Brief History of Hypnosis
"I firmly believe that hypnosis is just a state…South of Oregon and North of Washington, and it doesn't really exist except in people's minds. "
-Steven Heller & Terry Steele
Monsters and Magical Sticks: There's No Such Thing as Hypnosis
Many individuals throughout history have attempted to explain the phenomena through different means. In this paper I will show the path through history that hypnosis has taken, and the contributions and effects that individuals played along the way. For this paper hypnosis will be defined as: "… the art and science of using verbal and nonverbal communication patterns to assist another individual in going into an altered state of consciousness (Dilts, 2004)."
Uses of hypnosis or trances in healing have existed for quite some time. Glasner (1955) writes that "although it is impossible to state with any definiteness that hypnosis is referred to in the bible and in the Talmud, there would seem to be considerable evidence that the authors of the works were indeed familiar with the phenomena which we today should call hypnotic or which we should explain in terms of suggestion(Crasilneck, Hall, 1975, p.5)." In Egypt the Ebers papyrus, over 3000 years old, describes how Egyptian soothsayers used hypnotic procedures similar to those practiced today (Kroger, 1977, p.1). The hypnotic phenomena have existed in many contexts.
Paracelsus who lived from 1493-1541 and who developed the mercury cure used magnets to heal others by passing them over their body. His beliefs in terms of explaining the healing he witnessed was due to the magnets effect on ones astral body. The astral body was considered to be a metaphysical body. The astral body would have an effect on our physical body. When the astral body would be out of balance, diseases would then become apparent. The magnets function was to influence the energy in the astral body to be back in balance. Having your astral body in balance would play a large role in removing disease and regaining health (Chips, 1999 p.22).
Father Maximilian Hell who lived from 1720-1792 used magnets to heal as well. Hell's technique was slightly different, in that he would directly apply the magnets to the patient. Hell had a large influence on one of his students, Franz Anton Mesmer; Mesmer had his own magnets made. Mesmer as often times was done for an illness at that time would do bloodletting. Mesmer used the magnets he had made after the bloodletting was done. What often happened when Mesmer would make the passes would be that the bleeding would stop. One day Mesmer went to get his magnets and they were nowhere to be found. Not being able to find them Mesmer picked up a stick nearby and made passes with it, the bleeding stopped (Sheehan, Perry, 1976, p.3).
Mesmer believed that the influence of the stick was really emanating from him. He termed this influence as animal magnetism. Animal magnetism was the same type of magnetism that came from the magnets he had used. However, rather than emanating from magnets, animal magnetism emanated from humans. The animal magnetism Mesmer believed had a similar influence as the magnets magnetism. This explanation for the effect was later to be a problem for him, because there was no way to measure the animal magnetism. Mesmer also believed that this animal magnetism could be transferred to objects.
One of the objects Mesmer transferred his magnetism to was a nearby tree. With Mesmer's techniques he had quite a bit of success. Because of Mesmer's success a French board of inquiry was set up to investigate his claims. In 1784 Mesmer invited the French academy of science to study his methods. A commission was set up including nine members including a botanist Antoine Laurent, the chemist Lavoisier, the doctor Guillotin, and Benjamin Franklin. One of the procedures they watched was Mesmer healing a boy simply by telling him to sit under the tree he had magnetized. The boy was cured (Chips, 1999 p.24). The commission studied the events, and they were convinced something was happening.
Mesmer however had attributed the success that he had with patients to his theory of the effects of animal magnetism. There was no way for the commission to measure the animal magnetism, so, no way for the commission to attribute scientifically the animal magnetism as to the agent of treatment. The commission decided Mesmer was a fraud and the effects were not due to animal magnetism. Instead, the commission decided the effects were due to the use of imagination and suggestion (Chips, p.24).
The commission left an impression in their report that a crisis was a major part of the "most general aspect of the cure." A crisis would look similar to convulsions, and often times include crying or laughing by the patient (Weitzenhoffer 1957, p.278). However, there are conflicting reports as to if it actually was a major part of the cure for Mesmer (Sheehan, Perry, 1976, p.10). Mesmer's work as the result of animal magnetism was now discredited, so Mesmer went back to Vienna and died in poverty and seclusion in 1815 (Chips, p.25).
A description of Mesmer's Method is given by Bramwell:
Mesmer put his hands upon the shoulders of the subject, then brought them
down the arms to the extremities of the fingers, and, after holding the thumbs a moment, repeated this process two or three times. He also touched the seat of pain with his fingers, or with the palm of his hand, following the direction of the nerves as much as possible Mesmer employed a species of actual handling or passes with contact…(Bramwell, 1930, p.40)
Mesmer, with his notion of animal magnetism, placed the influence on the operator. The mesmerists believed that the phenomena happened by various physical means, such as fixed eye gazing or pass with contact. The eyes and fingertips were thought of as powerful projectors of the magnetism (Bramwell, p.40). The operator would influence the subject, and there is little talk of the relationship being two ways.
Not until Erickson do we see a balanced mutual relationship between the operator and subjects exist. The influence was through physical means, and through physical means that a cure would happen. Influence through physical means is a key belief about mesmerism.
A follower of Mesmer and a French Military officer Marquis de Puysegur expanded upon the theories and influence of Mesmer. Puysegur became trained in Mesmer's method and obtained his own set of magnets as well. One night de Puysegur was called to one of the peasants on his estate named Victor Race who had been suffering from inflammation of the lung (Sheehan, Perry, p.16).
De Puysegur magnetized Victor whom began speaking to de Puysegur in a manner that was not usual for Victor being a peasant to speak to his "superior" de Puysegur. What was more interesting was that Victor was unable to recall this or other events that subsequently would happen under this magnetism. To describe that experience Puysegur coined the term somnambulist (Sheehan, Perry, p.16).
Puysegur took victor to Paris to demonstrate the phenomena. After doing so Victors condition worsened. While magnetized Victor told Puysegur that this was do to him often times being in front of disbelieving crowds. From the experiences with Victor and others, Puységur came to beliefs that magnetic effects depend on the force of the magnetizer's personal belief in the efficacy of magnetic cure. In addition to the will to cure, and rapport with the patient. De Puysegur was also the first to record the reaction now known as hypnotic amnesia (Chip, 25). Puysegur also discarded with the need for a "crisis" to occur (Sheehan, Perry, p.17).
In 1784, Puységur wrote Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire et a l'établissement du magnétisme animal, a work which can be considered the point of origin of modern psychotherapy (Wozniak, 1995). With the influence of Puységur, Mesmerism spread rapidly. "In the United States it arrived from France with Charles Poyen de Saint Sauveur and became allied briefly with phrenology and more extensively with spiritualism, eventuating in the New Thought movement that exerted an impact on William James (Wozniak, 1995)."
Abbe Faria came to Paris from India gave public exhibitions of hypnosis, without any magnets. He is said to have hypnotized over 5,000 people. The beliefs that Faria held in regards to the phenomena was that it was not due to magnetism but to the expectation and cooperation of the patient. Faria also believed that some people were more easily able to go through the process. "we cannot induce concentration in individuals whenever we desire; rather we find people who are inherently susceptible (Kroger,1977, p.2)." Faria theory as to a physical reason why the phenomena worked with some and not others was influenced by contemporary medicine. Faria believed that thinness of the blood was a condition necessary for someone to have, in order for them to be susceptible to hypnosis (Sheehan, Perry, p.22).
