What Is Hypnosis

What is Hypnosis? The word hypnosis is derived from the Greek word 'Hypnos' meaning 'to sleep' but it is actually far from being asleep. We all experience hypnotic states in our day to day living even if we aren't always consciously aware of it. Whether we are driving, daydreaming or watching television the experience of hypnosis can vary dramatically from one person to another. In order to understand the word 'Hypnosis' I will be briefly be discussing the history of Hypnosis from as early as the father of hypnosis Franz Anton Mesmer (1766) and other profound figures such as Abbe Faria (1814) and Sigmund Freud in the 19th century. I will then be discussing the psychological and physical aspects of hypnosis giving reference to brain waves such as Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta and the role they play in Hypnosis . Once I have explored what hypnosis is I will be discussing the role of relaxation in Hypnotherapy. I will show that that there is no clear answer as to what hypnosis is as it is the physical and psychological state of a person that gives real access to the subconscious and the importance relaxation plays in achieving a hypnotic state.

Hypnotic states can be dated back for hundreds and hundred of years but it was Franz Anton Mesmer who made the most profound discovery in Hypnosis during the 18th century. Mesmer believed that every human being had a cosmic fluid flowing through their body and ill health was the result of the disturbance of this flow in the body. He also believed that an occult force flowed through the hypnotist into the subject. He treated neurotic patients using iron magnets and hypnosis, which he originated and later became an accepted psychotherapeutic technique. Despite widespread scepticism of Mesmer's methods, he was certainly the first person to draw the attention of the world to the important fact that mental treatment can have a direct bearing on illness of the body and that the proper use of mesmerism, or hypnosis, can have immense benefit to psychic investigators. Mesmer attracted a circle of disciples who believed in his theories and studied their application under his instruction. One of these disciples was Count de Puyseguer (1784), who developed Mesmer's art and began practicing at Soissons, France. Later on it was Puysegur who was brave enough to reject Mesmer's theories on magnetic fluid and came to soon realise that he was able to communicate with people in hypnosis asking questions and getting replies from his patients.

The next movement that came along in hypnosis and mimics our understanding of hypnosis today came from Abbe Faria (1814). He believed that Mesmer's success of healing through his theory of animal magnetism was in fact due to suggestions put forward by the practitioner. Faria believed that everyone is suggestible and everyone can be hypnotized with suggestion and it has nothing to do with animal magnetism or will power and the degree of suggestibility varies depending upon the individual. Suggestion can be given to a subject in a hypnotic sleep as well as when the subject out of hypnosis and they are equally effective.

Now moving forward in time came Sigmund Freud. Freud was an Austrian neurologist who was known as the founding father of psychoanalysis. Freud tried hypnosis for some time but was not very proficient at it, he gave talks and attended conferences. The next approach he tried after hypnosis was to extract subconscious thoughts from his patients by persuading them to reach further and further back into their past memories, in other words, the process of psychoanalysis. Because Sigmund Freud was not very proficient at Hypnosis, by the mid 1890's he had practically given it up. This resulted in a decline of the interest of hypnosis at the time. However, Pierre Janet kept an interest in Hypnosis upon discovering the positive healing effects it achieved.

Although these figures played a major role in Hypnosis, it is still used today in many different varieties. Even in modern times there is still a lot of scepticism regarding hypnosis and a lot of people believe that they are not hypnotizable. However, have you ever been reading a book or a magazine and someone has stood next to you saying something but you seem to not even hear them? You haven't suddenly gone deaf it's just that, at that moment, your conscious mind is focused on reading . This kind of thing happens everyday to everybody. Children listening to a good teacher at school, watching your favourite TV show, listening to the radio, it can all induce hypnotic states. What's more, when we are talking to someone and they are really interested and focused on what we're saying we are in fact their hypnotizer. If you are engrossed in a film or online discussion then the medium is the screen or the text but you are your own hypnotizer. It's a form of self-hypnosis.

It is important that the psychological and physical state of a person is in the right place during hypnosis as this will give real access to the subconscious. During the focusing exercises of hypnosis, a person's conscious mind is quieted or relaxed. As the subconscious mind takes over, a person becomes more open to accepting suggestions that the conscious mind might normally oppose. Hypnosis is practiced with the intentions of opening up the subconscious and placing suggestions within to help the subconscious re-learn something already learnt such as having excessive food habits or perhaps a phobia of some kind due to an incident much earlier on in life. We know that hypnosis can have measurable psychological and physically positive effects on both the mind and body which can support improved health and wellbeing outcomes. An open mind is crucial during hypnosis, the client must not conform to what the therapist might expect from them as this will hinder the experience.

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