Subliminal Suggestion

Hypnotism throughout History

Hypnosis has been known to man for thousands of years. Historically, the practice of altering man’s consciousness has been carried out by shamans, wiccas, spirit mediums, and spiritual doctors, for various reasons. Ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece recorded that the fastest way to get in touch with the spiritual realm is through rituals that are similar to what are now called hypnosis, meditation, visualization, and drugs.

Experiences common to deep sleep, anesthesia and the power of the subconscious have been noted in different religious documents, such as in the Old Testament of Christianity and in the Talmud of Judaism.

Some accounts even say that many women were accused as witches and thus burned at the stake because of their practice of “cutting up” women’s bellies during difficult labor in order to help the child get out of the womb. It was said the mothers felt relatively no pain during the “operation” and the babies were delivered successfully – with the midwives using only herbs and oils while uttering some comforting, soothing chant. This practice, many believed, is one of the earliest known practice of what is now called delivery through Caesarean operation, with the aid of hypnosis. 

            Taking the cue from their ancient traditions, indigenous cultures even in the present day, still take benefit from mind control and suggestion and its ability to heal – or harm.

 

Mesmerizing Magnetism

In the modern world, hypnotism’s first brush with science was known in the late 1700s, through Austrian physician Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer and the “phenomenon” that was called animal magnetism. Mesmer believed that through a mystical force channeled through water tubs and magnetic wands flowing from him to his subjects, he can make people and animals go under trances. He claimed this mystical power was due to magnetic waves. He lulled his subjects into submission through fixating them on a certain object, and through monotonous repetition of certain words. This was where the word “mesmerize,” which we still use today to pertain to the act of being in awe and dumbstruck to a certain figure, was coined.

But soon in the further scientific study of hypnotism, the concept of animal magnetism was eventually dismissed. Abbe Faria, a scientist in the 19^th century, declared that the hypnotism practiced by Mesmer was not because of animal magnetism – but through the power of suggestion.

 

The Pendulum

More studies and experiments in mind control followed through the years, but it was a research launched in 1842 that was considered the turning point in the study of Mesmer’s ideas. Scottish surgeon James Braid was one of the first scientists to attribute the process of going under a trance to a physiological process. He believed that the state of trance was not due to the magnetic power of the hypnotist; but through hard, rapt attention on a striking, moving object over time, as in that iconic clock necklace. “Protracted ocular fixation,” Braid believed, will make the brain tired and will cause the subject to be under what he called “nervous sleep.” Thus Braid coined the term “hypnotism” and “hypnosis,” based on the Greek word of “sleep.”       

Braid, with his contemporaries such as Ambroise-Auguste Liebeault, Hippolyte Bernheim and J.M. Charcot, later focused more on the impact of psychological motivation in hypnosis rather that their early concept of fatigue and nervous sleep.  They were also the first ones to tread upon medical hypnosis, wherein they used hypnotism to treat different psychological and physical conditions.

Following the paths taken by Braid et al., more studies on the use of hypnosis in medicine followed – with better results this time. Mirroring (though perhaps unconsciously) the practices of ancient doctors, modern medicine started to cautiously tread upon the use of hypnosis as anaesthesia or pain killers. The medicine world then had a strong disbelief in this method; as in a case in 1842, when there was a report of a successful and painless amputation procedure through hypnotism. But it was quickly dismissed.

Still, pro-hypnotism medical professionals persisted with their studies. Dr. James Esdaille, a British physician who practiced in India, performed almost 400 pain-controlled operations with patients under hypnosis. Known as the “Father of Hypno-anesthesia,” Esdaille also integrated his Western education with the culture in India. Hand-in hand with his medical practice, he also performed a drugless trance theraphy traditionally from Bengal, India.  Esdaille’s cases listed eye, ear, and throat operations, amputations, and tumors and cancerous growth removals. Esdaille reported no pain and zero mortality under his so-called “mental anesthesia.” 

What’s more astonishing is that after the surgeries, Esdaille further hypnotically suggested to his patients that their wounds would not result in any kind of infection or side effect. True enough, no one among his patients was reported to have caught any post-operation side effects. Many believed the subconscious aspects of Esdaille’s subjects responded well to hypnotism. When Esdaille suggested they would not be infected, their bodily functions acted accordingly and launched antibodies that would fight infection.

Soon, the death of Braid, Esdaille and other kindred colleagues, plus the advancement of anesthetics though chemicals, waned the interest in hypnotism.

 

Hypnotically Hysterical

Hysteria and hypnosis? Strange bedfellows at first glance maybe; but after hypnosis kept a relatively low profile after Braid, hypnotism made a comeback in the 1880s as new versions of his work were corculated. The revival also came with new experimentations, particularly in the use of hypnosis in treating hysteria led by neurologist Jean Martin Charcot.

Charcot, and later his pupil Pierre Janet, treated various cases of mental conditions, but most particularly hysteria, through what they called dissociation. This technique, utilized in a big number of patients, compartmentalizes some of the data stored in the mind, so that aspects such as a particular skill or an information from the past can be hidden or retrieved.    

            Considered landmark experiments at that time, these findings impressed and inspired later works of French psychologist Alfred Biet and the father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Frued

In fact, Freud used the works of Charot and another French doctor, Hippolyte Bernheim, to strengthen the framework of his initial studies on the unconscious and hypnotism. 

Meanwhile, science has enriched layman’s dictionary once again since it was in this time that Ambroise-Auguste Liebault coined the term rapport – meaning that critical and required consensus between the hypnotist and the subject for a successful hypnosis session. Today, we still use the word rapport to mean that pleasant communication connection between two parties, a certain similarity in wavelength. 

 

Hypnotism and War

A powerful weapon, a strategic device, an intelligence technique and a medical tool – all these roles were said to have been taken by hypnosis during World Wars I and II.  

War trauma is common to soldiers who have faced the horrors of war. Hypnotism was used by physicians to help patients in letting go of their repressed memories, and to eventually treat amnesia or other resulting conditions. This kind of therapy also helps the patient alleviate emotional and mental tensions resulting from the trauma. 

The powerful suggestion invoked by hypnosis was also used as a tool for military intelligence. For example, an extremely confidential information that has to be passed personally can be protected through the power of suggestion. In this case, the information will be given to a soldier under hypnosis. After the information has been relayed successfully, the hypnotist then suggests to the courier that he will never remember a single detail about the message, thus ensuring that it remains a secret forever.  

Since hypnosis can also be effective in altering the behavior of a person, it was used as a strategy to infiltrate the enemy’s ranks. G.H. Estabrooks, a physician who has worked with United States Authorities in World War II, divulges in a medical journal that the behavior modification properties of hypnosis were useful in sending a deep penetration agent inside a communist territory.
He also narrated: “I worked this technique with a vulnerable Marine lieutenant I'll call Jones. Under the watchful eye of Marine Intelligence I spilt his personality into Jones A and Jones B. Jones A, once a "normal" working Marine, became entirely different. He talked communist doctrine and meant it. He was welcomed enthusiastically by communist cells, was deliberately given a dishonorable discharge by the Corps (which was in on the plot) and became a card-carrying party member.”