Faria believed strongly in the power of suggestion. This is shown in Faria's belief that taking a medicine that was not effective but believing in it working, is better than taking a medicine that is effective and not believing in it. (Sheehan, Perry, p.24)Faria however, lacked medical training so his views were given little clout in scientific circles. In addition, Faria had failed to recognize an actor during one of his demonstrations so was ridiculed for that as well. However, much of his views of magnetism and its workings were ahead of his time, in that the beliefs of the subject are important in order for hypnosis to be successful (Sheehan, Perry, p.19).
James Esdaile while in India wrote a book called "Mesmerism in India. Esdaile practiced in India from 1840 to 1850. Esdaile's book outlined Mesmerism being used in India for the use of pain control in eighty-two major surgeries. After Esdaile had performed over a hundred operations using mesmerism he placed the results before the government in Bengal. A committee was set up to investigate mainly medical men. The committee's report was favorable (Bramwell, p.14).
After receiving the report the government replied back that "… to place Dr. Esdaile for a year in charge of a small experimental hospital, in some favorable situation in Calcutta…" A small hospital was set in Calcutta, and Esdaile's mesmerism was just as successful here with his patients as he had been (Bramwell, p.15). A year later the medical officers reported that complete insensibility to pain was gained from the effects of mesmerism, even in the most severe operations. Before Esdaile had left India he had performed thousands of operations using mesmerism, including nineteen amputations (Bramwell, p.16).
When Esdaile got back to London he began advocating for the use of Mesmerism for pain control; this was before the use of chloroform. For advocating mesmerism Esdaile received a lot of criticism from medical authorities. Esdaile's work was also attacked in the medical journals. "It was asserted that the coolies of Bengal enjoyed being operated on, and that, knowing Esdaile's hobby, they came from all quarters in order to please him. Esdaile was described as an honest fool, who was deceived by his patients" (Bramwell, 17).
Around the same time as Esdaile, John Elliotson (who had invented the stethoscope) and was a professor of medicine at the university of London also advocated the use of mesmerism for surgery. Elliotson also experienced the same ridicule for his use of mesmerism. In 1843 Elliotson started the Zoist, a journal for the information collected relating to mesmerism (Chips, p.27). Operations by Esdaile in India were recorded in the journal. The journal played some influence in the opening of a Mesmeric Infirmary in London. The journal lasted for thirteen years (Bramwell, p.8). The topic of mesmerism for pain control may have stuck as a debate, however, chloroform was discovered shortly after, and was accepted much better than mesmerism.
Esdaile's Method was to put the patient in a darkened room, directing them to close their eyes, and to try to sleep. Esdaile would then make passes over the body and from time to time breathed on the head and eyes, it was continued for about an hour (Bramwell, p. 40). According to Elliotson and Esdaile, the phenomena of mesmerism were result of action of a physical nature that was transmitted form one being to the other. The mesmeric influence Esdaile said ‘was a physical power one exerted over another (Bramwell, p.275)."
In London James Braid a Scottish physician saw a demonstration of mesmerism by LaFontaine in 1841. After seeing the demonstration by Lafontaine, and others after it, Braid began thinking of how the effects of mesmerism were reached. He started his investigation by first making the assumption that animal magnetism did not exist. Braid eliminated all the factors but the fixation of the eyes that causes trance, and coined the term hypnosis (Weitzenhoffer p.281).
Hypnosis means nervous sleep from the Greek god hypnos, the god of sleep. Later Braid realized that hypnosis was not sleep and tried to change the term but it had already stuck. Braid wrote the first book on hypnosis in1843 called Neurypnology. Braid and his book Neurypnology became very popular. Eight hundred copies of his book were sold in a few months (Bramwell, 23).
Braid's method of hypnosis was to take a bright object and to put it about a foot in front of the patient's eyes slightly upward. The patient would then be instructed to simply look at the object. Braid would then extend his had toward the patients eyes, which would usually close at that point. If the eyelids did not close the process was usually completed again with more instruction (Weitzenhoffer p.281). Later on Braid changed the method slightly by telling the patients to close their eyes early on in the process (Bramwell, p.41).
Braid's belief on what causes hypnosis to occur was changes in the nervous system usually caused by staring, fixed attention and suppressed respiration. They were not due to the volition of the operator nor to the transmission of a physical influence (Bramwell, p. 41). He also believed that these changes were independent of the rapport between the operator and subject.
Towards the end of Braids career he believed that the results were due to what he referred to as monoideism. Monoideism is the focus of ones attention on a specific thought. With the later framework Braid believed that direct verbal suggestion was the best method for inducing hypnosis, and that physical methods were simply indirect suggestion. (Bramwell p.279) With James Braid he began with a more physical view of the phenomena although later in his career began to take on a much more psychical view.
Ambroise-Auguste Liebeault a physician used hypnosis for a variety of medical conditions. Liebeault met Hippolyte Bernheim through one of Bernheim's patients who had sciatica. The patient had left Bernheim to be treated by Liebeault. Liebeault cured the patient and Bernheim then set out to prove him a Liebeault a charlatan. Bernheim became intrigued with what Liebeault could do and they soon formed the Nancy school of thought (Chips, p.28). In 1886 Bernheim published the second part of a book entitled La Therapeutique Suggestive. From that point Liebeault's name became known throughout all over the world. (Bramwell, p.31)
Bramwell (1930) gives an account of the method he witnessed Liebeault use in Nancy, France.
"The patient was first placed in an arm-chair, then told to think of nothing and to look steadily at the operator. This fixation of the gaze was not maintained long enough to produce any fatigue of the eyes, and appeared to be simply an artifice for arresting the attention. If the eyes did not close spontaneously, Liebeault requested the patient to shut them, and then proceeded to make the following suggestions, or others resembling them: " Your eyelids are getting heavy, your limbs feel numb, you are becoming more and more drowsy," etc. This was continued for a minute of two; then Liebeault placed his hand upon the patient's body, and suggested the sensation of local warmth" (Bramwell, p.41).
The Nancy school, as we can discern from the description above seemed to use a technique similar to what Braid in his later years began to champion. In the description above there seems to be a predominant use of direct verbal suggestion, such as "Your eyelids are getting heavy." In addition to the direct verbal suggestion there were also indirect physical suggestions used. An example of this would be the fixation of gaze in order to call attention. The Nancy school of thought emphasized hypnosis as being psychological phenomena mainly through suggestion and suggestibility. (Chips, p.28)
Jean-Martin Charcot around the same time set up the Salpetrier school of Hypnosis. Charcot had a large amount of authority and reputation and did much in the field of hypnosis to make research respectable. At that time Charcot felt the most important way to put hypnosis onto sound scientific ground was isolate as many physical characteristics of hypnosis as possible. This influenced a large part of Charcot's work. (Weitzenhoffer p.282) Charcot divided the phenomena of hypnosis into what he called ‘hypnotic syndromes".
