Hypnotherapy/Hypnosis
History of Hypnosis Egyptians No-one knows for certain when the practice of hypnosis originated but it is known that ancient Egyptians used a form of it in their dream temples. It has been found that there are some ancient Egyptian paintings depicting an apparently sleeping person with other people who seem to be making hypnotic passes over them. Perhaps the best source of reference to hypnosis in early Egypt comes from the famous 3rd century CE Demotic Magical Papyrus which was discovered in the 19th century in Thebes. Column 16 of this papyrus gives instructions for preparation of a lamp which is to be used in a ritual: It states:
You take a boy and sit him upon another new brick, his face being turned to the lamp and you close his eyes and recite these things which are written above down into the boy’s head, seven times. You make him open his eyes. You say to him: ‘Do you see the light?’ When he says to you, ‘I see the light in the flame of the lamp’, you cry at that moment, saying ‘Heoue’ nine times. You ask him concerning everything that you wish.
Source:Hidden Depths – The story of hypnosis by Robin Waterfield.
Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis
Mesmer In the eighteen century an Austrian doctor named Franz Anton Mesmer found he could cure people of different diseases without medicine or surgery, and he believed he had a magnetic force which could regulate the flow of magnetic fluids in people to produce cure. In many cases his cures were successful and this method of healing came to be known as Mesmerism. Mesmer treated very rich and very poor people. For the less well-off he ‘magnetised’ a tree from which hung ribbons or cords for his followers to hold and receive his magnetic therapy. Another method he used (the baquet) was to fill a large tub with water, containing bottles of iron filings. Protruding out of the tub were iron rods which the common-folk held onto. Many of the patients had violent seizures or fell into deep sleeps which could cure many different kinds of ailments. Mesmer became very famous in Paris at that time of Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793) and it was the French government, at her suggestion, who offered him a life pension and enough money to set up his own clinic. Because Mesmer was a man with a very strong sense of his own abilities, he refused to allow the government representatives to supervise his clinic a huge controversy raged and in 1784 the King of France appointed a Commission to investigate mesmerism. The report concluded that animal magnetism and the magnetic field were figments of the imagination and Mesmer’s practices and theories were regarded as worthless. The fact remained that many people who had been cured of their ailments seemed of no consequence. In the middle of the 19th century a Scottish doctor named James Braid published a book called Neurhypnology or the Study of Nervous Sleep. He invented the word neurhypnosis from which the word hypnosis originated.
Mason In 1951, a young doctor named Albert Mason called upon to help a 16 year old boy who was suffering with an extremely bad case of ichthyosis. This is usually a hereditary condition in which the patient has fewer sweat and sebaceous glands than usual, which causes the skin to become dry and scaly. The boy’s body was almost covered in a thick, smelly, black layer of hard, dried skin which often oozed with a bloody serum. He had suffered this condition since birth and conventional medicine had failed to help him. On two occasions he had been given skin graft operations but each time the new skin flared up like the rest of his body. It is thought that Dr Mason perhaps did not realize that hypnosis was not intended to be used to heal congenital diseases when he offered to help the boy. At a hospital in East Grinstead in Sussex, in front of a dozen sceptical doctors, he hypnotized the boy and gave him suggestions that his left arm would become clear. Five days later the blackened skin became crumbly and fell off to reveal underneath, reddened but otherwise normal skin. Ten days later the boy’s arm was clear. Dr Mason proceeded to use hypnosis on the other parts of the boy’s body, achieving remarkable results and the case was reported in the British Medical Journal for 1952. Three years later Dr Mason wrote a follow up article reporting that the results appeared to be permanent.
Up date - Today people are familiar with the likes of Paul McKenna and Derren Brown, but true “Hypnotherapy” is miles away from the stage. Used in the right way Hypnotherapy can help various ailments and problems.
Frequently Asked Questions about Hypnosis
Q. What is the difference between psychoanalysis and hypno-analysis? Psychoanalysis gives a complete explanation of a complicated behaviour pattern. It deals with the material of the unconscious mind, which, through special, time consuming techniques, is brought into the patient’s consciousness so that they can deal with it. Hypno-analysis reveals the cause of a patient’s particular reaction to a given set of circumstances. It deals with awareness below the level of consciousness Hypno-analysis is a speedier method of therapy. It is the difference between a broad plateau and a pin point. A complete psychoanalysis takes time, years in some cases. Hypno-analysis can takes hours or less.
Q. Do I have to remember things from my past in order to recover from my problem? Not necessarily; different therapists have varied approaches, but if the cause of your problem is a repressed memory (one that you are unable to remember consciously), then bringing it back into conscious awareness can help you to view the problem from a different perspective and so feel differently about it. If you find the idea of revisiting old memories painful then your therapist can help you to dissociate from them so that you can remember the experience without experiencing the emotions associated to them.
Q. When I am ‘under’ will I be asleep? You will be aware of everything that is happening and being said the whole time, however you will be so deeply relaxed that you may find yourself drifting into different levels of awareness. Remember, your subconscious mind is active throughout and it is this that your therapist is working with.
Q. Will I remember everything afterwards? That depends how deep in hypnosis you are, but generally most people do remember either everything or certain parts of the experience. You will find that suggestions which have been given to you in hypnosis will resurface in your conscious, thinking mind after your hypnosis session and these will be the thoughts that produce changes in your behaviour or way of thinking and feeling.
Q. Will I give away any secrets whilst I am hypnotized? No, you won’t say or do anything at all that you don’t want to. If you were given suggestions that you didn’t morally agree with you would come out of hypnosis or disregard the suggestions.
Q. How do I know I will wake up from hypnosis? No-one has ever remained in hypnosis indefinitely. Even if something were to happen to the hypnotherapist halfway through the session, you would still ‘come out’ of the trance state once rapport had been broken.
Q. Are there any side effects from hypnosis? The only side effects are the beneficial ones of feeling more relaxed afterwards and feeling more positive about whatever it was you sought hypnotherapy for. Hypnosis is a perfectly natural state.
Q. What is hypnosis? Hypnosis is a state of altered awareness during which our subconscious mind is more open and receptive to suggestions that are given. We drift in and out of different levels of awareness many times a day, absorbing information on a subliminal level as well as a conscious one. Your hypnotherapist will work with your imagination to help you to achieve your goals.
Q. How does it feel to be hypnotized? Every person is unique and different. Some people say that their body feels like a lead weight, others say they feel as though they’re floating away. Most people will agree that it’s a lovely feeling because they are more relaxed that they have ever been before.
Q. Can I be hypnotized against my will? No, anyone can resist and it won’t work. Hypnosis is cooperation between two people – your therapist will show you the way and you can choose if you want to go there or not. If you are not prepared to accept that hypnosis could benefit you then your best option would be to seek alternative treatment. However – in my own experience – sceptics are often the best subjects.
Q. I went to a hypnotherapist once before and it didn’t work. Does this mean I’m not able to be hypnotized? The most common reason for failure to induce trance is lack of rapport. To overcome this problem, make a few free initial consultations with different therapists and choose one that you instinctively trust.
Q. Can I be treated for different problems at the same time? You can – if they are interrelated, however because hypnosis requires a complete focus of attention it is far better to concentrate on one problem at a time. People wishing to stop smoking (for example) who are afraid of doing so in case they gain weight can be helped with the correct approach. This is because many of us experience ‘symptom substitution’ – we can substitute one addiction for another. Your therapist should have the skills to recognize if this is the case and deal with the issue at its core.
