The History of Hypnosis   

Hypnosis is a very popular subject because it can help to heal people and also because many people don’t believe that it can be done. Every kind of hypnotism involves the element of suggestibility,  and this notion of controlling the behavior of another is one of those things that gives hypnosis its allure and its colorful history.  Despite some controversy on the subject, hypnosis is alive and well. 

Early History 

As you can imagine, hypnosis has been alive and well throughout history.  In fact, even prehistoric Indian and Egyptian societies treated their sick by taking the patient to a sleep temple, where hypnotic incantations were used to put the patient in a sleep-like state. Between 1400 and 1700, many early hypnotic healers used suggestibility and the power of magnets to heal individuals afflicted by a variety of ailments.   This worked so well that the practice continued throughout the cultures throughout time into today. 

Medicine Pays Attention 

Western medicine began to take note of hypnosis around 1770, taking it seriously for perhaps the first time, getting away from the term mesmerism. Austrian physician Dr. Franz Mesmer conducted experiments that showed patients' blood clotted as quickly when a magnet passed over the wound as when the patient was told that a magnet was passing over the wound but the mesmerist actually passed a stick over the wound. 

The only problem with this issue is that the passing of the stone didn’t actually cause the blood to clot, although the hypnotism was proven to work by and large. 

An Indo-Portuguese priest Abbe Faria introduced a form of hypnosis that he said "generated from within the mind" by the intense expectations and suggestibility of the patient. In 1821, Recamier used hypnosis as a form of anesthesia and operated on patients under a "mesmeric coma."  Eminent Scottish neurosurgeon Dr. James Braid coined the term hypnosis in 1842 and helped developed the hypnotic procedure as we know it today.

It was Dr. Braid who introduced the idea of a spinning watch into hypnosis culture, believing that watching a bright moving object over a prolonged period creates a hypnotic like trance that has become what we think of when we think of hypnosis. 

Modern Hypnosis 

Hypnosis is seen in many areas of medicine and perhaps the first time it was widely accepted was in childbirth.  A man by the name of Lamaze proved that women could be eased through child birth when they were given the tools to be hypnotized slightly by suggestions.  Lamaze claimed his method was more reflex-driven than hypnotic, but it remains popular with many expecting parents.  Today hypnosis is being used to help treat mental disorders as well as treat addictions, and more.