The "hypnotic syndromes" were divided into three fundamental types, a cataleptic, a lethargic, and artificial somnambulism (Weitzenhoffer, p.283). For each syndrome Charcot had a method for eliciting it. Most of the elicitations involved fixed eye gaze, which was often times at a bright light (Weitzenhoffer p.284). Charcot's belief was that hypnosis is a hysterical disease state and only happened in people who were sick. Many of Charcot's theories were based on working with only about a dozen hysterical patients at the Salpetrier, an insane asylum (Kroger, p.3).
Sigmund Freud went to study with Charcot in Salpetrier, and Bernheim and Liebeault in Nancy (Kroger, p.3). After studying hypnosis Freud stopped using it for clinical purposes. The reason Freud stopped using hypnosis allegedly was that hypnosis was too volatile to use and stripped the patient of their defenses (Kroger, p.3). Freud often cited an example he had with a young female patient whom jumped up and tried to kiss him (Crasilneck, p.8).
Another reason not publicly mentioned but believed to have been an influence in Freud's decision was Freud frequently used cocaine leaves between his cheeks and gums to control pain, a common practice at that time. This eventually led to the destruction of his gums, which caused his dentures to fit poorly. Because of this, Freud slurred and could not speak clearly enough to lead people into hypnosis (wikipedia.org, 2004). Freud also could not produce consistent results, and could not get to sufficient depth in hypnosis. At the same time Freud was in competition with Josef Breuer whom was quite compitent at using hypnosis and who Freud had worked with earlier on (Chips, p.29).
From Freud's studies of hypnotism, he began to formulate his theories of "talking therapy" and the concept of modern psychology was born. One example of this was an incident when he was working with Breuer. While working with a patient whom they referred to as Anna O they noticed that Anna did not consistently respond to their technique of direct symptom removal. They noticed that some of her symptoms had parallels with experiences from her past. The symptoms also diminished while under trance Anna was able to recall the memories. This was part of the foundations for Freud's ideas about the value of catharses, and the beginning of Freud's psychoanalytic theories (Crasilneck, Hall, p.8).
At this time Freud had finally made a psychological treatment and theory of disease popular that hypnosis could fit into. This however was not to be so, Freud stated that "psychoanalysis…only began with my rejection of the hypnotic the technique" Thus for a long time Freud and his followers avoided hypnosis. Hypnosis without a framework left both its practice and theory to those who were desperately fighting the insights of psychoanalysis. Freud later credited hypnosis for driving him in the right direction, along with subtely suggesting it has some use in the therapeutic setting by combining "the pure gold of analysis plentifully with the copper of direct suggestion," including hypnosis (Bernman, Gill, 1971, p.10).
After Charcot's death in 1893, the scientific study of hypnosis declined greatly. In the surgical fields chemical anesthetics were used. In the treatment of psychological disturbances the rising theory of Freud's psychoanalysis was used. There were little places for hypnosis to exist. Hypnosis continued with some people such as a contemporary of Freud, Pierre Janet. In addition, William James explored hypnosis in his investigations. Hypnosis stayed for the most part in the background with little investigation until World War I. The World War caused interest to develop in hypnosis while looking for techniques to treat traumatic war neurosis (Crasilneck, Hall, p.8).
In the 1930's with Clark Leonard Hull at Yale the research and investigation into hypnosis began to pick up again. An experimental psychologist, Clark's book called Hypnosis and Suggestibility (1933) was a rigorous study of the phenomenon, using statisical and experimental analysis. The main result of Hull's study was to rein in the extravagant claims of hypnotists, especially regarding extraordinary improvements in cognition or the senses under hypnosis. Hull's experiments did show the reality of some classical phenomena - hypnotic anaesthesia and post-hypnotic amnesia; hypnosis could also induce moderate increases in certain physical capacities and change the threshold of sensory stimulation, attenuation effects could be especially dramatic (wikipedia.org, 2004).
Hull had a saying about trance that began putting a new light on hypnosis. This was that "anything that assumes trance causes trance." Hull believed that the essence of hypnosis is the change in suggestibility. Hull believed that the effect that verbal communication had during a hypnosis session was that words are stimuli, which cause something in the subject. This was different than the Nancy school in that for Bernheim and Liebeault the words themselves were ideas (Shor, Orne, p.181).
One of Hall's students had a large influence on the field as well. This student was Milton Erickson. Milton was trained as a psychiatrist and practiced hypnosis from 1920-1980 almost daily. Erickson later came to disagree with Hull on the important issue of fundamental approach, stressing the complex subjective inner processes operating in hypnosis, rather than the measurable correlates and standardized procedures promoted by Hull (Stark, 1993).
Erickson's work began to change the perception of what hypnosis was. Erickson's belief was that the job of the hypnotist was not to add suggestions but rather to de-hypnotize and call up potential that we have. Erickson also believed that we all had the capacity to go to into trance.
An example of Erickson's induction method I will give below and is from Hypnotic Realities (1976). The induction is what Erickson referred to as the "Early Learning Set" induction. It is an example (only part of the session) of a conversational induction that Erickson often used (Erickson, Rossi, 1976, p.5). However, I must stress that what will be shown is just the verbal technique employed by Erickson. There is much more involved as described in Patterns in the Hypnotic Technique of Milton Erickson 1 and 2. In the example in parenthesis I will put an explanation for what the wording is meant to accomplish, so the reader can get a feel for the precision and grace with which Erickson practiced; much of it is from Hypnotic Realities.
"Look at the far upper corner of that picture. The far upper corner of that picture. (to begin to place the patients critical faculty away) Now I'm going to talk to you. When you first went to kindergarten, grade school, this matter of learning letters and numerals seemed to be a big insurmountable task. (eliciting a previous learning) To recognize the letter A to tell a Q from an O was very, very difficult. And then too, script and print were so different. But you learned to from a mental image of some kind, You didn't know it at the time but it was a permanent mental image. (truisms to gain rapport, and possible to elicit mental imagery to facilitate trance) And later on in grammar school you formed other mental images or words or pictures of sentences. You developed more and more mental images without knowing you were developing mental image. And you can recall all those images. (eliciting mental imagery to focus conscious attention) Now you can go anywhere you wish, and transport yourself to any situation. You can feel water you may want to swim in it. You can do anything you want. (a suggestion to have critical faculty somewhere else) You don't even have to listen to my voice because your unconscious will hear it. You unconscious can try anything it wishes. But your conscious mind isn't going to do anything of importance. (to further separate conscious mind so can communication with the unconscious can begin)."
Erickson recognized that hypnosis is a state of mind that all of us are entering spontaneously and frequently as part of our normal behavior pattern. He utilized this phenomenon in conveying his suggestions in a covert way, by an exciting and innovative use of language (Simons, 2002). Many of Erickson's inductions "… are based upon the utilization of the subject own attitudes thinking, feeling, and behavior, and aspect of the reality situation, variously employed, as the essential components of the trance induction procedure (Shor, Orne, p. 370).
