Hypnosis~ 催眠術

Within science, there is no debate as to whether hypnosis exists or works. Science simply cannot agree on what it is and how it works.

It's origin is in connection with two doctors, Mesmer and Braid. The both of them constituted in their time such powerful portal figures that instead of talking about a common term, one talked about mesmerism and braidism, respectively.


In 1765, Franz Anton Mesmer, stated that man could influence this magnetic fluid to bring about healing. He established salons where patients applied magnets to afflicted parts of their body. Later he moved to Paris where he further developed his theory.



Picture of Mesmer

James Esdaile, a Scottish surgeon working in India, was reported to have had performed several hundred operations painlessly using only hypnosis (mesmerism) as an anesthetic. Esdaile's logs indicated that fatal surgical shock or post operative infection occurred in only 5% of cases compared with the then norm of 50%. The medical establishment rejected these claims.[/COLOR]

In 1841, the British doctor James Braid saw a demonstration of mesmerism by a French man named La Fontaine. He was impressed, and started using the mesmerism techniques in his practice. He used his shiny bright lancet case to induce his patients to enter a deep "hypnotic sleep". In that state, his patients would accept his "healing suggestions". He thought the reason this worked, was that staring at a bright object exhausted the nervous system, rather than it involving magnetism.



Dr Braid's first attempt to hypnotise



The concept of hypnosis per se was established much later. It stems from the greek Hypnos, which means sleep. The god of sleep is called Hypnos in greek mythology. It should be pointed out how mystics and shamans have strived for spiritual cataclysms and extraordinary experiences throughout history, in which the state of hypnosis has had its given place.



From a statue of the Greek God Hypnos


In 1890, Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud, changed the approach of hypnosis from "suggesting" away the symptoms, to eliminating the apparent causes. Breuer noticed that hypnosis patients would often recall past events and talking about them would bring about emotional outpouring. Then they would losing their symptoms. He called this his "talking cure", (such an emotional state would now be referred to as an abreaction). Freud was also experimenting with it, and looking for other reasons behind illness, but eventually stopped working with Breuer, and began developing what would later become psychoanalysis.



Sigmund Freud, founding father of psychoanalysis[/COLOR]

During WW1, between 1914 to 1918, the Germans realized that hypnosis could help treat shell-shock quickly. It allowed soldiers to be return to the trenches almost immediately. A formularized version of hypnosis, autogenic training, was devised by Dr. Schultz.

After the second world war, Milton Erickson of the US, had a major impact on the practice and understanding of hypnosis and the mind. He theorized that hypnosis is a state of mind that all of us are normally entering spontaneously and frequently.

On the heels of Erickson's work, hypnosis evolved into a well respected practice, used by doctors, psychologists, business and law enforcement.



Photo of Milton Erickson



Most people when asked if they have ever been hypnotised reply 「No」, and are mistaken.
Everyone has and perhaps quite frequently been in a hypnotic state without realising it. In childhood, daydreaming which is so real to the child that the dream or imagined situation takes the place of ordinary reality, is essentially self-hypnosis. In adult life, many people still daydream occasionally, and most people will have episodes of absent-mindedness or abstraction at times, in which they are, as we say, 「in a world of their own」.
For instance, when driving down a familiar road, you may suddenly realise that you have travelled several miles without being able to remember details of that part of the journey. However, while driving, you were perfectly competent, adjusting to road conditions, avoiding dogs and children, stopping at red lights and so on, and reached your destination safely. Yet you realise that you have no memory at all of the last few miles and probably cannot remember what you were thinking about during that period.

The consciousness of the individual concerned separates into two streams which are out of touch with each other. You are actually conscious and aware of only one line of thought and action at this time, while the rest is being done at an unconscious level. That is hypnosis!



Nowadays, hypnosis is used for:

Stress management
Relief of dental and medical anxiety
Pain management
Retrieval of lost memories
and Pure entertainment purposes




[CENTER]So... do you believe in hypnosis?[/CENTER][/COLOR]