Hypnosis: Who’s The Daddy?

Hypnosis has been used for many years, but have you ever wondered who discovered it, who was the first, who was the daddy of hypnotherapy?

There were several founders who discovered different aspects of hypnosis, in particular, using hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. Many credit a gentleman by the name of Mesmer with the original technique of putting people into trance. Indeed, we still refer to it as ‘mesmerising’ people because of Franz Mesmer.

Frederick (Franz) Anton Mesmer, born in 1734, was born in Germany but later moved to Austria and became a physician. In 1766 he wrote ‘The Influence of Stars and Planets on the Human Body’, in which he talked about the concept of animal magnetism. He believed the stars and planets used an invisible magnetic energy that affected not only the earth’s tides but also the liquid inside humans, plants and animals.

At first, Mesmer would place magnets onto his client and stroke the patient’s body to transfer the ‘animal magnetism’ from his body to the client, using a wand to help channel the energy. However, he later decided it was his ability to transfer his own animal magnetism to his patients that brought about the healing success. Mesmer had many medical successes that were later attributed to his own hypnotising of the patient. During this hypnosis he was actually giving direct suggestions for the client to heal themselves.

Franz Mesmer had a very over-the-top, flamboyant style and people would easily go into trance for him. This has been likened to fainting to escape an overwhelming experience.

The healing successes and his flamboyant act proved popular with his followers, but of course his strange tactics were unpopular with the medical profession. In 1778 he was struck off the medical register and subsequently left Vienna. Following this event, he moved to Paris where he gathered even more followers, one of which was Marie Antoinette.

In 1784, King Louis XVI appointed an investigation, not into the claims of animal magnetism, but to investigate whether or not Mesmer had discovered a new bodily fluid. When they couldn’t determine this new fluid, Mesmer was driven out of Paris and returned to Vienna. He remained relatively inconspicuous for the last twenty years of his life and died in 1815 at the grand age of 81.

Hypnosis, although it had yet to find its name, had now been discovered.