Traditionally, the hypnotist was left out of the descriptions of the relationship to Erickson the hypnotist was a key part of the relationship. Erickson helped hypnosis to become commonly accepted, and he also did a lot of work to frame hypnosis in a way that combined the schools of thought about hypnosis that existed at the time (pathological verses psychological). Erickson said that hypnosis is "a naturally occurring psycho physiological phenomenon" (Chips, p.33).
Following Erickson, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, amongst others, have studied and codified his subtle techniques in the development of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or N.L.P. From their work among others, effective models of how to allow and encourage others to experience trances are being developing (Chips, p.35). The models allow one to easily learn the subtleties that can be used as a reference for inducing a hypnotic session.
As Erickson says about the models presented in Patterns of the Hypnotic Technique of Milton Erickson, by to developer of NLP Bandler and Grinder. "...It is a much better explanation of how I work that I, myself, can give. I know what I do, but to explain how I do it is much too difficult for me. …Long overdue is the fulfillment of the need to recognize that meaningful communication should replace repetitious verbigerations, direct suggestions, and authoritarian commands" (Bandler, Grinder, 1975, VIII).
Dave Elman in the 1960's played a large role in creating a way that the use of hypnosis in the medical fields could be done easily in a manner of minutes. Elman created many rapid induction techniques. Elman had beliefs about hypnosis that resonated with many of those put forth by Erickson. Hypnosis is merely a state of mind, a mood "hypnosis is a state of mind in which the critical faculty of the human is bypassed, and selective thinking established" (Elman, 1970, p.26). A simple technique that Elman used during demonstrations to highlight the previous concept would be the following:
Elman would have the subject imagine they are swimming in order to get the critical faculty focused on something. Then he would ask, "Can you see yourself swimming?" This was to keep the critical faculty on that aspect. When the subject would say "yes" Elman would tell them that so long as they continue to see themselves swimming nothing would bother them (to establish a selective thinking in this case for obtaining anesthesia) (Elman, p.28).
Elman believed that you teach the subject how to go into trance state, by stimulating imagination; hypnosis is not power over the subject. The phenomena will only occur if the subject is willing; they will then react to suggestions. Elman believed that anyone could be hypnotized, and that what stopped him or her was fear. The introduction of fear causes a defensive reaction that brings the critical faculty back into focus (Elman, p.26).
Leslie LeCron was a Clinical psychologist who advanced the use of hypnosis as a therapeutic tool to the populist, with his book Self Hypnotism: The Technique and its Use in Daily Living in 1964. The book teaches how to be able to do many of the same therapeutic techniques as one would receive by someone else doing the hypnosis. LeCron and his work with Cheeks did a lot of work promoting and expanding the use of ideomotor signals.
Ideomotor signals are using physical manifestations to stand for signals to be communicated by the unconscious. For example it is setting up a finger to move for yes, and a finger to stand for no. So the unconscious can communicate rather than going through the conscious mind, and a verbal system. Rossi (1988) makes a case for ideomotor signals led to a new path for mind-body research to occur, and expanded the uses for hypnosis to those that can not communicate verbally.
In 1980 a field called psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI), the conduits through which our emotions and thoughts may affect our health came into prominence. A major influence in this was Dr Ernest Rossi. In his early years Rossi worked with and co-wrote many papers with Milton Erickson. In 1986 he published a major book, The Psychobiology of Mind-Body Healing (wikipedia.org)
Rossi's research into psychobiology and state dependent learning has resulted in a large number of publications in which he describes the mind-body pathways, and applies hypnotic techniques in utilizing these pathways to bring about healing. Much of the work by Rossi in conjunction with Erickson's work created a space for the physiology (behaviorist) schools and psychological schools to coexist in our understanding of the hypnotic phenomena (wikipedia.org). "These breakthroughs are providing a new research database for conceptualizing state-dependant memory, learning, and behavior, as one of the major psychobiological foundations of therapeutic hypnosis (Rossi, Cheeks, 1988, XIX)."
At this time there is a large amount of research to give hypnosis a verifiable place of its own as a valid psychological tool, for altering ones existence. This is not merely by suggestion as previously thought, but by influencing the body directly. From Mesmer to Erickson the context and theory behind hypnosis has changed. Mesmer began with the phenomena being the result of one individual influencing another individual through animal magnetism. The style of influence had little to do with who the patient was.
One hundred years later Elliotson and Esdaile still retained much of the original explanation for the hypnotic phenomena, believing the influence was due to a power on exerted over another. However, their technique had changed, among other things, there was no crisis involved in the treatment, and there was an encouragement towards a sleep state.
James Braid around the same time attempted to look what it was that actually caused the phenomena to happen. In order to do this gave us the term hypnosis. By holding his inquisitive stance Braid later changed his theory, to one much closer to the theory of today. Braid's later theory became similar to that of Liebeault and Bernheim which many consider to be the founders of modern day hypnosis (Kroger, p.3). At this point there was enough of a foundation for the elegance in hypnosis that Erickson gave to the field to exist, along with simplicity and ease of use that Elman and LeCron contributed. It is from that elegance and simplicity that hypnotic phenomena are allowing us to see through some of the work of those like Rossi a greater understanding of who we are and how we exist.
References:
Bandler, Richard. & Grinder, John. (1975). Patterns of the Hypnotic Technique of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.: Volume 1. Capitola, CA: Meta Publications, Inc.
Bramwell, J. (1930). Hypnotism. Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott, Co.
Brenman, Margaret. & Gill, Merton. (1971). Hypnotherapy: A Survey of the Literature. New York, NY. International University Press.
Chips, Allen. (1999). Clinical Hypnotherapy: A Transpersonal Approach. Goshen, VA: EIH Publishing.
Crasilneck, Harold. & Hall, James. (1975). Clinical Hypnosis: Principles and Applications. New York: NY: Grune & Stratton, Inc.
Elman, Dave. (1964). Hypnotherapy. Glendale, CA: Westwood Publishing Co.
Erickson, Milton. & Rossi, Ernest. & Ross, Sheila. (1976). Hypnotic Realities: The Induction of Clinical Hypnosis and Forms of Indirect Suggestion. New York, NY. Irvington Publishers.
Kroger, William. (1977). Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. Philidelphia, PA: Lippincott, Co.
LeCron, Leslie. (1964). Self Hypnotism: The Technique and Its Use In Daily Living. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Rossi, Ernest. & Cheek, David. (1988). Mind-Body Therapy: Methods of Ideodynamic Healing in Hypnosis. New York, NY: Norton & Company, Inc.
Sheehan, Perry. & Perry, Campbell. (1976). Methodologies of Hypnosis: A Critical Appraisal of Contemporary Paradigms of Hypnosis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Shor, Ronald. & Orne, Martin. (Eds.) (1965). The Nature of Hypnosis: Selected Basic Readings. New York, NY. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Weitzenhoffer, Andre. (1957). General Techniques of Hypnotism. New York, NY: Grune & Stratton, Inc.
Dilts, Robert. (2004). Encyclopedia of Systematic NLP- On Line. November, 22, 2004. http://nlpuniversitypress.com
Simons, David. (2002). A Breif History of Hypnosis in Medicine. December 01, 2004. http://www.bsmdh.org/history.htm#Post1945, Copyright Sharon Stead 2002.
