The History of Hypnotists

This Section is designed to explain some of the key figures from the art of hypnosis.

The earliest information on hypnosis date back from ancient Egyptian times however references to a sleep like state can be found in ancient religions such as Voodoo and druidic. We will try to deal with people from modern times  and who helped develop hypnotism it to where it is today.

Franz Mesmer

This man and Austrian physician  was responsible for the art of mesmerizing and believed all diseases were a result of blockages of the magnetic flow in the body. This man believed he could store magnetism in casks and barrels and believed he could but the magnetism into the patients body by passing his hands other the body. He would tell his clients that they would feel better. It is thought that the mesmerizing he did actually put his clients in to hypnosis.

James Braid

Braid was a British doctor and discovered it was possible to induce hypnosis by eye fixation i.e. stare at a object and was responsible for calling this trance like state hypnotism and published a book on the subject.

James Esdaile

A British doctor he discovered hypnotism can be used to ease pain and performed lots of operations using only hypnosis to control the pain, He tried to convince his colleagues of the benefits however they weren't having any of it.

Milton Erickson

Milton discovered you can actually hypnotise a patient without all the palaver of swinging watches or fixation He is considered the farther of clinical hypnosis.

Ormand Mcgill

I have lots of respect for this mans work considered to be the dean of American hypnotists wrote lots of books on hypnosis including the new encyclopaedia of stage hypnotists. His understanding of different mesmerising and religious trances helped him devise new ways of doing things and gave him a great understanding in to hypnotic trances which he shares in his books.