HYPNOSIS IN THE FIELD OF PSYCHOLOGY

Hypnosis in the Field of Psychology

Hypnosis in the Field of Psychology

Introduction

When Dr Ambroise Liebeault began to practice hypnotherapy in 1860 his colleagues - despite him curing his patients, ridiculed him. Today hypnosis is widely used by all kinds of medical personnel. In the 1950s, both the British and the American Medical Associations endorsed hypnotherapy. Hypnosis has been used in one form or another (e.g., the sleep temples of Ancient Egypt and Greece) for thousands of years. There may be mention of hypnosis in the Bible (Hilton, 2004) but its modern use dates from the Viennese doctor, Franz Anton Mesmer, in the late 1700s.

Mesmer built up on the tradition and knowledge of the earlier period while not being afraid of experimentation and learning by doing. Although the public's appreciation was vast, the medical establishment, because of its vested interests, was enraged. Mesmer rarely used words. He relied on passing magnets around a distressed person, and later, on simply making passes with his hands. His clients expected to experience relief from their problems by entering a convulsive state after which they would feel released and calmed. It is not clear if Mesmer was acquainted with the medical antecedents to his work. He did acknowledge the spiritual root, which was the healing work of a Jesuit priest, Father Maximilian Hell.

In 1774, Mesmer for the first time observed animal magnetism when he watched the priest apply magnets to the bodies of persons suffering from different illnesses. Mesmer built on ancient Masonic concepts of illness being evidence within the individual of an imbalance of a universal fluid. The induction of convulsive attacks, or crises, created a healthy redistribution of the fluid.

Hypnosis is defined as an induced trance-like state in which one is highly susceptible to suggestions, or commands. Over the years, hypnosis has overcome a lot of skepticism. One must explore the art, use, and questions about hypnosis both in recreation and in therapy.

History Background of Hypnosis in Psychology

There are three commonly known methods of hypnosis. Two of which, the authoritarian and standardized approaches, are generally considered non-beneficial towards the subject. Meanwhile the utilization approach, primarily developed by Dr. Milton H. Erickson, is the most widely used amongst psychologists today. The authoritarian approach focuses primarily on the power of the hypnotist over his/her subject. The out-dated though still used, standardized approach, is rather limited due to the fact that it considers a person either hypnotizable or not. In contrast to the authoritarian and standardized approaches, the utilization approach, stresses the interaction nature of the hypnotic relationship. These approaches have much dissimilarity and thus are utilized for different practices.

The authoritarian approach emphasizes the power of the hypnotist. This approach, spawned by Mesmer and others, is still widely exploited by stage hypnotists and is consequently often the conceptualization held by the uniformed lay person. Even many trained physicians implicitly adhere to this view, which in its extreme form involves some powerful and charismatic hypnotist exercising some strange power over ...