Todd, Stark. (1993). The cultural origins of the concept of hypnosis. December ,01, 2004. http://hypnosis.com/faq/faq1-2.html
Wikipedia.org. (2004). Hypnosis. December, 06, 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnosis.
Wozniak, Robert. (1995). Mind and Body: Rene Déscartes to William James. December, 06, 2004. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/Mind/trance.
Copywright 2009
Kerry Goldstein, MA
http://counselinginoregon.com
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-Steven Heller & Terry Steele
Monsters and Magical Sticks: There's No Such Thing as Hypnosis
Many individuals throughout history have attempted to explain the phenomena through different means. In this paper I will show the path through history that hypnosis has taken, and the contributions and effects that individuals played along the way. For this paper hypnosis will be defined as: "… the art and science of using verbal and nonverbal communication patterns to assist another individual in going into an altered state of consciousness (Dilts, 2004)."
Uses of hypnosis or trances in healing have existed for quite some time. Glasner (1955) writes that "although it is impossible to state with any definiteness that hypnosis is referred to in the bible and in the Talmud, there would seem to be considerable evidence that the authors of the works were indeed familiar with the phenomena which we today should call hypnotic or which we should explain in terms of suggestion(Crasilneck, Hall, 1975, p.5)." In Egypt the Ebers papyrus, over 3000 years old, describes how Egyptian soothsayers used hypnotic procedures similar to those practiced today (Kroger, 1977, p.1). The hypnotic phenomena have existed in many contexts.
Paracelsus who lived from 1493-1541 and who developed the mercury cure used magnets to heal others by passing them over their body. His beliefs in terms of explaining the healing he witnessed was due to the magnets effect on ones astral body. The astral body was considered to be a metaphysical body. The astral body would have an effect on our physical body. When the astral body would be out of balance, diseases would then become apparent. The magnets function was to influence the energy in the astral body to be back in balance. Having your astral body in balance would play a large role in removing disease and regaining health (Chips, 1999 p.22).
Father Maximilian Hell who lived from 1720-1792 used magnets to heal as well. Hell's technique was slightly different, in that he would directly apply the magnets to the patient. Hell had a large influence on one of his students, Franz Anton Mesmer; Mesmer had his own magnets made. Mesmer as often times was done for an illness at that time would do bloodletting. Mesmer used the magnets he had made after the bloodletting was done. What often happened when Mesmer would make the passes would be that the bleeding would stop. One day Mesmer went to get his magnets and they were nowhere to be found. Not being able to find them Mesmer picked up a stick nearby and made passes with it, the bleeding stopped (Sheehan, Perry, 1976, p.3).
Mesmer believed that the influence of the stick was really emanating from him. He termed this influence as animal magnetism. Animal magnetism was the same type of magnetism that came from the magnets he had used. However, rather than emanating from magnets, animal magnetism emanated from humans. The animal magnetism Mesmer believed had a similar influence as the magnets magnetism. This explanation for the effect was later to be a problem for him, because there was no way to measure the animal magnetism. Mesmer also believed that this animal magnetism could be transferred to objects.
One of the objects Mesmer transferred his magnetism to was a nearby tree. With Mesmer's techniques he had quite a bit of success. Because of Mesmer's success a French board of inquiry was set up to investigate his claims. In 1784 Mesmer invited the French academy of science to study his methods. A commission was set up including nine members including a botanist Antoine Laurent, the chemist Lavoisier, the doctor Guillotin, and Benjamin Franklin. One of the procedures they watched was Mesmer healing a boy simply by telling him to sit under the tree he had magnetized. The boy was cured (Chips, 1999 p.24). The commission studied the events, and they were convinced something was happening.
Mesmer however had attributed the success that he had with patients to his theory of the effects of animal magnetism. There was no way for the commission to measure the animal magnetism, so, no way for the commission to attribute scientifically the animal magnetism as to the agent of treatment. The commission decided Mesmer was a fraud and the effects were not due to animal magnetism. Instead, the commission decided the effects were due to the use of imagination and suggestion (Chips, p.24).
The commission left an impression in their report that a crisis was a major part of the "most general aspect of the cure." A crisis would look similar to convulsions, and often times include crying or laughing by the patient (Weitzenhoffer 1957, p.278). However, there are conflicting reports as to if it actually was a major part of the cure for Mesmer (Sheehan, Perry, 1976, p.10). Mesmer's work as the result of animal magnetism was now discredited, so Mesmer went back to Vienna and died in poverty and seclusion in 1815 (Chips, p.25).
A description of Mesmer's Method is given by Bramwell:
Mesmer put his hands upon the shoulders of the subject, then brought them
down the arms to the extremities of the fingers, and, after holding the thumbs a moment, repeated this process two or three times. He also touched the seat of pain with his fingers, or with the palm of his hand, following the direction of the nerves as much as possible Mesmer employed a species of actual handling or passes with contact…(Bramwell, 1930, p.40)
Mesmer, with his notion of animal magnetism, placed the influence on the operator. The mesmerists believed that the phenomena happened by various physical means, such as fixed eye gazing or pass with contact. The eyes and fingertips were thought of as powerful projectors of the magnetism (Bramwell, p.40). The operator would influence the subject, and there is little talk of the relationship being two ways.
Not until Erickson do we see a balanced mutual relationship between the operator and subjects exist. The influence was through physical means, and through physical means that a cure would happen. Influence through physical means is a key belief about mesmerism.
A follower of Mesmer and a French Military officer Marquis de Puysegur expanded upon the theories and influence of Mesmer. Puysegur became trained in Mesmer's method and obtained his own set of magnets as well. One night de Puysegur was called to one of the peasants on his estate named Victor Race who had been suffering from inflammation of the lung (Sheehan, Perry, p.16).
De Puysegur magnetized Victor whom began speaking to de Puysegur in a manner that was not usual for Victor being a peasant to speak to his "superior" de Puysegur. What was more interesting was that Victor was unable to recall this or other events that subsequently would happen under this magnetism. To describe that experience Puysegur coined the term somnambulist (Sheehan, Perry, p.16).
Puysegur took victor to Paris to demonstrate the phenomena. After doing so Victors condition worsened. While magnetized Victor told Puysegur that this was do to him often times being in front of disbelieving crowds. From the experiences with Victor and others, Puységur came to beliefs that magnetic effects depend on the force of the magnetizer's personal belief in the efficacy of magnetic cure. In addition to the will to cure, and rapport with the patient. De Puysegur was also the first to record the reaction now known as hypnotic amnesia (Chip, 25). Puysegur also discarded with the need for a "crisis" to occur (Sheehan, Perry, p.17).
In 1784, Puységur wrote Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire et a l'établissement du magnétisme animal, a work which can be considered the point of origin of modern psychotherapy (Wozniak, 1995). With the influence of Puységur, Mesmerism spread rapidly. "In the United States it arrived from France with Charles Poyen de Saint Sauveur and became allied briefly with phrenology and more extensively with spiritualism, eventuating in the New Thought movement that exerted an impact on William James (Wozniak, 1995)."
