^«Mÿth  is but a Metaphor for the
Experiences Of Life^»

HYPNOS   was the god of Sleep
In Greek Mythology, (Somnus, in Latin).   Hypnos was the brother of Thanatos (the god of Death) and son of Nyx (the god of Night), and he lived in a land of perpetual darkness and mist.   This god's home was a cavern, through which the waters of Lethe (the river of forgetfulness) flowed.   Surrounding Hypnos, reclining on couches, were his numerous sons - the Dreams!

Basic to the understanding of Hypnosis are two Mental Phenomena:

Unconscious Mental Processing,
&
Psychological Conflict !

 

      HISTORICALLY, FRAMES OF REFERENCE into which the phenomena of Hypnosis had been placed range from the strictly religious systems of the Egyptians, the Persians, and the Hindus, to the most sophisticated theories of present-day Psychotherapy.   Many of us have pre-existing notions that attempt to explain what hypnosis is and how hypnosis works.   We have gotten many of these notions from prior exposure to the Stage Hypnotist, or by the script writers in the entertainment industry.   These notions are usually centered around the mysterious Hypnotic Power held by the hypnotist over his mesmerized subjects.   And so, the`rial Mÿth about Hypnosis centers around the idea of one's own loss of self control via the will of the hypnotist.  

      Debate over the actual nature of the hypnotic trance, in the present era, has fallen into two major categories:  the physiological one which views Hypnosis as an alteration in the brain;  and the psychological one which considers the hypnotic trance to be a unique interpersonal relationship between the hypnotist and his subject.
  

Dr. Mesmer	PreSomnambulistic  Mesmerism Franz Anton Mesmer
	Hypnosis, early in its development within the eighteenth-century, was considered to be the product of some mysterious emenation from the hypnotist which impacted upon his subject!             Dr. Mesmer's theory was a combination of ancient astrological concepts, medieval mysticism, and seventeenth-century vitalism;  expressed in the terminology of eighteenth-century physical science, particularly of magnetism and electricity (Animal Magnetism).             His therapy was a combination of the ancient procedure of laying on of hands with a disguised version of medieval demonic exorcism.
A. Puysègur	Somnambulistic   Mesmerism A. Marquis  de Puysègur
	Puysègur, a follower of Dr. Mesmer, is credited with the first clear recognition of the pivotal importance of mesmerically induced sleepwalking, in which strange, mystic-like events, with lucid speech, responsiveness to the mesmerist's wishes, and subsequent amnesia seem to occur.   With this recentering of concern on artificial somnambulism, and away from the convulsive crises, mesmerism entered its second stage of scientific sophistication.
Dr. Braid	Early Psychological Period James  Braid
	James Braid, a surgeon in Manchester, England, re-examined these so-called magnetism phenomena and considered them as strictly neurophysiological, later in the nineteenth-century!   In his early theory, Dr. Braid used the name of the Greek god of sleep (Hypnos) to create the term Hypnotism, (as he renamed Animal Magnetism).   His therapeutic efforts were attempts to excite or depress the nervous energy of the patient in need of psychotherapy.
Dr. Charcot	Late Psychological Period Jean Martin Charcot
	Dr. Charcot, a neurologist, along with his colleagues at the Salpêtrière School in Paris, adopted Dr. Braid's psychological notions;  while maintaining a principally physiological basis to Hypnotism.   Psychological concepts and theories were vital components in their approach to the understanding of psychiatric illnesses.   Charcot and his colleagues arrived at the concept of Dissociation .   In Charcot's clinic, dissociation formed a pivotal point of articulation with the phenomena of Hypnosis.
Dr. Janet	Late Psychological Period Pierre  Janet
	Dr. Janet is credited for first having employed the technique of searching for affect-charged traumatic memories, in his therapeutic approach of patients.   In many of his patients, unconscious memories of emotionally traumatic events were uncovered while they were in Hypnotic Trance;  giving rise to a better understanding and explanation of the origin and specific nature of their hysterical neurotic symptoms.   This technique ultimately led Janet (1898) to the Traumatic Theory as the genesis of neurotic illness.
Dr. Breuer	The Modern Period Josef  Breuer
	Josef Breuer, a respected Viennese neurologist, discovered the fact that in Hypnosis a significant memory might be re-lived, and that the resultant release of emotion had therapeutic value.   He demonstrated the use of the Abreactive Method of Hypnosis as a cathartic therapeutic tool.       In 1880, Dr. Breuer was treating a patient with multiple incapacitating hysterical symptoms, using Hypnosis initially to remove her symptoms via direct suggestion.   She responded in an unusual manner; lapsing into somnambulistic states of altered consciousness, experiencing hallucinations which she described vividly.
Dr. Freud	The Modern Period Sigmud  Freud
	Dr. Freud came to Paris to study neuropathology under Dr. Charcot in the 1880's.   There he became proficient at hypnotic induction techniques, which he found instrumental in distinguishing hysteria from neurologically based illnesses.   As he became comfortable with the use of Hypnosis, he also found himself absorbed in the concept of Dissociation and the Traumatic Theory of hysterical sympton formation.

Ivan P. Pavlov (1849- 1936)  :
"Conditioned Responses"

      Early NeuroPhysiological theories on Hypnosis as an "altered state" of the brain were based on the idea of some inhibition of the Central Nervous System's (CNS) activity.   Ivan P. Pavlov made remarkable observations concerning the impact of learning and experience on PsychoPhysiological reactions.
            Pavlov (1923) considered Hypnosis a state of inhibition of the brain related to sleep with the inhibition confined to the motoric impulses.   He spoke of a concentrated excitatory focus in the(CNS) with surrounding areas of inhibition which he regarded as due to a limitation in either the amount or the type of sensory intake.   It was from his detailed observations of lab animals that the concepts of Conditioned Responses and the role of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli developed. 
            Pavlov (1927) provided a basis for the study of conditioning and learning within the autonomic nervous system;  continuing a line of investigation with enormous implications for understanding the development of psychosomatic disorders.   Our present day application of this observation is readily seen in Ideodynamic Responses;  where an individual is observed functioning on an automatic, and purely unconscious, level.
            Pavlov went so far as to view schizophrenia as the manifestation of a chronic hypnotic state arising from excessive stimulation of the nervous system weakened by hereditary or acquired damage.  

      M. Verworm (1901)   believed hypnosis to be an inhibition of the ganglion cells of the cortex.   All NeuroPhysiological theories implied a similarity between hypnosis and sleep.   I.P.M.Isserling (1926) considered the trance state of hypnosis to be an  'Island of Wakefulness'  within a sleeping brain.  

      W. R. Wells (1924)   broke away from this association of hypnosis and sleep by espousing that hypnosis could be induced without any reference to sleep and without conditions conducive to sleep.   He utilized what is known as Waking Hypnosis and believed those lethargic components of hypnosis were primarily due to the Suggestions of the hypnotist.