Hypnosis has ancient precursors, but modern hypnotism developed much more recently. Trance-like states have appeared in healing and spiritual traditions for centuries. The scientific study of hypnosis began to take shape in nineteenth-century Europe, especially through the work of Scottish surgeon James Braid.
Hypnosis is not simply sleep or unconsciousness. The American Psychological Association describes it as a state involving focused attention, reduced awareness of distractions and a greater capacity to respond to suggestion. A person can remain aware, communicate and choose whether to respond.
This modern understanding is different from many historical explanations, which sometimes described trance through religion, magnetism or other beliefs that were common at the time.
People have used chanting, rhythmic sound, focused attention and ceremonial practices to create trance-like experiences since ancient times. Accounts of these practices are sometimes presented as the beginning of hypnosis.
It is more accurate to call them precursors rather than clinical hypnosis. There is no single documented moment when an ancient civilisation invented hypnosis in its modern form. What the historical accounts do show is that people have long recognised that attention, expectation and repetitive sensory experiences can affect awareness.
In the late eighteenth century, Franz Anton Mesmer promoted “animal magnetism”. He believed an invisible magnetic fluid influenced health. His theory was disputed, but the unusual responses seen during mesmerist demonstrations encouraged physicians to investigate suggestion and trance more carefully.
In the 1840s, surgeon James Braid studied these effects without relying on Mesmer’s magnetic-fluid explanation. He used the term hypnotism, drawing on Hypnos, the Greek figure associated with sleep. Braid later recognised that the state was not ordinary sleep and increasingly emphasised focused attention and mental processes. His work helped move hypnotism towards empirical observation.
During the late nineteenth century, physicians and researchers across Britain and Europe continued to examine hypnosis and suggestion. Different schools debated how it worked, but the subject gradually moved away from supernatural explanations and towards psychological and medical study.
Research has continued into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Definitions and theories still vary, but contemporary clinical hypnosis is generally understood through focused attention and responsiveness to suggestion—not loss of consciousness or control.
There are descriptions of ancient healing and ritual practices that resemble trance, including accounts associated with Egyptian sleep temples. However, evidence does not support naming one civilisation as the inventor of modern hypnosis.
No. The historical name is connected with sleep, but hypnosis is normally a focused state in which a person can remain aware and responsive.
James Braid is widely associated with introducing the term and a more empirical approach in the 1840s. Later clinicians and researchers developed the practice further.
Further reading: American Psychological Association: the science of clinical hypnosis and PubMed: James Braid and the early history of hypnotism.
The complete legacy article is preserved below for comparison.
If you look back in history, you will find that hypnosis has in fact been around for thousands of years. Obviously the techniques of Hypnotherapy have changed and developed over time as well as the reasons for performing and experiencing hypnosis, however the fact remains that Hypnotherapy has been around longer than we think. The term hypnosis originates from the Greek word 'ypons' which means sleep because of the trance like state. This understanding of Hypnosis is slightly misleading as we have already established, as Hypnotherapy is not about sleep because the subject is very much alert, both in talking and movement. Identifying exactly when Hypnotherapy was first introduced into civilization is hard to say. Many believe hypnosis was used as far back as Egyptian times in their dream temples. Hieroglyphics have been translated to reveal an induction of the trance like state. This would suggest hypnosis was used as far back as then. Hypnosis has even been found to exist within the animal kingdom. In hibernating, animals go into hiding and exist for substantial periods of time. The animals have been described as 'turning inwards' in order to survive the long months in hibernation. The reasons for civilizations using hypnosis back in ancient times were obviously very different from our modern day reasons. People back then did not need hypnotherapy to help quit smoking or achieve weight loss. Phobias such as fears of flying, heights and claustrophobia were not issues they needed to address. However they did use hypnotherapy to cleanse the mind in religious and healing ceremonies. By the study of these religious and healing ceremonies by primitive people in Africa, Australia and elsewhere, we can identify that the rhythmic chanting, monotonous drum beats and exaggerated body movement have a direct link to hypnotherapy. The trance like state that is repeatedly mentioned when discussing hypnosis could well have been what African and Australian civilizations were experiencing all those many years ago. In actual fact, this trance like behavior surrounded by monotonous chanting and drum beats can still be found today in certain primitive communities around the world. The term hypnosis was not a known and used word until the term was coined by the respected physician James Braid (1889).
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