Hypnosis Facts

In 1846, Dr. James Esdaile, used hypnotic anesthesia while serving the British East India Company in Calcutta, India, successfully lowering the surgical mortality rate to less than five percent.  In 1958 the American Medical Association recognized hypnosis as a field of study and instruction was recommended in medical schools.  Each year more people seek out appointments to find a healthy way to control fears and negative behaviours.  Hypnotists assist people in accessing their subconscious mind, which many of us do everyday without realizing it.

You likely enter a hypnotic state at least twice a day.  Have you every arrived at your destination without recalling the last few miles of your drive?  Have you ever been so engrossed in a movie that you lost all track of time?  Or have you ever zoned out while reading a book?  

As early as 1000 BC Suggestion "sleep temples" were used in Egypt to create a hypnotic environment which assisted in healing.  Early in the first century the "laying of hands" was introduced and used by the English monarchy.  Franz Mesmer is credited with bringing hypnosis to the public around 1770 and Dr. James Braid introduced the term "hypnosis".   Emile Coue, a French pharmacist discovered that "all hypnosis is self-hypnosis", realizing that the person accepting the suggestions was the person responsible for their own healing.  Hypnotists are now able to help hypnosis clients accept responsibility for their own change.  Dave Elman, who witnessed a stage hypnotist help Dave's father to manage pain at the age of 8, became fascinated with hypnosis.  Eventually he started teaching physicians and dentists hypnosis

People seek out hypnotherapists for a variety of reasons some of which include; overcoming fears and phobias, weight elimination, stress, management and smoking cessation as well as many others. 

Hypnosis occasionally makes an appearance in movies and television shows, usually a storyline in which a hypnotized person has lost all control and becomes a puppet, and not in control and not responsible for their own actions.   In reality, people in a relaxed state of hypnosis remain completely in control.  They are able to hear, understand and later remember what the hypnotist suggests.