Hypnosis has taken many forms across history. Practices involving focused attention, rhythmic speech, suggestion, ritual, and altered awareness appeared in religious, medical, and theatrical settings long before the word hypnosis was coined. Modern hypnosis grew from these older practices but is not identical to them.
What are the earliest known practices related to hypnosis?
Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures used ritual settings that sometimes involved sleep, healing, prayer, music, and spoken guidance. In ancient Egypt, the so-called “sleep temples” described by later writers have often been connected with healing practices, although the historical evidence is limited and does not prove that these ceremonies were hypnosis in the modern sense.
In ancient Greece, people seeking healing sometimes visited temples dedicated to Asclepius, the god of medicine. Visitors participated in religious ceremonies and spent the night in the temple, where dreams were interpreted as part of the healing process. These practices combined expectation, ritual, suggestion, and religious meaning, but they should not be labeled modern clinical hypnosis without qualification.¹
How did healing rituals contribute to the history of hypnosis?
Many healing traditions used methods that could influence attention and expectation. Repetitive chanting, prayer, drumming, storytelling, fixed gazing, touch, and formal ceremonies may have helped people concentrate intensely or enter unusual states of awareness.
These practices were usually understood through the religious or medical beliefs of their time. Their purpose was not necessarily to produce hypnosis as defined today. Still, they illustrate a long-standing human interest in how attention, belief, imagination, and social interaction can affect experience.
It is important not to treat every ritual or meditative practice as hypnosis. Similar features do not establish that the practices had the same purpose, theory, or psychological effects.
Who was Franz Anton Mesmer?
The modern European history of hypnosis is often linked with the eighteenth-century physician Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer proposed that an invisible physical force, which he called “animal magnetism,” influenced health. He used magnets at first and later relied largely on gestures, touch, music, and dramatic group settings.
Mesmer’s theory was rejected by scientific investigations commissioned in France in the 1780s. Those investigations concluded that the reported effects did not require a magnetic fluid and could be explained by imagination, expectation, and related factors.²
Although Mesmer’s explanation was not accepted, his work helped draw attention to the effects of suggestion, social context, and focused attention. The word “mesmerism” later became associated with methods that resembled what would eventually be called hypnotism.
When did the term “hypnosis” appear?
The term hypnotism was introduced in the nineteenth century by the Scottish physician James Braid. He initially believed that the state resulted from nervous or physiological changes associated with prolonged attention, such as staring at an object. He later recognized that suggestion played an important role and moved away from several of his earlier explanations.³
Braid used the term neuro-hypnotism, derived from the Greek word for sleep, but he emphasized that hypnosis was not ordinary sleep. The shorter term hypnotism became more common. Braid’s work helped shift discussion away from magnetic fluids and toward attention, expectation, suggestion, and the nervous system.
How was hypnosis used in nineteenth-century medicine?
During the nineteenth century, some physicians used hypnotic methods for pain control, relaxation, and the treatment of nervous or psychological complaints. Before the widespread availability of chemical anesthesia, hypnotic procedures were also explored during surgery and dentistry.
A well-known example is the Scottish surgeon James Esdaile, who reported using mesmerism during operations in India. His reports attracted attention, but later writers disputed some of his conclusions, and the evidence did not establish hypnosis as a reliable substitute for surgical anesthesia. Hypnotic methods were also used by some European physicians to reduce pain and produce calm during medical procedures.
The introduction of ether and chloroform in the 1840s greatly reduced medical interest in hypnosis as a surgical anesthetic. Even so, hypnosis continued to be studied for pain, emotional distress, and other clinical concerns.
What roles did Jean-Martin Charcot and the Nancy School play?
In late nineteenth-century France, hypnosis became the subject of major medical debate. Neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot studied hypnosis at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. He regarded hypnotic phenomena as connected with hysteria and neurological disturbance.
Physicians associated with the Nancy School, especially Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault and Hippolyte Bernheim, offered a different interpretation. They emphasized suggestion and believed that many people could respond to hypnotic procedures, not only patients with hysteria. Their debate helped establish suggestion as a central concept in the study of hypnosis.⁴
The competing views also showed that hypnosis could not be understood solely through dramatic demonstrations. Expectations, relationships between practitioner and participant, social roles, and the way instructions were presented all influenced what occurred.
How did Sigmund Freud use hypnosis?
Early in his career, Sigmund Freud used hypnosis with some patients and studied the work of physicians who practiced it. He later moved toward free association and other methods because hypnosis did not work equally well for everyone and did not always produce the results he wanted.
Freud’s decision to move away from hypnosis helped shape the development of psychoanalysis. At the same time, hypnosis continued to be used by other physicians and psychologists. Its history therefore developed alongside, rather than simply leading to, other forms of psychological treatment.⁵
How was hypnosis used during wartime?
During the First and Second World Wars, physicians and military medical personnel explored psychological methods for pain, anxiety, trauma-related symptoms, and rehabilitation. Hypnosis was sometimes used as one technique among several, particularly when medical staff were managing large numbers of injured service members.
The evidence from wartime practice did not show that hypnosis was a universal treatment. Its usefulness varied with the person, the problem, the practitioner, and the surrounding medical care. These experiences nevertheless encouraged continued interest in psychological approaches to pain and stress.
How has hypnosis been used in modern medicine and dentistry?
