What Is Hypnotherapy

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Assignment 1 “What is Hypnosis?” Describe the psychological and physical aspects of hypnosis and discuss the role of relaxation in Hypnotherapy. I am going to answer this question in sections: 1. What is hypnosis? 2. The psychological and physical aspects of hypnosis. 3. The role of relaxation in hypnotherapy. 4. Conclusion 1.What is hypnosis? First of all, let’s take into consideration a brief synopsis of the history of hypnosis. This will give us an idea of how it has evolved to present day. The beginnings of hypnosis or trance state can be seen throughout history from the ancient Hindus, the North American Indians to African tribe’s people. This method has been used for centuries. The grandfather of hypnosis is considered to be an Austrian named Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) (Gaidos, 2009). He demonstrated that the mind could be “mesmerised” by magnetism using a variety of techniques from magnets to metal rods to eventually himself. His theory was originally to do with the astral forces. He was discredited in the late 1700’s. In mid 1800’s a London doctor, Dr John Elliotson (1791-1868) and a Scottish surgeon, James Esdaile (1808-1859) performed operations using mesmerisation as a successful form of anaesthesia. (Staudacher, 1996) In 1841 a British doctor named James Braid (1795-1860) developed the eye fixation technique and found his patients would follow his command whilst in this state. Braid deducted it was not magnetism that cured patients, it was suggestion. He was the first person to give mesmerism a scientific name. He thought when mesmerised, a patient was in a “nervous sleep”, he used the word “hypnosis” which was derived from the Greek word hypnos meaning sleep. This was the first time the word hypnosis was used. (Chrysalis 2011) Also around this time an English surgeon called John Elliotson (1791-1868) used hypnosis for
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