How Psychology Emerged From Hypnosis
Until the late 1800s psychology was a branch of philosophy dealing with speculations about the human mind. There was no experimental or therapeutic practice of psychology as it is known today. Many people think that depth psychology originated solely from Freud’s analytical insights presented in his work The Interpretation of Dreams in 1899. However, depth psychology and psychoanalysis actually originated from the practices of hypnosis, mesmerism, and earlier esoteric disciplines.
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815)
The modern history of hypnosis begins with Renaissance physicians, scientists, and alchemists studying the phenomena of magnetism, including Paracelsus, William Gilbert, Johannes Kepler, Athanasius Kircher, and Isaac Newton. The study of magnetism was not limited to geology, but also influenced the practice of medicine. In the eighteenth century Maximilian Hell healed with steel magnets. Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) was a medical doctor in Austria around the time of the French Revolution and a student of Maximillian Hell. Mesmer advanced an ancient idea of a universal fluid (which became known as animal magnetism, as opposed to mineral magnetism), and became famous for his many cures. He followed the ideas of Paracelsus, who rejected the idea that illness was due to an imbalance of bodily humors, and was the first to theorize an “unconscious” that could cause disease. Influenced by Paracelsus' ideas, Mesmer produced an altered state of consciousness in his patients to establish communication with the unconscious, then removed their symptoms. He called his process “mesmerism,” which in a later form gave rise to “hypnotism.” Mesmer demonstrated that there are deeper portions of the mind that are not accessible in the usual state of consciousness, and that in certain altered states of consciousness the mind has the power to do extraordinary things, such as healing illnesses.
Mesmer was disavowed by the authorities of his time, but he ultimately succeeded in opening the mind of the west to a new way of thinking. The French author and poet Alphonse Louis Constant wrote: “The great thing of the eighteenth century is not the Encyclopedia…it is the sympathetic and miraculous physics of Mesmer.” It is no surprise then that fluidism and magnetism took on an important place in the esoteric movements of the time. In 1782 Mesmer established “The Order of Universal Harmony” in Paris, which French writers gave the title of “Mesmeric Masonry.”
Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893)
Mesmer’s discovery was a matter of great interest in medicine, especially in France, where he did much of his work. It was here that Jean Martin Charcot, a French medical doctor and the founder of modern neurology, inspired depth psychology. Charcot was a highly regarded teacher who gave lecture demonstrations of hypnotism. By suggestion, he produced various symptoms (ex: blindness, deafness, the inability to speak, paralysis) in his hypnotic subjects, and invited his medical students to verify their authenticity. Then when he brought his subjects out of the hypnotic state, their symptoms disappeared. Mesmer had demonstrated that the unconscious could heal illness; Charcot’s lectures made it evident that the unconscious could also produce symptoms of disease.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
In Freud’s time there were two primary schools of hypnosis, both in France: the Salpetriere Hospital in Paris under Jean-Martin Charcot with its magnetic theories, and the Nancy School headed by Hippolyte Bernheim with its emphasis on suggestion. As a young, recently graduated medical doctor, Sigmund Freud studied under Charcot in Paris and later observed Bernheim and his partner Liebault in Nancy. He also translated works of Charcot and Bernheim into German. When watching Bernheim’s experiments in 1889, Freud “received the profoundest impression of the possibility that there could be powerful mental processes which nevertheless remained hidden from the consciousness of men.”1 Freud had extensive clinical experience with the technique of hypnosis. He reported that during his first years as a physician the therapeutic use of hypnotic suggestion was his “principal instrument of work.” He probably used hypnosis as a clinical tool for about a decade, from 1886 to 1896.1
Freud "incorporated many of his observations and insights concerning hypnotic behavior and phenomena into the dynamics of psychoanalysis” and acknowledged the debt psychoanalytic theory and practice owe to hypnosis.1 However, he avoided the practice of hypnosis for a number of reasons (summarized by Bachner-Melman & Lichtenberg, 2001): He feared patients would lose contact with the present situation or would become addicted to hypnosis. He was anxious that he would become restricted to treating hysteriform conditions. He was frustrated that he could not always get his patients into as deep a trance as he would have liked. Even though he admitted that hypnotic techniques were easier and shorter to apply than psychoanalysis, he believed the cure to be dependent on the rapport between the hypnotist and subject, and therefore impermanent if that relationship were to become disturbed. Finally, he felt that a patient’s symptoms may serve a protective function and that the removal of symptoms could “strengthen the repressions.”1
Freud referred to hypnosis as the "tyranny of suggestion." He considered that if one could produce symptoms by giving suggestions to the unconscious, then it is also possible that the unconscious might produce illness on its own. From this he theorized that a patient might be freed from symptoms by gaining access to the unconscious. He determined that since sleep is an altered state of consciousness like hypnosis, and dreams occur during sleep, one could gain access to the material of the unconscious through dreams. Freud published his theories on The Interpretation of Dreams in 1899, which was the beginning of modern psychoanalysis.
