History of Hypnosis
The word Hypnosis originated from the Greek, meaning simply 'sleep'.
Throughout history usage of Hypnotic procedures have seen their own times. From that of the Voodoo rituals to Guided Meditations for enlightenment.

The oldest written record of cures by hypnosis was obtained from the Ebers Papyrus which gives us an idea about some of the theory and practice of Egyptian medicine before 1552 BC. In the Ebers Papyrus, a treatment was described in which the physician placed his hands on the head of the patient and, claiming superhuman therapeutic powers gave forth with strange remedial utterances which were suggested to the patients, and which resulted in cures. King Pyrrhus of Egypt, The Emperor Vespasian, Francis I of France and other French kings up to Charles X practiced healing in this manner.

The Egyptians are thought to have originated the "Sleep Temples", in which the priests gave similar treatment to their patients through the use of suggestion. These temples became very popular in Egypt, and spread throughout Greece and Asia Minor.

Hippocrates, the Greek physician referred to most frequently as "the father of medicine" and whose oath all graduating physicians take, is known to have discussed the phenomenon saying, "the affliction suffered by the body, the soul sees quite well with the eyes shut."

The Romans borrowed trance healing from the Greeks, as they did much else of the Greek culture during the period of the rise of the great Roman Empire. Many men of great learning and wisdom were imported from Greece as Roman slaves to teach the young in Roman households. Among the Romans, Aesculapius often threw his patients 'into a "deep sleep" and allayed pain by stroking, with his hand.

The advent of Christianity had a great deal to do with the decline of the use of hypnosis and trance healing because hypnosis was then considered to be witchcraft, and trance healing if practiced at all was done secretly. Nevertheless, in spite of this Jesus employed hypnosis to perform many of His miracles.

In the tenth century, Avicenna, a great physician, stated, "The Imagination can fascinate and modify man's body either making him ill or restoring him to health."

About the middle of the sixteenth century, a man named Theophrastus Paracelsus brought forth a new theory regarding the production of diseases. This theory stated in effect that certain heavenly bodies, especially the stars, influenced the behavior of men. He also postulated that men influenced each other, which is still a basic concept in the study of "behavior psychology."

Van Helmont, Maxwell from Scotland, and Santanelli from Italy, said virtually the same thing about 1600, and laid the foundation for the concept of animal magnetism, which was later to have been made so famous by Mesmer. It can be proved that almost every ancient civilization has been familiar with hypnosis in one form or another. LeCron points out that it is described in some of the Mantras of India written in ancient transcript; that the Mongols, Tibetans, and the Chinese all had knowledge of hypnosis; and that even a detailed description of it is given in the Kalevala, the great epic poem of the Finns.

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.

Dr. James Esdaile probably performed more surgical operations under hypnoanesthesia than any physician up until the present time. He was a man of extreme ingenuity and intelligence who practiced most of his life in India, and is probably better known for his work in hypnosis than any other man with the possible exception of Mesmer himself. He was born February 6, 1808, the son a minister, and like Elliotson and Braid studied at Edinburgh where he graduated in 1830, obtaining a position with the East India Company.

Esdaile did his first operation under hypnosis on April 4, 1845, on a Hindu convict with double hydrocele, at the native hospital at Hooghly. After accomplishing 75 operations under hypnoanesthesia he wrote to the medical board; but his letter was not even acknowledged. Later, at the end of the year, having over a hundred operations to his credit, he then contacted Sir Herbert Maddock, then the deputy governor of Bengal, who appointed a committee of investigation composed primarily of physicians.

During wartime, hypnosis was used to put soldiers back into action. Hypnosis reduced the stress and the soldier was able to overcome environmental pressure. Although hypnosis was not an accepted practice, there were so many soldiers with illnesses caused by wartime trauma that many psychiatrists used the same technique as Breuer, a reliving of the emotional stressful war situation, to cure the patient quickly. This worked well, and hypnosis gained some respectability.

Hypnosis is used today, in law and the FBI to aid memory and rehabilitate criminals. The most famous example is the Chowchilla, California kidnapping case. Under Hypnotic induction, a school bus driver recalled a license number that led the police to the abductors of a school bus full of children. Hypnosis was also used as psychotherapy for some of the children who had been greatly disturbed. Some police departments have appointed their own official hypnotists. The NYC police hypnotist has won national acclaim in solving difficult criminal cases. Today hospitals, psychiatric clinics, jails, courtrooms, sports, schools, even churches and synagogues use hypnosis.

Until his death in 1980 Milton H. Erickson, almost single-handedly took hypnosis off the stage and into respected medical practice. Erickson, a noted psychiatrist, who studied with some of the most influential hypnotists of modern times, including Clark Hull, among others. A contemporary of Andre Weitzenhoffer, a partner in training with Leslie Lechron (who is given credit for ideomotor signals).

From Erickson came two gentlemen by the names of Richard Bandler and John Grinder who formally modeled Ericksons genius in hypnosis on the advice of Gregory Bateson (one of the geniuses of the 20th century). This came to be known as Neuro-Linguistic- Programming, NLP. The purpose of this discipline is to model people of true genius, from hypnosis to business to psychotherapy and even to pistol shooting in the military.

Despite popular belief, stage shows are not the main usage of Hypnosis, as it has been used by everyone from doctors to the world's best athletes.

In the 1990's, hypnosis has come full circle, it has been talked about on radio, shown on most national TV talk shows, from Oprah to Donohue, and been written up in major magazines, from Cosmopolitan to Success Magazine. Most everybody has a friend or a family member who has gone to a hypnotist for something. Even medical doctors are sending their patients to a hypnotist for habit control - stop smoking, weight control, stress reduction, as a first choice.