From Mesmerism to Modern Day... A History of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy

‘There is an “it” which thinks in me and makes 

me doubt whether it is I that think.’ Claude Levi-Strauss

If you had to describe Hypnosis to someone, what would you say? It’s okay, the whole issue of an agreed definition has troubled academics and practitioners for many years. Often words like: relaxation, focused thinking, trance and sleep, are the first selected, and sometimes people talk about a hypnotic state.

I work with this definition:

A state of relaxation and heightened awareness, induced by suggestion

How’s that? 

It combines the idea that experiencing hypnosis is relaxing with the very common phenomenon that our senses become more sensitive. We become more aware of our surroundings while experiencing hypnosis and make sharper isolations of thought, even though to the observer we look perfectly relaxed. The definition also makes the point that the state is induced (either by themselves or another) by suggesting that it is going to happen.


Think about that… a situation whereby relaxation is suggested to a person with the result being heightened awareness. If that is what is happening then we have all experienced it many times and it's certainly not a new thing, in fact it has been going on for centuries, with the potential therapeutic benefit a common thread too.

How about a bit of history…

During the Hellenistic Period (c. 500 B.C) it was commonplace for the sick to use sleep temples and holy men would ‘interpret’ dreams to aid their recovery. The atmosphere and ritual added to what we would now attribute to suggestion as a way to treat the malaise of man.

We can go back further….

There is documentary evidence for similar methods used by The Ancient Egyptians. References to ‘incubation’ and ‘temple sleep’ have been associated with Imhotep, the physician to Pharaoh Zoser (2980 -2900 B.C.).

Take one look at the ritual and incantation of tribes and it is not difficult to see the same thread of ‘trance’ like states being used to ‘heal’ or prepare tribe members for important transitions in their lives. Think about tribal doctors who explorers named as Shamans. The importance those rituals give to sleep-like trance states and it is not difficult to see the roots of hypnosis are part of human cultural heritage.

But, let’s move forward a bit and remind ourselves of Franz 

Anton Mesmer, who’s name gave us the term mesmerism… 

Imagine you were living in Paris in the late 1700’s and your were suffering with a terrible nervous disorder, which would later be termed hysteria. If you had mixed in certain circles you would have heard of Mesmer and his theory of animal magnetism.

You would have been aware that Mesmer believed that when the natural ebb and flow of fluid within the body was imbalanced, the result would be nervous or mental illness. You may (if your had the financial resources) go along to his Salon to seek out his help.

Picture the scene… you will join a number of other patients who would sit round a large wooden barrel (baquet), where you would hold on to mental rods which protruded. The barrel contained magnetised water, sometimes iron filings, glass and other items.


To add to the atmosphere, Mesmer would make a dramatic entrance in flowing lilac robes and move among the patients, talking quietly and fixing them with a penetrating gaze, all while appropriately atmospheric piano music played in the background.

As unbelievable as it sounds, Mesmer and his methods grew in popularity, and to be fair to him, what we now understand about psychological suggestion, he was exploring the important therapeutic relationship between patient and therapist, something we know now is vital in treatment. His presence and his belief in the righteousness of his methods played no small part in the ‘cure’ he sort.

Mesmer had many followers who learnt his methods as part of A Society of Harmony, and it was at a lecture given by one such follower, that John Elliotson (a leading surgeon in the 1830’s who introduced the stethoscope to England) became intrigued with Mesmerism.

Elliotson’s own mesmerism research were not to taken kindly by University College Hospital, in fact he resigned his position which is not without its importance when you consider he was instrumental in its creation.

Anaesthesia without and anaesthetic…

The work of John Elliotson was followed by James Esdaile (1808 -1559) who while in charge of a hospital in India, successfully used mesmeric analgesia during many operations. In 1848 he established a hospital in Calcutta which made full use of mesmerism again completing many operations, including nineteen amputations, without conventional anaesthetic methods. Despite this discovery, the introduction of chloroform more or less signalled the end mesmerism applied in this way.

Where did it start being called Hypnosis?

While Esdaile was successfully using Mesmersim in India, the Scottish surgeon James Braid (1795 -1860) was also studying its effects. In a demonstration by one of Anton Mesmer’s followers, he had been intrigued how a young girl in a ‘mesmeric trance’ had shown no discomfort when he forced a needle under her finger nail.

Very quickly he became a convert and conducted his own experiments. He added a more respectable scientific reputation to the study of the phenomenon and began referring to mesmerism as Hypnosis (borrowing from the Greek word Hypnos, meaning sleep).

We also are in debt to Braid for his assertion that Hypnotic effects are as much to do with the subject as the hypnotist; the two working together, something which is clear from contemporary study.

Back to France…

At the same time… a very influential school of Hypnosis and Suggestion was being formed; The New Nancy School. Established by Auguste Liebeault and Hippolyte Bernhiem they began the serious study of Hypnosis. Bernhiem published De La Suggestion in 1884 which included the principals required for hypnotic suggestion, something which is still used today.

The New Nancy School gained interest from other influential men of the time one of which was Jean Martin Charcot (1835 - 1893) who went on to present his findings on the use of hypnosis in the treatment of ‘hysterics’ to the French Academy of Sciences. 

It is was Charcot’s work that first grabbed the interest of Dr Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939). Freud was very impressed with what he saw and along with his colleague Joesph Breuer, began applying Hypnosis in Psychotherapy, eventually publishing together their Studies in Hysteria.

This is perhaps the first time we see Hypnosis being used therapeutically in a way which we recognise today. Freud later claimed to abandoned the use of Hypnosis for reasons he never made clear, although he did doubt his own abilities as a hypnotist.


A modern understanding of Hypnosis would lead us to suspect he never really stopped using hypnosis, he merely thought he had. What do I mean? Well… he had a quiet, warm room, his patients would recline on a couch and be asked to relax while Freud sat out of their sight-line which would encourage them to close their eyes. I think there is enough there to induce anyone into a state of Hypnosis!

Things were really taking off then…

Other famous men of yesteryear were adding their name to the study of Hypnosis and more and more scientific credibility was given to ‘its’ usefulness. Emile Coue (one time member of the New Nancy School) gained a reputation for his Law of Reversed Effort. Let’s not forget the work of Pavlov who demonstrated the conditional reflex phenomenon , and would offer his inhibition of the cortex theory to explain hypnosis.

In the twentieth century, the work of M.H. Erikson contributed enormously to our understanding of Hypnotism and Suggestion and is agreed by most to be the most scientific work on the subject.

The scientific debate continues, not least as to whether there is a specific state of hypnosis, and this is likely to continue until biological research methods advance even further, and who knows maybe not even then!

The modern use of Hypnosis to provide assistance to others is now more commonplace than ever. It has moved beyond the realm of simply helping someone stop smoking and now is used to help people suffering with anxiety and phobias, and many other emotional problems, the same kinds of symptoms that Mesmer’s patients were so troubled by. The methods have changed, but the tool of hypnosis itself remains a very useful resource in helping to relieve suffering.

Find out more about Hypnosis here! Or… contact me direct through my practice website www.ketteringhypnotherapy.com