Abbe Faria came to Paris from India gave public exhibitions of hypnosis, without any magnets. He is said to have hypnotized over 5,000 people. The beliefs that Faria held in regards to the phenomena was that it was not due to magnetism but to the expectation and cooperation of the patient. Faria also believed that some people were more easily able to go through the process. "we cannot induce concentration in individuals whenever we desire; rather we find people who are inherently susceptible (Kroger,1977, p.2)." Faria theory as to a physical reason why the phenomena worked with some and not others was influenced by contemporary medicine. Faria believed that thinness of the blood was a condition necessary for someone to have, in order for them to be susceptible to hypnosis (Sheehan, Perry, p.22).
Faria believed strongly in the power of suggestion. This is shown in Faria's belief that taking a medicine that was not effective but believing in it working, is better than taking a medicine that is effective and not believing in it. (Sheehan, Perry, p.24)Faria however, lacked medical training so his views were given little clout in scientific circles. In addition, Faria had failed to recognize an actor during one of his demonstrations so was ridiculed for that as well. However, much of his views of magnetism and its workings were ahead of his time, in that the beliefs of the subject are important in order for hypnosis to be successful (Sheehan, Perry, p.19).
James Esdaile while in India wrote a book called "Mesmerism in India. Esdaile practiced in India from 1840 to 1850. Esdaile's book outlined Mesmerism being used in India for the use of pain control in eighty-two major surgeries. After Esdaile had performed over a hundred operations using mesmerism he placed the results before the government in Bengal. A committee was set up to investigate mainly medical men. The committee's report was favorable (Bramwell, p.14).
After receiving the report the government replied back that "… to place Dr. Esdaile for a year in charge of a small experimental hospital, in some favorable situation in Calcutta…" A small hospital was set in Calcutta, and Esdaile's mesmerism was just as successful here with his patients as he had been (Bramwell, p.15). A year later the medical officers reported that complete insensibility to pain was gained from the effects of mesmerism, even in the most severe operations. Before Esdaile had left India he had performed thousands of operations using mesmerism, including nineteen amputations (Bramwell, p.16).
When Esdaile got back to London he began advocating for the use of Mesmerism for pain control; this was before the use of chloroform. For advocating mesmerism Esdaile received a lot of criticism from medical authorities. Esdaile's work was also attacked in the medical journals. "It was asserted that the coolies of Bengal enjoyed being operated on, and that, knowing Esdaile's hobby, they came from all quarters in order to please him. Esdaile was described as an honest fool, who was deceived by his patients" (Bramwell, 17).
Around the same time as Esdaile, John Elliotson (who had invented the stethoscope) and was a professor of medicine at the university of London also advocated the use of mesmerism for surgery. Elliotson also experienced the same ridicule for his use of mesmerism. In 1843 Elliotson started the Zoist, a journal for the information collected relating to mesmerism (Chips, p.27). Operations by Esdaile in India were recorded in the journal. The journal played some influence in the opening of a Mesmeric Infirmary in London. The journal lasted for thirteen years (Bramwell, p.8). The topic of mesmerism for pain control may have stuck as a debate, however, chloroform was discovered shortly after, and was accepted much better than mesmerism.
Esdaile's Method was to put the patient in a darkened room, directing them to close their eyes, and to try to sleep. Esdaile would then make passes over the body and from time to time breathed on the head and eyes, it was continued for about an hour (Bramwell, p. 40). According to Elliotson and Esdaile, the phenomena of mesmerism were result of action of a physical nature that was transmitted form one being to the other. The mesmeric influence Esdaile said ‘was a physical power one exerted over another (Bramwell, p.275)."
In London James Braid a Scottish physician saw a demonstration of mesmerism by LaFontaine in 1841. After seeing the demonstration by Lafontaine, and others after it, Braid began thinking of how the effects of mesmerism were reached. He started his investigation by first making the assumption that animal magnetism did not exist. Braid eliminated all the factors but the fixation of the eyes that causes trance, and coined the term hypnosis (Weitzenhoffer p.281).
Hypnosis means nervous sleep from the Greek god hypnos, the god of sleep. Later Braid realized that hypnosis was not sleep and tried to change the term but it had already stuck. Braid wrote the first book on hypnosis in1843 called Neurypnology. Braid and his book Neurypnology became very popular. Eight hundred copies of his book were sold in a few months (Bramwell, 23).
Braid's method of hypnosis was to take a bright object and to put it about a foot in front of the patient's eyes slightly upward. The patient would then be instructed to simply look at the object. Braid would then extend his had toward the patients eyes, which would usually close at that point. If the eyelids did not close the process was usually completed again with more instruction (Weitzenhoffer p.281). Later on Braid changed the method slightly by telling the patients to close their eyes early on in the process (Bramwell, p.41).
Braid's belief on what causes hypnosis to occur was changes in the nervous system usually caused by staring, fixed attention and suppressed respiration. They were not due to the volition of the operator nor to the transmission of a physical influence (Bramwell, p. 41). He also believed that these changes were independent of the rapport between the operator and subject.
Towards the end of Braids career he believed that the results were due to what he referred to as monoideism. Monoideism is the focus of ones attention on a specific thought. With the later framework Braid believed that direct verbal suggestion was the best method for inducing hypnosis, and that physical methods were simply indirect suggestion. (Bramwell p.279) With James Braid he began with a more physical view of the phenomena although later in his career began to take on a much more psychical view.
Ambroise-Auguste Liebeault a physician used hypnosis for a variety of medical conditions. Liebeault met Hippolyte Bernheim through one of Bernheim's patients who had sciatica. The patient had left Bernheim to be treated by Liebeault. Liebeault cured the patient and Bernheim then set out to prove him a Liebeault a charlatan. Bernheim became intrigued with what Liebeault could do and they soon formed the Nancy school of thought (Chips, p.28). In 1886 Bernheim published the second part of a book entitled La Therapeutique Suggestive. From that point Liebeault's name became known throughout all over the world. (Bramwell, p.31)
Bramwell (1930) gives an account of the method he witnessed Liebeault use in Nancy, France.
"The patient was first placed in an arm-chair, then told to think of nothing and to look steadily at the operator. This fixation of the gaze was not maintained long enough to produce any fatigue of the eyes, and appeared to be simply an artifice for arresting the attention. If the eyes did not close spontaneously, Liebeault requested the patient to shut them, and then proceeded to make the following suggestions, or others resembling them: " Your eyelids are getting heavy, your limbs feel numb, you are becoming more and more drowsy," etc. This was continued for a minute of two; then Liebeault placed his hand upon the patient's body, and suggested the sensation of local warmth" (Bramwell, p.41).
The Nancy school, as we can discern from the description above seemed to use a technique similar to what Braid in his later years began to champion. In the description above there seems to be a predominant use of direct verbal suggestion, such as "Your eyelids are getting heavy." In addition to the direct verbal suggestion there were also indirect physical suggestions used. An example of this would be the fixation of gaze in order to call attention. The Nancy school of thought emphasized hypnosis as being psychological phenomena mainly through suggestion and suggestibility. (Chips, p.28)
Jean-Martin Charcot around the same time set up the Salpetrier school of Hypnosis. Charcot had a large amount of authority and reputation and did much in the field of hypnosis to make research respectable. At that time Charcot felt the most important way to put hypnosis onto sound scientific ground was isolate as many physical characteristics of hypnosis as possible. This influenced a large part of Charcot's work. (Weitzenhoffer p.282) Charcot divided the phenomena of hypnosis into what he called ‘hypnotic syndromes".
