Page 165 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

146 Mysteries of the Mind

describe the use of hypnotic procedures by Those earlier psychical researchers were
Egyptian soothsayers and medical practitioners. intrigued by the fact that the hypnotic state so
In the early 1500s, Swiss physician/ closely resembles the state of consciousness in
alchemist Paracelsus (1493–1541) released his which manifestations of ESP occur. Although
theory of what he called magnetic healing. a description of the hypnotic state is difficult
Paracelsus used magnets to treat disease, believ- to achieve, it appears to be much like that
ing that magnets, as well as the magnetic influ- somnambulistic state between sleep and wak-
ence of heavenly bodies, had therapeutic effects. ing. Somewhere within this nebulous region,
Magnetic treatment theories went through sev- conscious mental activity ceases and deprives
eral stages of evolution and many successive sci- the mind of its usual sensory impressions,
entists. It was during the latter part of the eigh- thereby directing all attention to that one
teenth century that Franz Anton Mesmer area from which psychic impressions presum-
(1734–1815), acting upon the hypotheses of ably come. To the psychical researcher, there
these predecessors, developed his own theory of seems scant difference between the trance of a
“animal magnetism” and hypnosis. psychic and an individual in the hypnotic
state. The only immediately discernible differ-
According to Mesmer, hypnosis entailed
ence is that the one is self-induced, while the
the specific action of one organism upon
other is induced by, and subject to, the control
another. This action is produced by a magnet-
of the hypnotist. The argument therefore pre-
ic force that radiates from bodily organs and
sented itself that if ESP can manifest under
has therapeutic uses. Hypnotism makes use of
trance, then why cannot a hypnotist so
this force, or the vibrations, issuing from the
manipulate the hypnotic state as to achieve
hypnotist’s eyes and fingers.
the proper state of consciousness and, thereby,
literally, induce ESP?
Research continued into the extrasensory
aspects of hypnosis, despite hostility from the
HYPNOTHERAPY permits psychologists
established sciences. In 1876 Sir William Bar-
to help clients uncover hidden or repressed memories rett, an English physicist, presented the results
of fears or abuse. of his experiments in clairvoyant card reading
to the British Association for the Advancement
of Science. A number of Barrett’s colleagues
rewarded the physicist’s extensive endeavor by
When Mesmer reintroduced hypnotism to walking out during his presentation.
the modern world, paranormal activities and Hypnosis arrived on the threshold of the
occult beliefs were associated with his works. twentieth century under much the same cloud
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, that had covered it since Mesmer’s day; and, in
the British Society for Psychical Research spite of decades of research and experimenta-
appointed a commission for the study of pain tion, the great majority of scientific researchers
transference from hypnotist to hypnotized sub- maintain a solid skepticism toward hypnosis at
ject. At the same time, psychologist Edmund the dawn of the twenty-first century.
Gurney and his assistant Frank Podmore
experimented with the same area of research. The Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility
In the Gurney-Podmore experiments the hyp- Scales, a scientific yardstick by which to mea-
notist stood behind the blindfolded subject. sure the phenomenon of hypnosis, was devel-
The hypnotist was then pinched, and the sub- oped in the late 1950s by Stanford University
ject told that he would be able to feel the pain psychologists Andre M. Weitzenhoffer and
in the corresponding area of his own body. Ernest R. Hilgard. Scoring on the Stanford
Gurney and Podmore reported substantial suc- scales ranges from 0 for those individuals who
cess, although none of their experiments were do not appear to respond to any hypnotic sug-
carried out with the hypnotist and researcher gestions, to 12, for those who are assessed as
at any great distance from the subject. extremely responsive to hypnosis. Most peo-

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