The History of Hypnosis

660 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Modern use of hypnosis essay

The history of hypnosis started with the healing practices of Franz Anton Mesmer and his pupil, Armand Marie Jacques de Chastnet, Marquis de Puységur in 1779.(Crabtree, 2013: 298) Mesmer discovered through a method he used that patients would become disconnected from reality, but pervious to influence. This method he called "animal magnetism" was the motion of slowly swiping his hand in front of the body of his patient. According to Crabtree (1993), Mesmer's pupil, Puységur, would then apply this method to his patients and discovered that "many entered into a state with these characteristics : 1) a sleepwalking kind of consciousness, 2) a "rapport " or special connection with the magnetizer, 3) suggestibility with heightened imagination, 4) amnesia in the waking state for events in the magnetized state, 5) ability to read the thoughts of the magnetizer, and 6) a striking change in the personality of the magnetic subject." (p.38-45) These six were referenced as Puységur's somnambulistic phenomena.
These discoveries lead Puységur to the conclusion that the magnetic subject was agreeing to follow suggestions of the magnetizer. Mesmer's theory of animal magnetism included something he referenced as magnetic fluid. He believed that the magnetic fluid was a healing power that spread throughout the world. However, this method of animal magnetism were not widely accepted and were often criticized and linked with frauds and quack doctors. The two theories of Puységur and Mesmer conflicted and only Puységur's method proved triumphant in magnetic healing practices. (Crabtree, 2012: 299)
Fifty years later, James Braid, a physician from Manchester, attended a demonstration on animal magnetism and became interested in how it works. But the...

... middle of paper ...

...angible proof that hypnosis had an effect on the human body. This finally set anyone who doubted it's practical use, and largely expanded its popularity and usage.

Works Cited

Crabtree, A.(1993). From Mesmer to Freud: Magnetic Sleep and the Roots of Psychological Healing. New Haven: Yale University Press, 38-45. Retrieved from
Crabtree, A. (2012). Hypnosis Reconsidered, Resituated, and Redefined. Journal Of Scientific Exploration, 26(2), 297-327.
Learn about the history of hypnosis. (n.d.). History of Hypnosis . Retrieved November 22, 2013, from http://www.historyofhypnosis.org/
Alpert, N. M., Thompson, W. L., Costantini-Ferrando, M. F., Kosslyn, S. M., & Spiegel, D. (2000, August 1). Hypnotic Visual Illusion Alters Color Processing in the Brain. Psychiatry Online. Retrieved November 23, 2013, from http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=174269

Show More
Related

  • The Effect of Hypnosis on Eyewitness Testimony

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Effect of Hypnosis on Eyewitness Testimony Works Cited Missing Under hypnosis an eyewitness could produce false information whist giving a statement to the police. This is because one of the characteristic of being hypnotised is being sensitive to suggestion. Therefore the witness can give suggestive information through leading question (even if this isn't intended). It could lead to an alteration. of the existing memory.

    Read More

  • Electroconvulsive Therapy: Why is it Effective?

    2107 Words  | 5 Pages

    Reported for the first time in the 18th century, was the use of convulsive therapy.

    Read More

  • Is hypnosis and effective method to Improve Health?

    1871 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...nly one aspect of hypnosis. If a hypnotist can make someone remember something so far back and make that person reenact those memories, hypnosis could be a powerful tool regarding many health problems caused by brain activities. There is so much more that has yet to be discovered.

    Read More

  • Hypnosis, As A Therapeutic Approach

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Franz Anton Mesmer, a German physician in the 1700s is said to have brought animal magnetism (hypnosis) to light. However, since many people were beginning to seek out Mesmer and his fellow colleagues, King Louis of France at the time asked Benjamin Franklin and others to delve deeper into this new practice. Which led to a setback into hypnotism, brought on by the brought to light doubt surrounding this new found practice, as being a medically beneficial method. The full acceptance of hypnosis in medicine did not come about until 1847 and in 1958 the American Medical Association (AMA) approved and published a 2-year study written by the Council on Mental Health. In the report it stated that there could be, “definite and proper uses of hypnosis in medical and dental practice and the establishment of necessary training facilities in the United States” (James, 2008). Some of the multiple t...

    Read More

  • Essay On Hypnosis

    2636 Words  | 6 Pages

    Hypnosis and Weight Loss Hypnosis has many practical uses, and these days it is becoming increasingly popular as a method of behavior modification. The Internet contains many advertisements for self-help programs that use hypnosis to reduce stress, quit smoking, or lose weight. In the area of hypnosis and weight loss, there are many web sites for both products and services for sale that promise to help anyone lose weight. Hypnosis uses suggestions to change a person's behavior and eating habits in order to facilitate weight loss. What are the expected outcomes?

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Animal Testing for Vaccine Development and Potential Alternatives

    1978 Words  | 4 Pages

    Historically, the use of animals for experimental purposes dates back to early Greek physician-scientists. Aristotle and Galen both conducted experiments on animals in an effort to contribute to our understanding of science and medicine.1 Claude Bernard later established animal experimentation as part of the scientific method. Known as the father of physiology, Bernard stated that “experiments on animals are entirely conclusive for the toxicology and hygiene of man. The effects of these substances are the same on man as on animals, save for differences in degree.”1 Bernard’s work strongly influenced the use of animals in biomedical research, which has become a common, and often required, practice today. The American Medical Association (AMA)...

