Hypnosis. A Brief History Condensed by Hypnotist in Dallas Valerie Grimes is the first in several installments that explain the beginnings of hypnosis and its re-entry into the medical community.
Hypnosis, although believed to be used thousands of years ago in the trance temples of Greece, got its start in the world of medicine in the 18th century when Franz Anton Mesmer disillusioned by the medical treatments at the time and also intrigued by the gravitational influence of the planets on the human body experimented with magnetism and his magnet technique which was later called Mesmerism.
A breakthrough came when he discovered:
“The medium of healing was not the magnet, but the flow of an invisible fluid that could pass in ‘magnetic streams’ from a healer who possessed it in abundance to a patient whose own streams were damaged in some way.”
Source – Hypnosis: A brief history
He was searching for a way to help his patients without blood letting, blistering, and the other medical practices of that time. Unfortunately, even though he was getting results, the medical community rejected him and caused him to leave his hometown of Vienna.
His life ended at age 80 not as a person remembered for his infamous theory on Animal Magnetism but as a local healer with extraordinary power. However, what he couldn’t know upon his death was that it was the work of his student Marquis de Puysegur (1751-1825) that transformed mesmerism into a direction that is now the basis for hypnosis today. His work transferred the power of healing from the healer to the patient (which is where it was all along). Perhaps if Mesmer could have seen this, his techniques would have been accepted by his peers.
If you are interested in more about Mesmer or Puysegur and their contributions to hypnosis and healing, read the book, “Hypnosis: A Brief History.”
Hypnosis. A Brief History Condensed by Hypnotist in Dallas Valerie Grimes.
Next time: Magnetism and Hypnosis
