People

Bernheim, Hypolyte

1843-1917
A Professor at the University of Nancy (a school whose ideas competed with the Salpetriere - particularly Charcot). He attempted to define suggestion more precisely and described verbal hetero-suggestion as the key to real hypnotism.

Braid, James

1795-1860
James Braid was a Scottish opthalmic surgeon. In 1841 he attended a show in Manchester by a French magnetiser called La Fontaine. Braid noticed that while subjects were being put to sleep on stage that there was first a noticeable quivering of the eyelids, then the eyeballs turned up and the subjects fell asleep. He studied animal magnetism and was particularly interested in eye fatigue and later in fatigue of the "inner or psychic eye" He was the first to use the terms hypnosis, hypnotism, suggestion and hypnotist in the sense that they are used today - drawing parallels between hypnosis and sleep.

Braid worked just prior to, and at the time when anaesthetics were first being discovered, and he used hypnosis successfully to perform surgery. He developed a technique for hypnotising people involving eye fixation. He would place a bright, shining object in front of the eyes of the subject, close to the nose and at the level of the forehead. By simply asking subjects to fixate on the object he found that the eyes and lids grew tired and quickly closed.

"My chief objective is not to exploit those elements that give rise to superstitious and magical belief, but to ensure that everything mystical is excluded from the circle of scientific hypnotic practice." (Braid, 1842).

Charcot, J. M

1825-1893
Worked at the Salpêtriere in Paris (which competed with the Nancy School). The Salpetriere viewed hypnosis as similar to hysteria. Charcot's pupils looked for physical signs (or "stigmata) in the hypnotised person to explain the hypnotic phenomenon. In 1870 Charcot was given responsibility for a ward of the Salpetriere consisting of female convulsive patients.

Chastenet, A. M. J. (Marquis de Puységur)

1751-1825
A member of Mesmer's secret society "Harmonia". Described a state of 'articifial somnambulism'. He learned Mesmer's techniques in 1784.

Elliotson, John

1791-1868
A famous London physician. Dr Elliotson often prepared patients for surgical operations by the use of mesmeric-magnetic treatment.

Erikson, Milton

1901-1980
Milton Erikson was a Psychiatrist and Psychologist, highly regarded for his clinical work. He was the founding president of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.
Read more at the Milton H. Erikson Foundation.

Esdaile, James

1818-1859
A personal friend of James Braid. Esdaile worked as a surgeon for the East India Company in Calcutta. He performed thousands of surgical operations, first with the use of Mesmeric passes, and later using Braid's hypnotism - he reportedly achieved complete insensibility in 80-90% of his patients (Völgyesi, 1966).

Faria, Abbé José Custodio di

1756-1819
A scholar and priest. He lived for an extended period in Goa and brought information back to Paris in 1813 concerning hypnotic-like techniques practiced in the Orient. Faria conducted public displays and published information in 1819. He thought the phenomenon were due to psychic effects, calling the magnetiser a 'concentrateur' and his magnetised client the 'concentré', and the magnetic or hypnotic process 'concentration' or 'sommeil lucide'. His method of hypnotising, which he termed 'fascinating' consisted of sitting opposite the subject, looking at him sharply, and then suddenly and energetically crying out "Sleep!" or "Go to sleep!". Other techniques involved rigid fixation of the gaze over a lengthy period.

Gassner, Father Johann

1727-1779
Gassner used catharsis as a method for treating physical illness - in particular he used the exorcism rites of the Catholic Church. His methods are thought to have influenced Mesmer.

Hell, Father Maximillian

1720-1792

Hell's approach was based on the belief in the magnetic properties of the human body, and that magnets could be used to cure physical illness. He was a Professor at the University of Vienna and taught Mesmer.

Hilgard, Ernest

1904-2001
Read an obituary for Ernest Hilgard here.

Hull, Clark L

1884-1952

Hull is credited with pioneering the modern study of hypnosis. He conducted investigations with considerable methodological rigour and published Hypnosis and Suggestibility in 1933.

Mesmer, Franz Anton

1735-1815

Mesmer studied medicine in Vienna, receiving his doctorate in 1766 with a dissertation on the influence of the planets on the human body. He expounded a theory of animal magnetism, or mesmerism, which held that every body possessed a magnetic force which connects all human beings. In 1775 he published his theory in Sendschreiben an einen auswärtigen Arzt. He believed sickness was the product of blockages in the flow of an invisible magnetic fluid, and that these blockages could be reversed through 'passes' of his hands over affected body parts.

In his doctoral dissertation in 1766 Mesmer emphasised that it was not only the planets, stars and other cosmic powers that extended influence upon living creatures, but that there were other 'etheric' powers that emanated amongst living things.

For a fuller description of Mesmer's life follow this link.

Spanos, Nicholas

1942-1994

Read an obituary for Nicholas Spanos here.

Weitzenhoffer, André

1921-2005

Read an obituary for Andre Weitzenhoffer here.