The Original Theory of Hypnotism & Suggestion
I recently spent about a year researching the work of James Braid, the founder of hypnotherapy, and compiling his letters, articles, and books into a new book called The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid (2009). When I first began to study hypnotism properly, about fifteen years ago, I was surprised to find so little written about its founder.
The Discovery of Hypnosis on Amazon
Many people believe, mistakenly, that Franz Anton Mesmer invented hypnotism but this is completely erroneous. Mesmer never hypnotised anyone. In fact, he developed a method known as “animal magnetism” which claimed to cure various illnesses by channelling a magnetic force from the body of the Mesmerist, as his followers were known, into that of their patient. Braid was sceptical, denounced this earlier tradition as “humbug”, and set about developing a more credible theory and practice based on simple experimental studies on “psycho-physiology”, the interaction between mind and body. To distinguish his scientific theory from the supernatural theories of the Mesmerists, Braid coined the term “Neuro-hypnotism” (nervous sleep) to describe an unusual state of nervous inhibition in which the mind becomes progressively “abstracted” (dissociated) from external distractions and “focused” upon a single train of thought or “expectant dominant idea”. He later abbreviated this term to “hypnotism” and was therefore, basically, responsible for coining the term. Braid’s approach was always intended to be eminently “common sense” and scientific and, despite the latter mytique surrounding it, the original hypnotism was a primitive psychotherapy and prefigures modern evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in many respects.
You can purchase a copy of Braid’s collected writings from Amazon via the link below. I believe every hypnotherapist should own a copy of this book; just as every psychoanalyst is expected to have read Freud, every hypnotherapist should know what the man who founded hypnotism actually said. What he said cuts through many subsequent misconceptions and is surprisingly simple and plausible compared to the many potboilers subsequently written on the subject of hypnotism, which have fostered misinformation throughout the 20th century.
The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid (Amazon)
The passages below are excerpts from Hypnotic Therapeutics (1853) perhaps the principal work on Braid’s mature theory and practice of hypnotherapy. He defines hypnotism here as a state of “mental concentration”, as opposed to ordinary or unconscious sleep, in which subjective ideas and images dominate consciousness and produce exaggerated effects upon the mind and body. Though sometimes appearing to be asleep, the subject is conscious, albeit concentrating his attention within a narrowing sphere and to the progressive exclusion of certain external stimuli or distractions. In this state of mind, the subject becomes more attuned to certain stimuli. Contrary to misconception, Braid specified several forms of suggestion here, and in his other writings. These include,
- Audible verbal suggestions.
- Spontaneous thoughts (autosuggestions) arising in the subject’s mind.
- Physical contact which directs the subject’s attention to certain areas of the body, where unusual sensations may be experienced.
- Physical contact which calls into action certain muscles and thereby evokes subjective feelings by what Braid termed “muscular suggestion.”
Here are his own remarks from the book The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid (2009).
[Braid on the Nature of Hypnotism]
My researches have led me to conclude that the hypnotic state, which may be induced by various processes described elsewhere, is essentially a state of mental concentration, in which the faculties of the mind of the patient are so engrossed with a single idea or train of thought, as for the nonce, to be dead or indifferent to all other considerations and influences. The consequence of this concentrated attention to the subject in hand, therefore, intensifies, in a correspondingly greater degree, whatever influence the mind of the individual can produce upon his physical functions during the waking condition, when his attention is so much more diffused and distracted by other impressions. Moreover, inasmuch as words spoken, or other sensible impressions made on the body of an individual by a second party, act as suggestions of thought and action to the person impressed, so as to draw and fix his attention to one part or function of his body, and withdraw it from others, whatever influence such suggestions and impressions are capable of producing during the ordinary waking condition, should naturally be expected to act with correspondingly greater effect during the nervous sleep, when the attention is so much more concentrated, and the imagination and faith, or expectant idea in the mind of the patient, are so much more intense than in the ordinary waking condition.
I am persuaded that this is the most philosophical mode of viewing this subject, and it renders the whole clear, simple, and intelligible to the apprehension of any unprejudiced person. The real object of the various processes for inducing the state of hypnotism or Mesmerism is obviously to induce a state of abstraction or concentration of attention, whether that may be by requesting the subject to look steadfastly at some unexciting and empty inanimate thing or ideal [i.e., imaginary] object, or inducing him to watch the fixed gaze of the operator’s eyes, his pointed fingers, or the passes and other manoeuvres of the Mesmeriser.
So far as I have seen, the principal difference between the hypnotic or nervous sleep and common sleep consists in the state or condition of the mind. In passing into common sleep the mind is diffusive or passive, flitting from one idea to another indifferently, thereby rendering the subject unable to fix his attention effectively on any regular train of thought, or to perform any acts requiring much effort of the will. The consequence is this, that a state of passiveness is manifested during the sleep, so that audible suggestions and sensible impressions addressed to the sleeper, if not intense enough to awake him entirely, seldom do more than excite a dream, in which ideas pass through his mind without exciting definite physical acts; but, on the other hand, the active and concentrated state of mind engendered by the processes for inducing the nervous sleep are carried into the sleep, and, in many instances, excite the sleeper, without awaking, to speak or exhibit physical manifestations of the suggestions received through words audibly uttered in his hearing, or ideas previously existing in his mind, or excited by sensible impressions made by touches or passes of the operator, which direct the attention of the sleeper to different parts, or excite into action certain combinations of muscles, and thereby direct his current of thought.