Freud’s avoidance of hypnosis and his influence on the field of psychotherapy dissuaded his contemporaries from exploring hypnosis during the first decades of the 20th century.2 In response, Dr. William S. Kroger writes:
“In the light of the historical development of Freudian theory, perhaps ‘we need a psychoanalysis of current psychoanalytical resistance to the use of hypnosis."
"Current research in hypnosis does not substantiate a single reason for Freud's avoidance of hypnosis... Since scientific hypnosis was in its infancy in Freud's time, one can hardly blame him for adopting a negative attitude. However, there is no valid reason why Freud's successors should continue to use this embryonic period in the historical development of hypnosis to criticize contemporary hypnotherapy. Masserman recognized that hypnosis was the core that underlies all forms of psychotherapy..."
"Shortly before his death, Freud spoke very resignedly about the poor results of psychoanalysis in an article seldom mentioned by his loyal followers. As Rado observed, 'Digging into the past yields diminishing returns.' Others question the value of recapturing early fantasies and memories. This is not to imply that many of Freud's observations in human behavior will not be of enduring value. Contemporary technics in hypnoanalysis could not have developed had it not been for his penetrating insights."2
Freud's couch. The traditional image of the psychoanalysis patient reclining on a couch remains as a relic of hypnosis.
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung was a young Swiss medical doctor specializing in mental illness. After Freud, he could be considered the second founder of psychology. Jung and Freud agreed that the unconscious speaks in the language of symbols, but for Freud the unconscious forces are almost always of a sexual nature. Jung was deeply in touch with his own unconscious. Like Mesmer, Jung studied Paracelsus. He recognized that there are unconscious forces which are not of a sexual origin, but which originate from a “collective unconscious,” and which are of a transcendental, symbolic, mythological, poetic, and inspirational nature. Jung arrived at these insights from his own dreams and visionary experiences. He also put his cousin under hypnosis repeatedly, and from her trance communications he determined that different parts of her psyche presented themselves as different personalities, but all with the same intention of coming together. He concluded that these parts were trying to unify and become a whole person. From this Jung theorized that there are unconscious forces within us trying to come together, and that the work of our lives is to be in communication with these deeper parts of ourselves and become more whole. This process he called “individuation,” referring to becoming an indivisible unity. Jung published his work Transformations and Symbols of the Libido in 1912, which precipitated his break from Freud.3
Summary
Originally it was Paracelsus who presented the idea of the unconscious. Mesmer discovered that in altered states one could heal diseases. Charcot demonstrated Mesmer’s discovery, also showing that one could induce symptoms by suggestion in hypnosis. This led Freud to the idea that symptoms might be caused by internal unconscious forces, so he explored the unconscious through hypnosis and then dreams. Jung then returned to Paracelsus and the process of using trance to communicate with the unconscious. In this way, the theory of the unconscious, mesmerism, and hypnosis became great contributions to human knowledge and tremendously important influences in modern psychological theory.
Implications
Man is a vast being of mind, and a substantial portion of this mind is inaccessible during ordinary waking consciousness. In a way, we are alienated from our own inner natures and incomplete. Wholeness and happiness occur when we come to know our inner natures through non-rational processes, such as trance and meditation, for example. That knowing is not intellectual knowledge, but the empirical knowledge of experience, a “knowledge of the heart.” When you stop to listen to your innermost self and learn to maintain communication with your unconscious, your life is enriched.
Sources:
2. Kroger, W. S. (1977). Clinical and experimental hypnosis: in medicine, dentistry, and psychology. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott.
3. “Wisdom Beyond Psychology” from the C. G. Jung Lectures of Dr. Stephan Hoeller.