The History Of Hypnosis & The Trance State

The history of the human race is varied and our human culture and civilization has developed independantly on different continents throughtout the wrold. However, there are several common threads that keep appearing in each culture and hypnosis is one of them! As far back as written history goes we find some form of hypnosis being used to relax, motivate, inspire and even heal. It should therefore not be suprising that in the 21st Century hypnosis is still being used very effectively for the very same things!

A skilful hypnotist can induce a state of such deep relaxation that he can focus a subject's attention in such a way that he can produce various changes in the chemistry and function of the human body. These changes are not limited to but can include the regulation of blood flow and bllod pressure, physical symtoms such as burn marks on the skin, clearning skin conditions such as belemishes and birth marks and even implant false memories, new urges and thoughts.

The modern form of hypnosis that we know of today is actually a derivative of mesmerism named after its creator Anton Mesmer. Mesmer, in the late 1700's, claimed to work with the energy system of a person to induce states of deep trance. He called these energies ‘animal magnetism' and said that by manipulating them you could achieve astounding results and physical phenomenon. It is reported that practitioners of mesmerism could merely look or point at a subject in order to make them go into an involuntarily deep trance immediately!

Due to its popularity in stage theatres and its apparent successes in healing Mesmerism was subject to a great amount of public scrutiny. Although there is evidence to suggest that it was successfully used to cure almost every disorder and illness known at the time very little else is known about the actual techniques. Due to intense public curiosity and governmental scrutiny an investigation was launched by the French Government, under Louise XVI, in 1784 to investigate Mesmer and his claims. The commission, which also included Benjamin Franklin, proclaimed that, as far as animal magnetism was concerned, mesmerism was a fraud. However, they did not dispute the healings and concluded that the obvious therapeutic benefits of the techniques were due in some manner to the imagination and mental processes of the subjects. It was concluded that the affects that were witnessed were due entirely to the suggestions and the power of the subject's own mind.

Mesmerism and the techniques employed by its practioners are now almost completely lost and one can only hope that some secret organisation somewhere still has access to them but to us they are gone and relugated to the annals of history. However, mesmerism has left its legacy in the form of modern hypnosis. Due to the French Government's findings scientists who were interested in the therapeutic and mind altering capabilities of mesmerism decided to continue their research into it but felt they needed to create a new name for the phenomenon to avoid the negative connotations with the fraud allegations.

Hypnos, in Greek mythology, represented sleep. Hypnos (sleep) and his twin Thanatos (death) were born of the goddess Nyx (night). Hypnos lived in a palace which was in a dark cave where the sun could never shine. At the entrance to his cave was a selection of hypnogogic plants that caused hallucinations and mind altering visions. It was said that Hypnos would make offerings to people in dreams. Thus scientists had found a perfect representation of the phenomenon that they were studying and thus the term "hypnosis" was born

Probably the one person who brought hypnosis to that attention of the public the most was Sigmund Freud. He used hypnosis in the very early 20th Century to gain access to the unconscious parts of his patient's minds and delve deeper into the hidden aspects of their character, personalities and personal history. Although Freud stated in his later years that hypnosis was far too powerful a technique to be used safely it is now believed that his approach to the subject was amateurish. Modern techniques are now completely safe, tested and reliable. Freud actually complained that although one of his patients had healed herself through hypnosis he did not have enough control over her! It appears that Freud did not like the fact that subjects still have full control over themselves while in a hypnotic state and wanted to get all the credit for the healing.

In our modern times we can attribute the success and common uses of hypnosis to one man, Milton Erickson. In fact NLP techniques also owe their origins to this forward thinking 20th Century Doctor. He developed the use of post hypnotic suggestions and clearly demonstarted just how effective they can be when used in trance. He is also responsible for demonstrating the power of using visual images while in trance.

His work showed that using hypnosis with his techniques of verbal statements and visualizations could produce profound results in healing and dramatic changes in mental processes. It was also Erickson who first promoted the use of indirect suggestion. This lead him to suggest to a subject that they might not be fully "aware that you feeling sleepy" or that their "eyes are getting heavy". This indirect use of suggestions was also developed in a very powerful post hypnotic technique for altering behaviours whereby he accessed the subconscious mind and mental processes of the subject without the subject being aware of it. Through parables and other techniques Erikson found he could effectively access and reprogram the subconscious mind without any interference from the conscious mind.

Erickson was definitely the father of modern hypnosis for he also developed a very wide variety of verbal and visual techniques that changed how the medical establishment viewed the role of the mind in healing and also strongly affected the fields of psychotherapy and how advertising was used in marketing. His techniques were based on his understanding of how the human mind processes verbal and visual input. He created interplays between words and discovered that if he used strategically placed pauses and tonalities, redirection and also misdirection or even words with double or multiple meanings he could cause confusion in the conscious mind and access the subconscious more quickly - which he found could also fully understand and implement what he wanted it to!

As you can see Hypnosis in its modern form has went through many changes and has been refined into a very powerful and beneficial tool for healing and self-change. I hope this short introduction to the subject has sparked your interest and maybe even your curiosity to give it a try!