Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention, reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.
Hypnotherapy, also known as hypnotic medicine, is the use of hypnosis in psychotherapy. Hypnotherapy is generally not considered to be based on scientific evidence, and is rarely recommended in clinical practice guidelines. Reviews by psychologists have found hypnosis to be effective as an adjunctive treatment for a range of conditions, such as chronic and acute pain, irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias and eating disorder. ”It is regarded as a type of alternative medicine.
Milton Hyland Erickson was an American psychiatrist and psychologist specializing in medical hypnosis and family therapy. He was the founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis. He is noted for his approach to the unconscious mind as creative and solution-generating. He is also noted for influencing brief therapy, strategic family therapy, family systems therapy, solution focused brief therapy, and neuro-linguistic programming.
Self-hypnosis or auto-hypnosis is a form, a process, or the result of a self-induced hypnotic state.
The Nancy School was a French hypnosis-centered school of psychotherapy. The origins of the thoughts were brought about by Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault in 1866, in Nancy, France. Through his publications and therapy sessions he was able to gain the attention/support from Hippolyte Bernheim: another Nancy Doctor that further evolved Liébeault's thoughts and practices to form what is known as the Nancy School.
Suggestion is the psychological process by which a person guides their own or another person's desired thoughts, feelings, and behaviors by presenting stimuli that may elicit them as reflexes instead of relying on conscious effort.
The development of concepts, beliefs and practices related to hypnosis and hypnotherapy have been documented since prehistoric to modern times.
Hypnosurgery is surgery where the patient is sedated using hypnotherapy rather than traditional anaesthetics. It is claimed that hypnosis for anaesthesia has been used since the 1840s where it was pioneered by the surgeon James Braid. There are occasional media reports of surgery being conducted under hypnosis, but since these are not carried out under controlled conditions, nothing can be concluded from them. In 2013 in the University of Padova, Italy, Hypnosis was used as sole anaesthesia for a skin tumour removal in a patient with multiple chemical sensitivity who couldn't use chemical drugs.
Covert hypnosis is an attempt to communicate with another person's unconscious mind without informing the subject that they will be hypnotized. It is also known as conversational hypnosis or sleight of mouth.. It is a term largely used by proponents of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a pseudoscientific approach to communication and interaction.
For over a century, hypnosis has been a popular theme in fiction – literature, film, and television. It features in movies almost from their inception and more recently has been depicted in television and online media. As Harvard hypnotherapist Deirdre Barrett points out in 'Hypnosis in Popular Media', the vast majority of these depictions are negative stereotypes of either control for criminal profit and murder or as a method of seduction. Others depict hypnosis as all-powerful or even a path to supernatural powers.
Valerie Austin is an English hypnotherapist, trainer, lecturer, author and journalist.
Herbert Spiegel was an American psychiatrist who popularized therapeutic hypnosis as a mainstream medical treatment for patients experiencing pain, anxiety, and addictions. He also is known for his treatment of the woman known as Sybil, whose case became the subject of a book, 1976 television miniseries and 2007 television movie.
Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault was a French physician and is considered the father of modern hypnotherapy. Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault was born in Favières, a small town in the Lorraine region of France, on September 16, 1823. He completed his medical degree at the University of Strasbourg in 1850, at the age of 26.
American Hypnosis Society (AHS) existed from 1965 until 2001 for the purpose of educating interested individuals and mental health professionals in the proper practice of hypnosis. The Society’s stated objective was “..to advance understanding of, and research into, the beneficial use of properly practiced hypnotherapy and to dispel myths regarding its possible misuses.”
Steve G. Jones is a clinical hypnotherapist based in Savannah, Georgia. He also has offices in New York and California. He has created numerous recordings and publications about hypnosis, self-awareness and the law of attraction. He co-authored the book You Can Attract It with Frank Mangano.
Elena Mosaner, formerly known as Beloff, is a Russian-born American National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) Certified hypnotherapist and professional certified coach by ICF, author and filmmaker. She has her own private practice in New York City and the San Diego Area. Mosaner founded the practice Inside Hypnosis in New York City, and is the founder of the AlphaMind self hypnosis app.
The National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) is a non-profit, membership-based, international organization for professional consulting hypnotists. The organization is headquartered in Merrimack, New Hampshire. As the oldest and largest hypnotism organization in the world, NGH has approximately 20,000 members across the United States and in more than 93 countries. As of 2020, the President of the National Guild of Hypnotists is Dr. Dwight F. Damon, who is also a founding member.
Patricia Ann Collins was an American hypnotist.
Edith Klemperer, born and educated in Vienna, Austria, was one of the first women to practice neurology and psychiatry. In the U.S., she became a pioneer in the psychotherapeutic use of hypnosis. She earned her medical degree in 1923 from the Medical University of Vienna.
The Hypnotic Ego-Strengthening Procedure, incorporating its constituent, influential hypnotherapeutic monologue — which delivered an incremental sequence of both suggestions for within-hypnotic influence and suggestions for post-hypnotic influence — was developed and promoted by the British consultant psychiatrist, John Heywood Hartland (1901–1977) in the 1960s.
