| Healing a patient who is in a state of trance | | | | Association (BMA), to investigate further. |
| is one of the oldest therapeutic arts. | | | | Freud had translated and studied most of the |
| Ancient cultures all around the world revered | | | | French works, but he was unskilled inducing |
| individuals deemed to be in contact with | | | | hypnosis himself and dropped it from his |
| supernatural powers and apparently able to | | | | psychoanalytical ideology. Most |
| use such contacts to cure the sick and | | | | psychoanalysts followed suit, and what was |
| distressed while these people were in a state | | | | once considered to be a burgeoning and |
| resembling sleep. The supposed connection | | | | promising field became a therapy for cranks. |
| with the supernatural powers lies behind many | | | | It wasn't until the 1950s that its use in |
| of the prejudices and fears about hypnosis | | | | mainstream medicine and psychotherapy was |
| that still exist: the vestigial terror, | | | | accepted. In 1958, the American Medical |
| effectively, of possession by some other | | | | Association approved hypnosis as a useful |
| entity. But the true value of hypnosis - that | | | | tool in medicine. Today, in the United States |
| it is a state that enables inner connections | | | | and Britain it has been used to improve |
| to be made - has at last begun to be | | | | physical and mental health at all levels. |
| universally accepted. | | | | People suffering from chronic and terminal |
| | | | illnesses can find relief from both the pain |
| How Hypnotherapy Began | | | | and anxiety, as well as other physical |
| | | | symptoms, caused by their condition. Dentists |
| The Austrian Anton Mesmer tried in the 18th | | | | and dental therapists use hypnotheral to |
| century to harness mental energy - known at | | | | enable patients to overcome the common phobia |
| the time as "animal magnetism" - to effect | | | | of dentists and allow them to experience |
| cures. His results were variable, but he | | | | virtually pain free treatment. |
| developed a ritual around his treatment which | | | | |
| genuinely hypnotized those who came to him | | | | Many 20th-century scientists have struggled |
| for help. His "mesmerizing" methods received | | | | to explain hypnotherapy and how it works. It |
| scientific attention throughout the 1800s. | | | | is one of the few therapies taught in |
| When, in 1841, the Scotsman Dr. James Braid | | | | conventional medical school and it is widely |
| saw a demonstration he began to develop his | | | | considered to be a useful method of |
| own theories and techniques. He demonstrated | | | | encouraging healing and altering behavioral |
| that a trance, for which he coined the term | | | | states. From the study of hypnosis has come a |
| "hypnosis," could be induced very simply, and | | | | host of other therapies, including |
| that hypnotized subjects could not be made to | | | | biofeedback, autogenic training, and |
| act against their will. The medical | | | | relaxation and meditation. Many people now |
| profession then began to make some use of | | | | use self-hypnosis techniques to manage |
| hypnosis, particularl, anesthesia during | | | | stress, pain, anxiety, and conditions such as |
| surgery. | | | | migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, |
| | | | and addictions. |
| By 1900 Dr. Pierre Janet in France had com | | | | |
| believe that the effects of hypnosis were | | | | Hypnotherapy still suffers from a tarnished |
| partly due to a split in the mind between the | | | | reputation, due to the continuing tradition |
| conscious and unconscious. He concluded (as | | | | of using hypnosis on the stage for its |
| Freud did) that new symptoms had a hidden | | | | entertainment value (indeed in the wrong |
| meaning, originating in the unconscious, | | | | hands the therapy can be dangerous), despite |
| which could be reached through hypnosis. | | | | the fact that the therapy has been used |
| | | | successfully for generations and is now one |
| Janet's experiments prompted many medical | | | | of the most scientifically endorsed |
| associations, including the British Medical | | | | complementary therapies. |