    Read More

  • Psychoanalysis and Personality: The Impact of Sigmund Freud

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most doctors at the time treated hysteria as a physical illness, except Breuer and Freud. Freud and Breuer had a patient named “Anna O.” who they used hypnosis to treat. They published their findings in Studies in Hysteria, which talked about hypnosis to treat hysteria. In the case of Anna O., her symptoms were relieved after her hypnosis sessions. After disclosing information about her father’s death during hypnosis, Anna O. was able to feel her arm again and speak, which she wasn’t able to do previously. Freud’s work using hypnosis helped him understand the power of unconscious influences on behavior (Burger

    Read More

  • Sigmund Freud Theory

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    Of the copious number of topics in the world today, nothing captivated Sigmund Freud’s attention like psychology did. Known as the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud laid the foundations for comprehending the inner workings that determine human behavior (1). Through his involvement with the hypnosis, dream analysis, psychosexual stages, and the unconscious as a whole, Freud began a new revolution that faced its own conflict but eventually brought the harvest of new knowledge and clarity to the concept of the mind.

    Read More

  • Hypnosis

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    The concept of hypnosis produces an enigmatic figure rhythmical swaying a pocket watch to control a subject. Ominous hypnotists and surreal perceptions of hypnotism are fanciful ideas constructed by television, movies, and comics. Hypnotism has become widely popular in mainstream culture because of absurd renditions that bear no resemblance to actual hypnotism; in consequence the therapeutic effects of hypnotism are questioned by a great deal of psychologists and doctors. Hypnotherapy, hypnosis as a medical intervention, should be an acceptable and extensively used treatment of subjective symptoms because it is proven to be effective and does not encompass severe side effects.

    Read More

  • The Ethical Of Animal Testing: The Ethics Of Animal Testing

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the past, experiments done on animals were gruesome and clearly inhumane. In 1678, Robert Hook surgically opened the chest of a dog and kept it alive by giving it breaths artificially. This experiment helped Hook prove that chest movements are not the fundamentals of respiration (Goyal). In another experiment, Carl Koller applied cocaine crystals to the eyes of a dog and observed through pricking the eyes with a needle, that the crystals numbed the eyes of the dog. This experiment helped Koller discover an anesthetic used in eye surgery. In the past, scientific understanding of how animals perceive pain was not as advanced as it is today. Alan Carter wrote about the treatment of animals during animal experimentation and reported that experimenters in the seventeenth century “administered beatings to dogs… and made fun of those who pitied the animals as if they could feel pain.” Animal experimentation was once gruesome and brutal, and even though steps have been taken to make testing more humane to animals, most experiments still harm animals in some

    Read More

  • Magnetism And Magnetism

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Magnetism is very useful in our daily life. A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. In addition, magnetic field is a region which a magnetic material experiences a force as the result of the presence of a magnet or a current carrying conductor. Current carrying conductors also known as wire. As we know there have north pole and south pole of a magnet. If same pole of magnet approaches each other, there will repel each other. In contrast, if different pole of magnet approaches each other, they will attract. These are same with the electric charge, if same charge it will repel, different charge it will attract. Although magnets and magnetism were known much earlier, the study of magnetic fields began in 1269 when French scholar Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt mapped out the magnetic field on the surface of a spherical magnet using iron needles [search from Wikipedia]. Noting that the resulting field lines crossed at two points he named those points 'poles' in analogy to Earth's poles. Each magnet has its own magnetic field which experiences a force as the result of the presence of a magnet and magnetic field has made up of magnetic field lines. The properties of magnetic field lines is it begin at the north pole and end at the south pole. The north pole always flow out while south pole always flow in. The closer the magnetic field lines, the strength of magnetic field increases. Furthermore, these line cannot cross each other. Ferromagnetism is the basic mechanism by which certain materials (such as iron) form permanent magnets, or are attracted to magnets. Ferromagnetic materials...

    Read More

  • Pseudoscience Paper: “Hypnosis”

    1944 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although Science and Pseudoscience are evidently two completely different topics, what is considered to be classified as a Science or Pseudoscience is a controversy topic that’s still being debated today. While science builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world through the scientific method, pseudoscience is a claim, belief or practice which is presented as science, but lacks support of evidence and cannot be reliably tested. Hypnosis is one topic several psychologists and those in the field of science are seemingly still debating today, in result to its several different uses. Although hypnosis is shown to work when dealing with certain phenomena’s like stress, there are several uses it is considered to be very ineffective and simply not a science.

    Read More

  • Parasomnia

    1529 Words  | 4 Pages

    Cartwright, R.D. (1978) A primer on Sleep and Dreaming. Massachusetts : Addison - Wesley, Publishing, Company

    Read More

  • The Power of Hypnotism

    2160 Words  | 5 Pages

    Let’s say you have some sort of problem or bad habit (as do most people I know) and you really want to overcome it. Maybe you are addicted to smoking, but no matter what you do, you just can’t resist the urge to go crawling back to your cigarettes and take another smoke. Finally, you see an ad in the paper for a hypnotist that says he (or she, of course) can help break addictions with a little hypnotic suggestion, and you decide that you might as well give it a try. You walk into small, quiet room and lay down on a comfortable sofa across from the hypnotist. He begins to calmly tell you to relax all parts of your body, and tells you to shut your eyes. “You are getting very sleepy.”

    Read More

  • Sleeping and Dreaming

    4847 Words  | 10 Pages

    Sleep and dreams have defined eras, cultures, and individuals. Sigmund Freud’s interpretation of dreams revolutionized twentieth-century thought. Historical archives record famous short sleepers and notable insomniacs—some accounts reliable, some not. When Benjamin Franklin counseled, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” he was using sleep habits to symbolize his pragmatism.

    Read More

More about The History of Hypnosis

Open Document