Lighthouse Hypnosis History page

A Brief History of Hypnosis

There have been many through the ages who have contributed to our current understanding of how the mind functions

in relation to hypnosis.

Franz Anton Mesmer- often called the 'Father of Hypnosis'

Austrian physician who lived from

1734 to 1815.

James Esdaile- 1808-1859 Scottish physician stationed in India, who performed hundreds of surgeries by anesthetizing his patients using only hypnosis.

Dave Elman- 1900-1967 American hypnotist who expounded upon the healing capabilitites of hypnosis and developed the quick induction method.

Milton Erickson- 1901-1980 Perhaps the most well-known hypnotherapist of our time. He greatly popularized its use as a therapeutic modality. The cornerstone of his technique was the effective use of vague language imagery which is easily assimilated by the Unconscious mind.

About NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)

The first popular book on NLP, Frogs into Princes was based on transcribed seminars of the co-founders, Bandler and Grinder. It was first published in 1979. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a personal development system pioneered in the early 1970s by Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder, in association with Gregory Bateson. It uses a toolbox of strategies, axioms and beliefs about human communication, perception and subjective experience.

NLP's core idea is that an individual's thoughts, gestures and words interact to create one's perception of the world. By changing one's outlook, a person can improve his/her attitudes and actions. These observations can be changed by applying a variety of techniques.

NLP teaches that a person can develop successful habits by amplifying helpful behaviors and diminishing negative ones. Positive change can come when one carefully reproduces the behaviors and beliefs of successful people (called 'modeling'). It also states that all human beings have all the resources necessary for realizing success within themselves.

Bandler and Grinder credited three successful therapists - Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir and Milton Erickson as NLP's major inspirations. They 'modeled' the therapists and developed special "patterns" for general communication, rapport-building and self-improvement. NLP author Robert Dilts calls the system "the study of the structure of subjective experience".

Franz Anton Mesmer, considered to be the Father of Hypnosis, also

called 'mesmerism'.

The Presuppositions of NLP

1. Behind every behavior there is a positive intention.

The person doing a behavior has a positive intention at a deep structure level. When we are changing unwanted behaviors or habits, and moving toward healing, it is necessary to find the deep structure or original intention behind the behavior. We then create new and better choices that preserve the positive intention.

2. The map is not the territory.

People respond to their map or interpretation of reality, not to reality itself. NLP is about understanding and changing maps, which in turn can change perceptions of reality.

3. Anything can be accomplished when the task is broken down into small enough chunks.

The goal is "chunked" into pieces that are a manageable size for the individual or system.

4. There is no such thing as failure, only feedback.

Everything is an learning opportunity to find out what works and what doesn't work. It is important to separate behavior from identity.

5. People already have all the resources they need.

NLP teaches how to access these resources at appropriate times and places.

6. Every behavior is useful in some context.

7. If one person can do something, other people can learn from that person's success.

NLP models excellence. It is possible to discover the components and strategies needed to achieve a particular result and to teach it to anyone else.

In other words, if one person can do something, it is possible to model it and teach it to someone else.

8. The messenger never rests until the message is delivered.

When there is a symptom or communication, it is important to pay attention.

9. The meaning of your communication is the response you get.

Communication creates an experience in the listener or reader. The result is the response we elicit. That response may not necessarily match what we intended to communicate.

10. We are always communicating.

Messages are always being sent in all three major sensory modalities. NLP checks for congruence in these messages.

11. Choice is better than no choice.

The element in a system with the most flexibility has the most control.

12. People always make the best choice available to them at the time.

Often there are better choices. NLP discovers more effective choices and how to create more useful or desirable actions and beliefs.

13. If what you are doing isn't working, do something else.

A definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

14. The mind and body are part of the same system.

15. No one is wrong or broken, people work perfectly.

16. The element with the most flexibility in any system will have the most influence.

17. What you pay attention to grows.