The "hypnotic syndromes" were divided into three fundamental types, a cataleptic, a lethargic, and artificial somnambulism (Weitzenhoffer, p.283). For each syndrome Charcot had a method for eliciting it. Most of the elicitations involved fixed eye gaze, which was often times at a bright light (Weitzenhoffer p.284). Charcot's belief was that hypnosis is a hysterical disease state and only happened in people who were sick. Many of Charcot's theories were based on working with only about a dozen hysterical patients at the Salpetrier, an insane asylum (Kroger, p.3).
Sigmund Freud went to study with Charcot in Salpetrier, and Bernheim and Liebeault in Nancy (Kroger, p.3). After studying hypnosis Freud stopped using it for clinical purposes. The reason Freud stopped using hypnosis allegedly was that hypnosis was too volatile to use and stripped the patient of their defenses (Kroger, p.3). Freud often cited an example he had with a young female patient whom jumped up and tried to kiss him (Crasilneck, p.8).
Another reason not publicly mentioned but believed to have been an influence in Freud's decision was Freud frequently used cocaine leaves between his cheeks and gums to control pain, a common practice at that time. This eventually led to the destruction of his gums, which caused his dentures to fit poorly. Because of this, Freud slurred and could not speak clearly enough to lead people into hypnosis (wikipedia.org, 2004). Freud also could not produce consistent results, and could not get to sufficient depth in hypnosis. At the same time Freud was in competition with Josef Breuer whom was quite compitent at using hypnosis and who Freud had worked with earlier on (Chips, p.29).
From Freud's studies of hypnotism, he began to formulate his theories of "talking therapy" and the concept of modern psychology was born. One example of this was an incident when he was working with Breuer. While working with a patient whom they referred to as Anna O they noticed that Anna did not consistently respond to their technique of direct symptom removal. They noticed that some of her symptoms had parallels with experiences from her past. The symptoms also diminished while under trance Anna was able to recall the memories. This was part of the foundations for Freud's ideas about the value of catharses, and the beginning of Freud's psychoanalytic theories (Crasilneck, Hall, p.8).
At this time Freud had finally made a psychological treatment and theory of disease popular that hypnosis could fit into. This however was not to be so, Freud stated that "psychoanalysis…only began with my rejection of the hypnotic the technique" Thus for a long time Freud and his followers avoided hypnosis. Hypnosis without a framework left both its practice and theory to those who were desperately fighting the insights of psychoanalysis. Freud later credited hypnosis for driving him in the right direction, along with subtely suggesting it has some use in the therapeutic setting by combining "the pure gold of analysis plentifully with the copper of direct suggestion," including hypnosis (Bernman, Gill, 1971, p.10).
After Charcot's death in 1893, the scientific study of hypnosis declined greatly. In the surgical fields chemical anesthetics were used. In the treatment of psychological disturbances the rising theory of Freud's psychoanalysis was used. There were little places for hypnosis to exist. Hypnosis continued with some people such as a contemporary of Freud, Pierre Janet. In addition, William James explored hypnosis in his investigations. Hypnosis stayed for the most part in the background with little investigation until World War I. The World War caused interest to develop in hypnosis while looking for techniques to treat traumatic war neurosis (Crasilneck, Hall, p.8).
In the 1930's with Clark Leonard Hull at Yale the research and investigation into hypnosis began to pick up again. An experimental psychologist, Clark's book called Hypnosis and Suggestibility (1933) was a rigorous study of the phenomenon, using statisical and experimental analysis. The main result of Hull's study was to rein in the extravagant claims of hypnotists, especially regarding extraordinary improvements in cognition or the senses under hypnosis. Hull's experiments did show the reality of some classical phenomena - hypnotic anaesthesia and post-hypnotic amnesia; hypnosis could also induce moderate increases in certain physical capacities and change the threshold of sensory stimulation, attenuation effects could be especially dramatic (wikipedia.org, 2004).
Hull had a saying about trance that began putting a new light on hypnosis. This was that "anything that assumes trance causes trance." Hull believed that the essence of hypnosis is the change in suggestibility. Hull believed that the effect that verbal communication had during a hypnosis session was that words are stimuli, which cause something in the subject. This was different than the Nancy school in that for Bernheim and Liebeault the words themselves were ideas (Shor, Orne, p.181).
One of Hall's students had a large influence on the field as well. This student was Milton Erickson. Milton was trained as a psychiatrist and practiced hypnosis from 1920-1980 almost daily. Erickson later came to disagree with Hull on the important issue of fundamental approach, stressing the complex subjective inner processes operating in hypnosis, rather than the measurable correlates and standardized procedures promoted by Hull (Stark, 1993).
Erickson's work began to change the perception of what hypnosis was. Erickson's belief was that the job of the hypnotist was not to add suggestions but rather to de-hypnotize and call up potential that we have. Erickson also believed that we all had the capacity to go to into trance.
An example of Erickson's induction method I will give below and is from Hypnotic Realities (1976). The induction is what Erickson referred to as the "Early Learning Set" induction. It is an example (only part of the session) of a conversational induction that Erickson often used (Erickson, Rossi, 1976, p.5). However, I must stress that what will be shown is just the verbal technique employed by Erickson. There is much more involved as described in Patterns in the Hypnotic Technique of Milton Erickson 1 and 2. In the example in parenthesis I will put an explanation for what the wording is meant to accomplish, so the reader can get a feel for the precision and grace with which Erickson practiced; much of it is from Hypnotic Realities.
"Look at the far upper corner of that picture. The far upper corner of that picture. (to begin to place the patients critical faculty away) Now I'm going to talk to you. When you first went to kindergarten, grade school, this matter of learning letters and numerals seemed to be a big insurmountable task. (eliciting a previous learning) To recognize the letter A to tell a Q from an O was very, very difficult. And then too, script and print were so different. But you learned to from a mental image of some kind, You didn't know it at the time but it was a permanent mental image. (truisms to gain rapport, and possible to elicit mental imagery to facilitate trance) And later on in grammar school you formed other mental images or words or pictures of sentences. You developed more and more mental images without knowing you were developing mental image. And you can recall all those images. (eliciting mental imagery to focus conscious attention) Now you can go anywhere you wish, and transport yourself to any situation. You can feel water you may want to swim in it. You can do anything you want. (a suggestion to have critical faculty somewhere else) You don't even have to listen to my voice because your unconscious will hear it. You unconscious can try anything it wishes. But your conscious mind isn't going to do anything of importance. (to further separate conscious mind so can communication with the unconscious can begin)."
Erickson recognized that hypnosis is a state of mind that all of us are entering spontaneously and frequently as part of our normal behavior pattern. He utilized this phenomenon in conveying his suggestions in a covert way, by an exciting and innovative use of language (Simons, 2002). Many of Erickson's inductions "… are based upon the utilization of the subject own attitudes thinking, feeling, and behavior, and aspect of the reality situation, variously employed, as the essential components of the trance induction procedure (Shor, Orne, p. 370).
