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Hypnosis
Uses
Pain
Management: Hypnosis & self-hypnosis are endorsed
by the National Institutes of Health and the Joint Commission
Association for Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) as an adjunctive
coping skill in the treatment of chronic and cancer pain.
Stress
Management: On an average workday, an estimated one
million workers do not make it to work due to stress. Hypnosis
and self-hypnosis are the best avenue for dealing with stress.
Weight
Management: Hypnosis Works! When your willpower isn't
strong enough to break a bad habit, this effective technique
is the answer. As seen on "Dateline NBC" and nationally
distributed news articles and magazines, hypnosis is the easiest
and most successful means for taking away those excess pounds.
Smoking
Cessation: As seen on Dateline NBC- a great tool
for those who have tried other methods of quitting without
success. "I was smoking 5 packs of Camels a day - I have
not had a cigarette in 3 years thanks to Ron Eslinger's Smoking
Cessation Program." Navy LT, Newport, RI.
Childbirth:
Hypnosis decreases hospitalization for Pregnancy Induced Hypertension
by 50% and Shortens labor by 2-4 hours. Decreases c-sections
from 30% (national average) to less than 5%.
Hypnosis
is also suitable for Fears, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Surgery
Preparation, Children and Cancer.
History
of Hypnosis
Hypnosis
is older than medicine itself and has been with us since mankind
had its beginnings. Virtually every culture and race of people
has used it. Cave drawings suggest that man was experimenting
with hypnosis 100,00 years ago.
In
Biblical times, people went to "sleep temples" to
be cured of their illnesses by the Egyptian priests. The ancient
Chinese employed hypnotic techniques in the form of prayer
and meditation. There is evidence that the Romans used  "magic
sleep" for various purposes. The Greeks unknowingly used
hypnosis, thinking that cures came from the Gods. Hippocrates
wrote about impressing health on the ill by inducing trances
and making passes.
Throughout
the centuries, many great medical men have studied, researched,
and experimented with hypnosis. In doing so, they usually
were labeled charlatans, quacks, or imposters. It is impossible
to mention all of those individuals who contributed to the
development and progress of modern hypnosis, but it seems
necessary to mention a few.
Ancient
history: Pre-History to Mid-18th Century Shamans, religious
rituals, sweat lodge ceremonies, music, drumming, chanting,
drugs and meditation
Modern
History: Mid- 18th Century to Present
One
thing that will become apparent in the following is that many
of those we consider to be pioneers in the field of hypnosis
were frequently dismissed by their peers. Even though many
proved to be very successful healers.
 1734
- 1815 Franz Anton Mesmer was born in Vienna. Mesmer is considered
the father of hypnosis. He is remembered for the term Mesmerism
which described a process of inducing trance through a series
of passes he made with his hands and/or magnets over people.
He worked with a person's animal magnetism (mental and electromagnetic
energies). The medical community eventually discredited him
despite his considerable success treating a variety of ailments.
1795-1860
James Braid, an English physician, originally opposed mesmerism
(as it became to be known) but then became interested. He
said that cures were not due to animal magnetism, but rather
to suggestion. He developed the eye fixation technique (also
know as Braidism) of inducing relaxation and called it hypnosis
(after Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep), as he thought the
phenomenon was a form of sleep. Later, realizing his error,
he tried to change the name to monoeidism (meaning, influence
of a single idea) however, the original name stuck.
 1825
- 1893 Jean Marie Charcot, a French neurologist, disagreed
with the Nancy School of Hypnotism and contended that hypnosis
was simply a manifestation of hysteria. There was bitter rivalry
between Charcot and the Nancy group (Liebault and Bernheim).
He revived Mesmer's theory of Animal Magnetism and identified
the three stages of trance; lethargy, catalepsy and somnambulism.
1845
- 1947 Pierre Janet was a French neurologist and psychologist
who was, initially, opposed to the use of hypnosis until he
discovered its relaxing effects and promotion of healing.
Janet was one of the few people who continued to show an interest
in hypnosis during the Psychoanalytic Age.
1849-1936
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov - a Russian physiologist who actually
was more focused on the study of the digestive process. He
is known primarily for his development of the concept of the
conditioned reflex (or Stimulus Response Theory). In his classic
experiment, he trained hungry dogs to salivate at the sound
of a bell, which was previously associated with the sight
of food. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology in
1904 for his work on digestive secretions. Though he had nothing
to do with hypnosis, his Stimulus Response Theory is a cornerstone
in linking and anchoring behaviors, particularly in NLP.
1857
- 1926 Emile Coue`, a physician formulated the Laws of Suggestion.
He is also known for encouraging his patients to say to themselves
20-30 times each night before going to sleep, "Everyday
in every way, I am getting better and better." He also
discovered that delivering positive suggestions when prescribing
medication proved to be a more effective cure than prescribing
medications alone. He eventually abandoned the concept of
hypnosis in favor of just using suggestion, feeling hypnosis
and the hypnotic state impaired the efficiency of the suggestion.
1856-1939
- Sigmund Freud traveled to Nancy and studied with Liebault
and Bernheim, and then
did additional study with Charcot. Freud did not incorporate
hypnosis in his therapeutic work, however, because he felt
he could not hypnotize patients to a sufficient depth, felt
that the cures were temporary, and that hypnosis stripped
patients of their defenses. Freud was considered a poor hypnotist,
given his paternalism. However, his clients often went into
trance and he often, unknowingly, performed non-verbal inductions
when he would place his hand on his patient's head to signify
the doctor-dominant, patient-submissive roles. Because of
his early dismissal of hypnosis in favor of psychoanalysis,
hypnosis was almost totally ignored.
1875-1961
- Carl Jung, a student and colleague of Freud's, rejected
Freud's psychoanalytical approach and developed his own interests.
He developed the concept of the collective unconscious and
archetypes. Though he did not 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. The conservative medical
community rejected him as a mystic. However, healers actively
embrace many of his ideas and theories to this day.
1932-1974
- Milton Erickson, a psychologist and psychiatrist pioneered
the art of indirect  suggestion
in hypnosis. He is considered the father of modern hypnosis.
His methods bypassed the conscious mind through the use of
both verbal and nonverbal pacing techniques including metaphor,
confusion, and many others. He was a colorful character and
has immensely influenced the practice of contemporary hypnotherapy,
and its official acceptance by the AMA. His work, combined
with the work of Satir and Perls, was the basis for Bandler
and Grinder's Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).
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MEDICAL
SURGICAL and CLINICAL HYPNOSIS 
