hypnosis

Term: hypnosis

Literally meaning: “sleeping process”

Origin: Anc Greek

?õπνος/hypnos(=sleep)

+ (-ωσις)/(-osis )(=suffix denoting “process” or “state”)

Coined/History

The best source of reference to hypnosis came from ancient Egypt (3^rd cen). The Demotic Magical Papyrus which was discovered in the 19^th cen in Thebes gives information about preparation of a lamp in order to be used in a ritual.

In the eighteen cen the Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1733-1815)  claimed that he could heal people without conventional medicine via his magnetic force which could regulate the magnetic fluids in sick people. This method of healing was known as Mesmerism.

In 1841 Scottish surgeon James Braid, adopted the terms of “hypnosis” and  “hypnotism. He believed that  mesmerism “is a nervous sleep”.

The modern study of hypnosis is begun in the 1930s with Clark Leonard (1884-1952) and hi work “ Hypnosis and Suggestibility” in 1933.

Definition

Hypnosis is a sleep-like trance state with a heightened focus and concentration under instructions of a therapist.