Traditionally, the hypnotist was left out of the descriptions of the relationship to Erickson the hypnotist was a key part of the relationship. Erickson helped hypnosis to become commonly accepted, and he also did a lot of work to frame hypnosis in a way that combined the schools of thought about hypnosis that existed at the time (pathological verses psychological). Erickson said that hypnosis is "a naturally occurring psycho physiological phenomenon" (Chips, p.33).
Following Erickson, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, amongst others, have studied and codified his subtle techniques in the development of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or N.L.P. From their work among others, effective models of how to allow and encourage others to experience trances are being developing (Chips, p.35). The models allow one to easily learn the subtleties that can be used as a reference for inducing a hypnotic session.
As Erickson says about the models presented in Patterns of the Hypnotic Technique of Milton Erickson, by to developer of NLP Bandler and Grinder. "...It is a much better explanation of how I work that I, myself, can give. I know what I do, but to explain how I do it is much too difficult for me. …Long overdue is the fulfillment of the need to recognize that meaningful communication should replace repetitious verbigerations, direct suggestions, and authoritarian commands" (Bandler, Grinder, 1975, VIII).
Dave Elman in the 1960's played a large role in creating a way that the use of hypnosis in the medical fields could be done easily in a manner of minutes. Elman created many rapid induction techniques. Elman had beliefs about hypnosis that resonated with many of those put forth by Erickson. Hypnosis is merely a state of mind, a mood "hypnosis is a state of mind in which the critical faculty of the human is bypassed, and selective thinking established" (Elman, 1970, p.26). A simple technique that Elman used during demonstrations to highlight the previous concept would be the following:
Elman would have the subject imagine they are swimming in order to get the critical faculty focused on something. Then he would ask, "Can you see yourself swimming?" This was to keep the critical faculty on that aspect. When the subject would say "yes" Elman would tell them that so long as they continue to see themselves swimming nothing would bother them (to establish a selective thinking in this case for obtaining anesthesia) (Elman, p.28).
Elman believed that you teach the subject how to go into trance state, by stimulating imagination; hypnosis is not power over the subject. The phenomena will only occur if the subject is willing; they will then react to suggestions. Elman believed that anyone could be hypnotized, and that what stopped him or her was fear. The introduction of fear causes a defensive reaction that brings the critical faculty back into focus (Elman, p.26).
Leslie LeCron was a Clinical psychologist who advanced the use of hypnosis as a therapeutic tool to the populist, with his book Self Hypnotism: The Technique and its Use in Daily Living in 1964. The book teaches how to be able to do many of the same therapeutic techniques as one would receive by someone else doing the hypnosis. LeCron and his work with Cheeks did a lot of work promoting and expanding the use of ideomotor signals.
Ideomotor signals are using physical manifestations to stand for signals to be communicated by the unconscious. For example it is setting up a finger to move for yes, and a finger to stand for no. So the unconscious can communicate rather than going through the conscious mind, and a verbal system. Rossi (1988) makes a case for ideomotor signals led to a new path for mind-body research to occur, and expanded the uses for hypnosis to those that can not communicate verbally.
In 1980 a field called psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI), the conduits through which our emotions and thoughts may affect our health came into prominence. A major influence in this was Dr Ernest Rossi. In his early years Rossi worked with and co-wrote many papers with Milton Erickson. In 1986 he published a major book, The Psychobiology of Mind-Body Healing (wikipedia.org)
Rossi's research into psychobiology and state dependent learning has resulted in a large number of publications in which he describes the mind-body pathways, and applies hypnotic techniques in utilizing these pathways to bring about healing. Much of the work by Rossi in conjunction with Erickson's work created a space for the physiology (behaviorist) schools and psychological schools to coexist in our understanding of the hypnotic phenomena (wikipedia.org). "These breakthroughs are providing a new research database for conceptualizing state-dependant memory, learning, and behavior, as one of the major psychobiological foundations of therapeutic hypnosis (Rossi, Cheeks, 1988, XIX)."
At this time there is a large amount of research to give hypnosis a verifiable place of its own as a valid psychological tool, for altering ones existence. This is not merely by suggestion as previously thought, but by influencing the body directly. From Mesmer to Erickson the context and theory behind hypnosis has changed. Mesmer began with the phenomena being the result of one individual influencing another individual through animal magnetism. The style of influence had little to do with who the patient was.
One hundred years later Elliotson and Esdaile still retained much of the original explanation for the hypnotic phenomena, believing the influence was due to a power on exerted over another. However, their technique had changed, among other things, there was no crisis involved in the treatment, and there was an encouragement towards a sleep state.
James Braid around the same time attempted to look what it was that actually caused the phenomena to happen. In order to do this gave us the term hypnosis. By holding his inquisitive stance Braid later changed his theory, to one much closer to the theory of today. Braid's later theory became similar to that of Liebeault and Bernheim which many consider to be the founders of modern day hypnosis (Kroger, p.3). At this point there was enough of a foundation for the elegance in hypnosis that Erickson gave to the field to exist, along with simplicity and ease of use that Elman and LeCron contributed. It is from that elegance and simplicity that hypnotic phenomena are allowing us to see through some of the work of those like Rossi a greater understanding of who we are and how we exist.
References:
Bandler, Richard. & Grinder, John. (1975). Patterns of the Hypnotic Technique of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.: Volume 1. Capitola, CA: Meta Publications, Inc.
Bramwell, J. (1930). Hypnotism. Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott, Co.
Brenman, Margaret. & Gill, Merton. (1971). Hypnotherapy: A Survey of the Literature. New York, NY. International University Press.
Chips, Allen. (1999). Clinical Hypnotherapy: A Transpersonal Approach. Goshen, VA: EIH Publishing.
Crasilneck, Harold. & Hall, James. (1975). Clinical Hypnosis: Principles and Applications. New York: NY: Grune & Stratton, Inc.
Elman, Dave. (1964). Hypnotherapy. Glendale, CA: Westwood Publishing Co.
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LeCron, Leslie. (1964). Self Hypnotism: The Technique and Its Use In Daily Living. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
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Shor, Ronald. & Orne, Martin. (Eds.) (1965). The Nature of Hypnosis: Selected Basic Readings. New York, NY. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Weitzenhoffer, Andre. (1957). General Techniques of Hypnotism. New York, NY: Grune & Stratton, Inc.
Dilts, Robert. (2004). Encyclopedia of Systematic NLP- On Line. November, 22, 2004. http://nlpuniversitypress.com
Simons, David. (2002). A Breif History of Hypnosis in Medicine. December 01, 2004. http://www.bsmdh.org/history.htm#Post1945, Copyright Sharon Stead 2002.
Todd, Stark. (1993). The cultural origins of the concept of hypnosis. December ,01, 2004. http://hypnosis.com/faq/faq1-2.html
Wikipedia.org. (2004). Hypnosis. December, 06, 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnosis.
Wozniak, Robert. (1995). Mind and Body: Rene Déscartes to William James. December, 06, 2004. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/Mind/trance.
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Kerry Goldstein, MA
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