Modern clinicians may use hypnosis as an adjunct to other care for selected purposes, including pain management, procedural anxiety, relaxation, and some symptoms associated with medical treatment. The strongest claims require careful limits: hypnosis is not a general cure, and it does not replace needed diagnosis or medical care.
Research reviews have found evidence that hypnosis can help reduce pain or distress in some clinical settings, although results vary and study quality is not uniform. Professional organizations have recognized hypnosis as a possible clinical tool when used by appropriately trained health professionals within their scope of practice.⁶
In dentistry, hypnotic methods have been studied for anxiety, discomfort, and the management of certain treatment-related concerns. They are generally best understood as complementary techniques rather than replacements for local anesthesia, medication, or standard dental care.
How has hypnosis been used in psychology and psychotherapy?
Psychologists and other mental-health professionals have used hypnosis in connection with relaxation, anxiety management, pain coping, habit-related concerns, and some forms of psychotherapy. In these settings, hypnosis often involves guided attention, imagery, suggestions, and rehearsal of helpful responses.
The American Psychological Association’s definition describes hypnosis as a state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness, with an increased capacity for responding to suggestion. This description emphasizes a flexible psychological process rather than a supernatural force or a state of unconsciousness.⁷
Clinical use should remain careful and evidence-informed. Hypnosis is not appropriate for every person or every concern, and a practitioner should not use it to create false certainty about past events.
Has hypnosis been used to recover memories?
Yes, but this is one of the most controversial uses of hypnosis. Some practitioners have used hypnotic procedures in attempts to retrieve memories of childhood experiences, crimes, or traumatic events.
Research has shown that hypnosis can increase confidence in a memory without reliably increasing its accuracy. It may also make people more vulnerable to suggestion and can contribute to the development of detailed but inaccurate recollections. For this reason, major professional guidance has warned against treating hypnotically recalled material as automatically accurate evidence.⁸
A responsible practitioner distinguishes between a person’s experience and the historical accuracy of a specific memory. Hypnosis should not be presented as a dependable way to uncover hidden facts.
How has hypnosis been used in entertainment?
Stage hypnosis became popular in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Performers invited volunteers to participate in dramatic demonstrations involving suggestions, unusual behavior, humor, and changes in attention.
Stage hypnosis is shaped by performance conditions. Participants volunteer, audience expectations are strong, and the performer selects people who appear willing and responsive. These factors help explain why stage demonstrations should not be used as a simple model of clinical hypnosis.
Entertainment hypnosis can be enjoyable, but ethical performances should protect participants’ dignity, obtain meaningful consent, and avoid dangerous or humiliating suggestions.
Has hypnosis been used in criminal investigations and court cases?
Hypnosis has sometimes been used by investigators who hoped to help witnesses remember additional details. This practice became controversial because hypnosis may increase confidence in a recollection without improving its accuracy. It can also make later questioning and memory evaluation more difficult.
Courts and legal authorities have therefore treated hypnotically influenced testimony with caution. Rules differ across jurisdictions, and the legal status of such evidence has changed over time. The broader lesson is consistent: confidence is not the same as accuracy, and hypnotic recall should not be treated as a direct recording of the past.⁹
How is hypnosis understood today?
Today, hypnosis is generally understood as a set of procedures involving focused attention, suggestion, expectation, imagination, and a collaborative relationship between practitioner and participant. People differ in their responsiveness, and hypnosis does not remove ordinary judgment or guarantee compliance.
Its history includes religious healing, mesmerism, medical experiments, psychological research, psychotherapy, dentistry, pain care, entertainment, and legal controversy. Some older explanations have been rejected, while other observations—such as the importance of attention, expectation, and suggestion—remain relevant to current discussions.
The most balanced view is neither dismissive nor exaggerated. Hypnosis can be useful for some people and some purposes, especially as part of appropriate professional care. It is not magic, mind control, a universal treatment, or a reliable method for recovering hidden memories.
Notes
Derek J. Collins, Magic in the Ancient Greek World (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2008), 1–20, 136–165.
Franklin, “Report of the Commissioners Charged by the King with the Examination of Animal Magnetism,” in Animal Magnetism: Early Experiments with the Human Mind, edited by Adam Crabtree (New York: Dutton, 1993), 167–190.
James Braid, Neurypnology; or, the Rationale of Nervous Sleep, Considered in Relation with Animal Magnetism (London: John Churchill, 1843).
Henri F. Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious: The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry (New York: Basic Books, 1970), 80–108.
Sigmund Freud, “Psycho-Analysis,” in Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, vol. 20, edited and translated by James Strachey (London: Hogarth Press, 1959), 248–250.
Mark P. Jensen and David R. Patterson, “Hypnotic Approaches for Chronic Pain Management: Clinical Implications of Recent Research Findings,” American Psychologist 67, no. 8 (2012): 759–775.
John F. Kihlstrom, “Hypnosis and Psychological Science,” in The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis: Theory, Research, and Practice, edited by Michael R. Nash and Amanda J. Barnier (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 21–54.
American Psychological Association, Division 30, “The Nature of Hypnosis: A Report Prepared by a Task Force of the American Psychological Association Division of Psychological Hypnosis,” International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 48, no. 2 (2000): 235–250.
Elizabeth F. Loftus, “Planting Misinformation in the Human Mind: A 30-Year Investigation of the Malleability of Memory,” Learning & Memory 12, no. 4 (2005): 361–366.