Hypnosis has been around for thousands of years beginning with the trance-like hypnosis of the Shamans who performed healing ceremonies. Through the years the perspective of the people regarding hypnosis has changed. From the Western perspective, the moment when this practice came into the attention of the people was the eighteenth century. It was possible due to the work of Mesmer, who developed hypnotic techniques, discoveries and ideas such as animal magnetism.
Franz Anton Mesmer lived between 1795 and 1860 and he is known as the father of hypnosis. He treated thousands of people for various diseases. He had his particular method which was learned and practiced by all his apprentices. The downfall of his career was when he fell into disgrace after being judged poorly by a commission of The Royal French Academy of Sciences. Is was not until after Mesmer’s death that people became more acceptable toward the practice of hypnosis.
Mesmer’s discoveries paved the way for others like James Braid who coined the term hypnotism. It was used later in the medical field by James Esdaile when he performed surgeries in India using hypnotic suggestion in place of anesthesia. The efforts made by these people lead to a validation of the technique and its usage in hospitals before the next century began. The mystical details used by Mesmer were eliminated and a pure scientific method began to be used.
In the twentieth century the technique was very much debated, so much that it became trapped in its own respectability. There was this constant debate which wanted to get an answer: if it was based on true facts or not. The real evolution of this method in this century was happening in America, not as before, in Europe. It became popular amongst ordinary people, so it was very well known outside the clinic or laboratory spaces. The mesmerism became something else, more like a trance induction which was happening at the use of specific words. It has become also a method for releasing stress and it was used by psychologists.
Once the technology became more advanced and new concepts were developed in the study of human brain, hypnosis was associated with REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and the old debate was finally finding answers. It was discovered that it is in fact a natural ability of humans which in the future could used for great achievements in science. In World War one and two and also in the Korean War, hypnotherapy was used very often. Many people have studied this therapy over time: Freud, jean Martin Charcot (French neurologist), Clark Leonard Hull (Yale University) and many others.
Now, in the 21th century, many people see this practice as something occult or some kind of magic power, but this is all the result of their ignorance. Many people believe that miracles can be performed or mind control can be achieved, but these are old concepts that must be changed. Anyhow, different healing techniques from the ancient history could just be the science available in that time frame, similar to what we call today medicine.
The history of hypnosis reveals a wonderful technique which was seen with suspicious eyes all the time, but was seen only on the surface. The scientific secrets behind it can prove that it is a wonderful gift from nature. In fact it can prove that we are for real spiritual beings and that the world we see with our eyes hides more than it lets to be seen. People have the tendency to believe what they hear from the others, many times ignoring the scientific evidence and this is what was happening with the general opinion about hypnosis.
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