Definition Of hypnotherapy

Hypnotism versus mesmerism

Hypnotism is often, mistakenly, thought to be the same as mesmerism, its historical precursor.
According to Hans Eysenck,

The terms "mesmerise" and "hypnotise" have become quite synonymous, and most people think of Mesmer as the father of hypnosis, or at least as its discoverer and first conscious exponent. Oddly enough, the truth appears to be that while hypnotic phenomena had been known for many thousands of years, Mesmer did not, in fact, hypnotise his subjects at all. It is something of a mystery why popular belief should have firmly credited him with a discovery which in fact was made by others.(Eysenck, Sense & Nonsense in Psychology, 1957: 30-31)

Franz Anton Mesmer held that trance and healing were the result of the channelling of a mysterious "occult" force called "animal magnetism". In the mid-18th Century, this became the basis of a very large and popular school of thought termed "Mesmerism". However, in 1843, the Scottish surgeon James Braid proposed the theory of hypnotism as a radical alternative, in opposition to Mesmerism. Braid argued that the occult qualities of Mesmerism were illusory and that its effects were due to a combination of "nervous fatigue" and verbal suggestion. A bitter war of words developed between Braid and the leading exponents of Mesmerism.

I beg farther to remark, if my theory and pretensions, as to the nature, cause, and extent of the phenomena of nervous sleep [i.e., hypnotism] have none of the fascinations of the transcendental to captivate the lovers of the marvellous, the credulous and enthusiastic, which the pretensions and alleged occult agency of the mesmerists have, still I hope my views will not be the less acceptable to honest and sober-minded men, because they are all level to our comprehension, and reconcilable with well-known physiological and psychological principles. (James Braid, Hypnotic Therapeutics, 1853: 36)

However, there is agreement that the origin of modern hypnosis is with the methods employed in Mesmerism. Whilst Braid differed in offering an explanation of hypnotic effects that did not rely on supernatual forces, he credited the methods used in hypnosis to the practice of Mesmerism. Braid said of the subject:

Hypnotism might therefore not inaptly be designated, Rational Mesmerism, in contra-distinction to the Transcendental Mesmerism of the Mesmerists.

In their original committee report on hypnotherapy, the British Medical Association (BMA), likewise, made a point of condemning the occult theories of Mesmerism and sharply distinguishing them from hypnotism.

The Committee, having completed such investigation of hypnotism as time permitted, have to report that they have satisfied themselves of the genuineness of the hypnotic state. No phenomena which have come under their observation, however, lend support to the theory of ‘animal magnetism’. ("Report on Hypnotism", British Medical Journal, 1892)