspect was that he based his claims on the facts of anatomy and physiology known at the time. He highlighted the need in hypnosis for eye fatigue, willingness, and expectation.

Braid's work eventually came to the attention of Professor Jean-Martin Charcot, whose colleagues include Pierre Janet, Sigmund Freud, and Alfred Binet. Charcot noticed that hypnosis and hysteria shared many attributes. Later, Dr. Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) would also use these studies as the basis of his experimentation.

Charcot's theory would ultimately reveal half-truths and errors. He believed that hypnosis could be produced mechanically without the elements of expectation and suggestibility, which Braid's later findings determined to be critical. Further, he failed to experiment with hypnosis in ordinary people and thereby claimed erroneously that hypnosis could only be induced in those who were hysterical. He maintained that women were more susceptible to hypnosis than men were, basing that opinion on the traditional assumption that hysteria was the domain of women.

Meanwhile, two professors at the University of Nancy, Ambroise Liebault and Hippolyte Bernheim, were developing this art along another path. They held that their subjects could go to sleep simply by the suggestion of the hypnotist. Their approach to hypnosis aligned with psychology as opposed to neurology and would eventually contribute significantly to the future of psychiatry. Liebault is considered by many to be the proper "Father of Hypnosis," having recognized that hypnosis can be achieved by suggestion alone, without the added benefit of eye fatigue.

Charcot's pupil, Pierre Janet, furthered the intelligent use of hypnosis. He considered hypnosis to be a state of "disassociation" —a condition when one part of the mind operates independently from other parts. He found that information could be brought to light or hidden from his subjects' conscious minds. Repressed memories, for instance, could be regained.

With an understanding of the times in which he was working, we can assume that many patients had not honestly forgotten information. Rather, out of shame or social convention, they may have simply refused to discuss these matters with their psychiatrist. Hypnotism may have allowed the subject to disclose information previously suppressed or secreted. At the same time, inexperienced hypnotists, along with devious or unwilling patients, run the risk of creating false memories of experiences that never took place.

Along with Janet's theory of disassociation, which could be produced by hypnosis or occur naturally during hysteria, there was the opportunity to study the phenomenon of multiple personalities and alternating personalities with "fugue states."

Although hypnosis inspired interest in these disorders, it did not gain popularity at the time. Over time, interest in hypnosis waned, and it never really gained the respect from the medical community that it deserved.

A minor breakthrough occurred in 1892 when the British Medical Association committee, appointed to investigate hypnosis, returned a favorable report. It stated that hypnosis was helping to induce sleep and relieve pain and several dysfunctional disorders. The committee advised that only qualified medical personnel should facilitate hypnosis. It further mandated that a female could only be hypnotized when accompanied by another female.

It is an interesting historical note that Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) studied under both Charcot and Bernheim and worked with Janet. He was well-versed in the art and science of hypnosis as it was practiced at the time. Because he was unable to determine in advance when a patient would prove to be a good hypnosis subject, he eventually chose to discard the entire field.

The difficulty may have rested in Freud's personality, which may have railed against the idea of the occasional failure. Because hypnotherapy, as we know it today, is dependent on the willingness and susceptibility of the client, it is not necessarily the failure of the therapist when hypnosis is not achieved. Not understanding that, Freud went on to develop psychoanalysis, which had no implicit dangers of failure. Because psychoanalysts are enduring listeners, commentators, and interpreters of the words and experiences of their patients, there is no threat of failure to harm the therapist's reputation. Although psychoanalysis was an ingenious development, the method typically requires a longer path to recovery and change.

As it happened, it would take the First World War to revive the need for and interest in hypnosis. The medical community would turn to hypnosis to treat the wounded and those suffering trauma-related illnesses. Freud's influence and the prestige of psychoanalysis would nevertheless continue to deny hypnosis's rightful place in medicine.

J. G. Watkins once again restored interest and prestige to hypnosis with his 1949 book Hypnotherapy of War Neuroses. Using regression to cause abreaction of traumatic emotions, he successfully relieved symptoms for veterans of the war. Through his work during the middle of the 20th century, Dr. Milton Erickson (1901–80) may have single-handedly legitimized hypnosis in the eyes of the medical community and brought it to the attention of the public at large. As a psychiatrist, he had the respect of the medical establishment. His unmatched genius and ability to create innovative strategies for healing and change in his patients furthered this. It was essentially a result of his work that both the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association at last endorsed hypnosis.

Highly respected Dave Elman (1900–1967) published the 1964 book Hypnotherapy. He contributed to hypnosis by developing deep and rapid inductions and indefatigably training doctors and dentists in hypnosis techniques. Ellman had an extraordinary life and made additional contributions worth further exploration.

Walter Sichort (1918–2000) was responsible for identifying and obtaining what he considered to be three depths of trance below somnambulism: coma, catatonic, and ultra-depth. His colleagues have respectfully renamed the ultra-depth level the Sichort State.

John Grinder and Richard Bandler studied Milton Erickson and his techniques, eventually leading to their founding of the influential field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

After many years of working together and writing books filled with their techniques and case studies, they have gone in separate career directions, continuing to produce leading-edge technology in this field.

An educator and publisher of works on hypnosis and hypnotherapy and author of Transforming Therapy: A New Approach to Hypnotherapy, Gil Boyne (1924-2010) was a political advocate who aided in protecting and validating the profession of hypnotherapy.

Before his death, Charles Tebbetts was a revered hypnotherapist and trainer. Some referred to him as the "Grandfather of Modern Hypnosis. " Tebbetts is the author of Miracles on Demand: The Radical Short-Term Hypnotherapy.

Author of Hypnotism and Mysticism of India and The Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism, Ormond McGill, is considered the "Dean of American Hypnotists." He has contributed decades of instruction, clinical work, and showmanship and has been a leader in combining Eastern philosophy with trance work.

Many other present-day practitioners are contributing new material or creating a change in the public attitude or political policymaking regarding the field of hypnotherapy. My original contributions include the Reverse Metaphor and Empowerment Symbol, appearing in my book, Hypnotherapy: A Client-Centered Approach, for the first time in a text and now in my 2023 book, Mastering Hypnotherapy: Transformational Strategies for Healers and Coaches.

By investigating hypnosis, students enter a field of study with a colorful past. The people listed above all contributed to the art, forming it into what it is today. Their knowledge, skills, research, and experience are the foundation upon which we, as practitioners, carry hypnosis into the future.

It will be essential to preserve the respectability of this healing art while furthering its technology toward holistic complementary medical and spiritual capabilities.

The techniques and tools presented in this course will allow the practitioner to address most of life's issues. These may include physical healing, emotional rebalancing, mental clarity and training, and space for awareness and connection. These tools are so universal and potent because they are based on the premise that, at some level, the clients or subjects are fully capable of determining their needs and the solution for satisfying them. The level where this knowledge and wisdom can be accessed is frequent in the subconscious mind.