Hypnosis and even Hypnotherapy have been around for a very, very long time. The first written record is said to be in Ebers Papyrus, which is an ancient Egyptian record written in hieratic writing, and dates back thousands of years. This document contains over 700 magical formulas and remedies, and the mention of hypnosis is prevalent throughout the document. Some Egyptian hieroglyphics pertaining to hypnosis date back to 3000 B.C.

The Aboriginal people of Australia have also used hypnosis for 1000’s of years. They refer to this state of mind as dream time, and also use techniques designed to create out of body experiences.

Elements of hypnosis are also seen in Persian magi, Celtic Druids, Chinese teachers of religion, Hindu Fakirs, African witch doctors, and in Shamanism. Has anyone heard of Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine? The Greeks, in ancient times, erected temples in his name where priests spoke to patients in a sleep-like state. Apparently, the patients interpreted this as the gods speaking to them. Do you think this might have sped up their healing?

There is also evidence that Group Hypnosis began with ancient civilizations. Many of the group rituals included mass chanting and 1meditation to a steady drum beat and were also often parts of religious ceremonies. The techniques that we have for you today do not include drum beats or chanting, but they are ancient techniques.

The actual word Hypnosis comes from Hypnos, who is the Greek god of sleeping. In the past, it was thought that to put a person into a state of hypnosis was to put them to sleep. In modern times we know that hypnosis is not sleep, as the brain waves have been measured in both states and have been proven to be different. Also, someone in hypnosis can stay alert, and can talk and move. But, back to Hypnos. In ancient Greek, ceremonies and mysticism were used to provide even more reason for the people to believe in the temples and healers ability to heal.

According to Greek Legend, the gods were looking for a place to hide the very greatest power that they held. They discussed placing it at the top of the highest mountain, but that was ruled out as they figured man would discover it there. Many other places were suggested, but none seemed safe enough.

Finally Hypnos suggested that the greatest gift be hidden in each of us because we would never think to look inside ourselves for it.

We should also mention the Greek Physician Hippocrates, who lived from 460-377 B.C. Hippocrates maintained that the brain controlled the entire body, as well as being the seat of disease. Think about it for a minute. I bet even your own parents and grandparents have used sayings like “you’re going to make yourself sick with all that worrying or stress.”

How many religious doctrines use the power of positive thought and faith as a way to better health?

In the first half of the 20th century, hypnotherapy fell out of favor and vogue in Sigmund Freud's time, as he preferred psychoanalysis, dream 2interpretation, and free association. Freud actually rejected hypnosis as the tool to unlock repressed memory. However, by the 1920’s people were beginning to use hypnotic techniques due largely to the work of Emile Coue, Anton Mesmer, James Braid, and Milton Erickson.

The first of these guys Emile Coue, was originally a pharmacist who made a study of the psychology of suggestion in France. In the 1920’s he did exhaustive studies on the effects of suggestion, and his work and studies actually brought hypnotherapy back into vogue in Europe. Some of his most famous techniques are: repeating “every day in every way I am getting better and better.” He also said if someone thinks they want to do something, but they can’t-the harder they try, the less they will be able to. He also said “when the imagination and the will are in conflict the imagination always wins.” 

Coue was an amazing success, with patients lined up around the block to see him. 

Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) theorized that disease was caused by imbalances of a physical force, called animal magnetism, which affects various parts of the body. He was describing the universal energy connection between man and the world. Oftentimes using hands on healing (which had a huge impact on energy work today) Mesmer believed cures could be achieved by redistributing this magnetic fluid.

In 1784, a french royal commission chaired by Benjamin Franklin concluded that the effects of mesmerism, while genuine in many cases, were achieved by means of imagination and not by any physical force. In the course of their proceedings, the commissioners conducted what may well be the first controlled psychological experiments.

3While Mesmer’s theory was discredited, his practices lived on. A major transition occurred when one of Mesmer’s followers magnetised a young shepherd. Instead of undergoing magnetic crisis, he fell into a somnambulistic (sleeplike) state in which he was responsive to instructions, and from which he awoke with an amnesia for what he had done. Later in the 19th century, the successful use of mesmeric somnambulism as an anesthetic for surgery (although ether and chloroform soon proved to be more reliably effective.)

Dr. James Braid, a Scottish surgeon-is considered the father of Hypnosis. In 1843 he rejected animal magnetism. He rejected the term Mesmerism and came up with Hypnotism. He insisted that hypnosis had nothing to do with the operators charisma but rather the “fixity of vision” of the subject. He had great success with establishing self hypnosis and hypnosis on others using his silver watch eye fixation technique.

Carl Jung (1875-1961) was a student and colleague of Freud’s. He rejected Freud’s psychoanalytical approach and developed his own interests namely the concept of collective unconscious and the use of archetypes. Though he didn’t actively use hypnosis, he encouraged his patients to use active imagination to change old memories. He often used the concept of the inner guide in healing work. He believed that the inner mind could be accessed through tools like the I’Ching and astrology. Jung was a modern proponent of Alchemy-the medieval art of turning lead into gold. He used Alchemy as a metaphor for transmuting lead, or the base material of our lives (emotional debris, pain and trauma), into gold (the realization of self and transformation of consciousness).

Alchemical Hypnotherapy has been developed based on Jung’s concepts.4Using archetypes and inner guides, you gain access to your inner wisdom (gold) and are able to transform (base metal) past trauma by connecting with your inner archetypes anytime you need to.

Milton Erickson (1901-1980) developed many tips and techniques in hypnosis that were very different from what was commonly practiced. His style is known as an Ericksonian Hypnosis, which has greatly influenced many modern schools of hypnosis.

“At the heart of the Ericksonian utilization approach is a humorous, respectful, and loving acceptance of the client’s perceptions and behavior.”

(Dolan 1985) This includes problematic behavior. It’s crucial for the therapist to accept problematic behavior as legitimate behavior, then to communicate back to the client in a nonjudgmental stance. Milton Erickson once said “a proper therapeutic goal is one that aids the patient to function as adequately and constructively as possible under those internal and external handicaps that constitute a part of his life situation and needs.”

Erickson used hypnotherapy almost as a magician uses distraction to get the client in trance without them really realizing it’s happening. Erickson would use Indirect Techniques and Conversational Hypnosis. He pioneered the idea that common experiences of wonderment, engrossment, and confusion are, in reality, just kinds of trance. And that we enter in and out of trance several times throughout the day without realizing it.

Dave Elman was a radio personality as well as an author to a book entitled Hypnotherapy. Elman worked with many doctors and dentists and would place someone under hypnosis in under 3 minutes. The first heart operation using hypnosis rather than normal anesthesia was performed by his students with Dave Elman in the operating room as "coach." Dave Elman is most famous for his rapid induction techniques.5