About Hypnosis |
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The modern understanding of hypnosis is that it helps people bring out the best from within themselves. |
The modern understanding of hypnosis
The main concept that defines the modern understanding of clinical hypnosis is that we now have a greater appreciation for the active and creative processes of the subconscious mind. The modern hypnotist no longer tries to make his client do things but rather works artfully to inspire the subconscious mind of the client to work creatively for them in new ways.
The principle that underlines this is that each of us has the solution to most of our problems within us and we can utilise the hypnotic state, or trance, to work on these issues in new and creative ways. We also understand that the subconscious mind of each of us is actively working toward our own survival, personal development and self expression. The modern hypnotist understands that the trance state provides access to a wider range of personal potential and therefore the hypnotist's role is to work within and evoke potentials that already exist.
A definition of hypnosis by Kieran Marken
The processes involved in hypnosis can be summed up simply as follows:
Hypnosis is the process whereby one person (the hypnotist) guides another person (the subject) via verbal and non verbal communication (suggestion) into a state of focused inward attention, resulting in a temporary shift of the subject's dominant mental activity from habitual, analytical processes to more fluid and receptive creative processes (trance). During hypnosis the hypnotist uses continuing suggestions to assists the subject to maintain the trance for the purposes of accessing unused or forgotten personal resources as well as the re-organising of certain subconscious associations.
A very brief history of hypnosis
The history of hypnosis is colourful to say the least and intruiging and fascinating when studied in detail. The history of hypnosis really represents the development of our understanding of its application. In the early days hypnosis was seen as some sort of independant force or energy that could be drawn upon, manipulated and transferred between people. Later it was believed hypnosis was something done to someone by someone else and that it represented the power of one person over another. The evolution of our understanding over the last 200 years or so has lead us today to the much more wholistic view that hypnosis is a joint exercise wherein one person helps another to access resources and potentials that already existed within them.
The following is a very brief overview of some of the key figures in the development of our modern undesrtanding of hypnosis:
Although trance and trance healing can be found referenced in ancient cultures the history of modern clinical hypnosis normally finds its origins in the work of a Vienese aristocrat named Franz Anton Mesmer in the middle of the 18th century. Mesmer worked in Paris and offered his services to the aristocracy. He believed that a magnetic fluid permeated all living things and that he could manipulate this fluid in others by making passes over their bodies with his hands. Some peole were cured of ailments by this method and his fame spread through France and England. He developed his approach to include certain equipment that allowed him to work with groups of people at once. The term mesmerism is derived from his name.
Mesmerism was practiced by others in France and England in the decades that followed and many people enjoyed the benefits of "mesmeric healing." Since the time of Mesmer various theories have been put forward as to how hypnosis works and what hypnosis is. Around that time a prominent Scottish surgeon, James Braid, refined the work of the Mesmerists and rid it of all the ritual and ceremony. He was left with a very simple and direct approach to this type of healing. He named his approach Hypnosis after the Greek word for sleep. Incidentally he later tried to change the name to Neurypnology but was unsuccessful in doing so. During the 19th century the theories of the Mesmerists and the Hypnotists were the subject of much attention in the Bernheim school in Nancy, France and in the Univesity of London.
At the end of the 19th century some highly respected and experienced hypnotists were dropping the title of hypnosis from their work and simply calling it "treatment by suggestion." Emile Coue is remebered for his teachings in 1920 whereby he instructed his clients to simply repeat the words "Every day in every way I am getting better and better." He had a high degree of success with clients and really demonstrated again that the power for change and healing came from within the person themselves. At the same time the traditional hypnotists, the mesmerists and the stage hypnostists were developing their craft parallel to the new emerging field of Modern Clinical Hypnosis. Hence today the existence of the wholistic approach of Clinical Hypnosis along side the seemingly magical demonstrations of the stage hypnotist.
Hypnosis is as much art as it is science and therefore the individual character of each hypnotist contributes something to our understanding of it as a tool for change. Throughout the 20th century and now into the 21st century many people have contributed to and advanced our understanding of the mechanisms behind and the application of clinical hypnosis. People such as Dave Elman, Ernest and Josephine Hilgard, Gil Boyne, Bandler and Grinder and the Speigels along with a host of others have all contributed greatly to the development of the field of Clinical Hypnosis.
In any history of hypnosis special mention must be made of Dr Milton Erickson (1901-1980) He personally pioneered more advancements in the art of hypnosis than had ever been seen before. He was a medical doctor, a psychologist, a psychatrist and a psychotherapist in the United States . He suffered polio as a boy which left him completely paralysed. His single minded determination to regain his physical functioning, which he did, formed part the basis of his understanding in advancing the art of clinical hypnosis as did his extensive work in research. He inspired a whole generation of hypnotists to approach hypnosis from a completely revolutionary point of view. A point of view that allowed for and nurtured the individuality of each person. A point of view that assumed that people had within them the things they needed to change and a point of view that placed the responsibility on the hypnotist to be flexible in meeting the needs of his or her clients. The Ericksonian approach to hypnosis and therapy is now considered the benchmark for modern work in the area of Clinical Hypnosis.
