History of hypnosis

The Beginnings of Hypnosis

Hypnosis is an incredible skill whichis still being developed even though it has been used millions oftimes for many different purposes. Recent discoveries focus its usageon treating psychological problems or helping people with traumas.However, there are various other things connected with hypnosis sincethis method has a rich and colorful history.

The very onset of hypnosis in the humansociety can be traced back to ancient Egyptian cultures. There arewritten documents and paintings, all depicting hypnosis processes.Namely, one papyrus describes the process of placing a boy in avertical position, holding a lamp above his face and applying methodswhich can best be understood as hypnosis. Thus, this technique isrooted deeply into the existence of human kind. There are manyoccurrences of hypnosis throughout the history before we are to reachthe modern times.

The History of Hypnosis

Moving on to the 18thcentury, we absolutely must mention an Austrian doctor called FranzAnton Mesmer. This was the man who developed the so-called mesmerism,a way of treating people with ailments. This doctor thought that hehad mastered magnetic fields with which he could influence otherpeople's organisms positively and cure them from various illnesses.He offered many different therapies which involved holding ontocords, or iron rods while in water or lying down. Either way, hismethods proved to be successful many times and he was offered alife-time pension and funds to open a clinic. This was all providedby Marie Antoinette. However, later, he refused to allow the King'smen to be present at his sessions and was thereby proclaimed to bepracticing fake skills which have no influence on people.

Next, we go to the 19thcentury and the name James Braid. This Scottish doctor published abook on the study of nervous sleep. Of course, this had a lot ofthings to do with hypnosis. In fact the name of the very disciplinewe use nowadays was derived from neurhypnosis, the term Braid used.

Finally, one of the best successes ofhypnosis are related to the 20th century and doctor AlbertMason. Namely, this doctor was summoned to deal with quite anextraordinary illness a boy was having. The boy seemed to suffer froma hereditary condition of having fewer sebaceous and sweat glandsthan people usually have. This lead to excessive drying of the skindue to the lack of skin oil production and sweating. The boy had hisskin covered in thick scales, oozing bloody matter from it. Masonsubjected to boy to hypnosis and made him imagine one of his arms wasclean and healthy. During the ten days after the hypnosis, theresults started to appear gradually, only to have the boys entirebody cured after several other visits. The boy was eventuallycompletely healthy and the results were permanent, claiming victoryfor hypnosis in the world of science and medicine.