A Brief History of Hypnotherapy: Mesmer to Erickson
Estimated reading time: 8–9 minutes
From Mesmer to Neo-Ericksonian Hypnosis
Hypnosis has a longer, stranger, and more scientifically grounded history than most people realise. What began as a controversial 18th-century theory about invisible “magnetic fluids” gradually evolved — through neurology, psychoanalysis, wartime medicine, and family therapy — into the evidence-informed clinical tool used in modern hypnotherapy today.
Understanding where hypnotherapy comes from also helps explain why it looks so different depending on who is practising it. The hypnosis you may have seen on stage, the hypnosis your grandmother’s doctor might have used for pain relief, and the hypnosis used in a strategic psychotherapy session today are, in many ways, three different things built on the same foundation. Here is how we got from one to the other.
The Beginnings of Hypnotherapy: Mesmer, Braid, and Charcot
The story usually begins with Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), a Viennese physician who proposed that an invisible fluid, which he called “animal magnetism,” flowed through the body and could be manipulated to restore health. Mesmer’s public sessions in Paris — patients seated around a large tub known as a baquet, holding metal rods believed to channel this magnetic force — were dramatic and drew enormous crowds, including admirers as prominent as Marie Antoinette<cite index=”19-1″>.</cite> A French royal commission later investigated his claims and found no evidence for any physical magnetic fluid, but the psychological effects Mesmer was producing in his patients were real, even if his explanation for them was not.
It took several decades for the underlying phenomenon to be separated from Mesmer’s theory. In the 1840s, Scottish surgeon James Braid coined the terms hypnotism and hypnosis (from the Greek hypnos, sleep), reframing what Mesmer called animal magnetism as a genuine psychological and physiological state rather than a magnetic one<cite index=”9-1″>.</cite> This reframing opened the door for hypnosis to be taken seriously by the medical establishment.
That door was pushed further open by Jean-Martin Charcot, the French neurologist nicknamed “the father of modern neurology,” who studied hypnosis in relation to hysteria at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. Charcot’s pupil, Pierre Janet, a pioneer of psychotherapy, went on to introduce the concept of the “subconscious” and developed influential ideas about psychological dissociation. Around the same period, a young Sigmund Freud studied with Charcot and with Hippolyte Bernheim before eventually moving away from hypnosis to develop psychoanalysis — while, in parallel, French pharmacist Émile Coué was developing his own theory of “conscious autosuggestion,” a forerunner of many self-hypnosis techniques still used today.
Hypnosis and the Treatment of Trauma After the First World War
Hypnosis found a serious clinical application in the years following the First World War, when clinicians searched for effective ways to treat what was then called “shell shock” — what we would now recognise as post-traumatic stress disorder. It was during this period that behavioural psychologist Clark L. Hull conducted some of the first rigorous scientific studies of hypnosis, helping move the field away from theatrical demonstration and toward measurable psychological research.
In the decades that followed, Ernest Hilgard, working alongside André Weitzenhoffer, developed an influential “neo-dissociation” theory of hypnosis that remains a reference point in hypnosis research today. Hilgard’s work also extended into pain control, while William Kroger focused on integrating hypnosis into medical and surgical settings. The ethical and scientific complexity of the field was also being tested elsewhere: Martin T. Orne‘s research into how hypnosis can distort memory became particularly influential in discussions about its (mis)use in police investigations — a cautionary chapter that still shapes best-practice standards around suggestion and memory in clinical settings.
Hypnotherapy’s Second Generation: Milton Erickson
If the 19th century gave hypnosis its scientific credibility, the 20th century gave it its modern clinical form — largely through the work of one man: Milton H. Erickson (1901–1980).
Erickson, an American psychiatrist who battled polio twice in his life, moved away from the rigid, authoritarian style of hypnosis that had dominated the field — direct commands such as “you will relax” — in favour of what became known as indirect suggestion: a permissive, conversational approach using metaphor, storytelling, and carefully layered language to bypass conscious resistance and engage a person’s own inner resources<cite index=”32-1,34-1″>.</cite> Rather than treating the unconscious mind as something to be controlled, Erickson treated it as a reservoir of learning and problem-solving capacity to be respectfully invited into the therapeutic process.
This shift — from authoritative to collaborative, from scripted to individualised — is often described as the birth of the Ericksonian approach, and it represents one of the most significant turning points in the history of clinical hypnosis<cite index=”33-1″>.</cite> Erickson trained and influenced a generation of major clinicians, including Jay Haley, Stephen Gilligan, and Ernest Rossi, and his work continues to be preserved and taught through the Milton H. Erickson Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona, which today organises the world’s largest hypnosis and psychotherapy conferences.
Modern Hypnotherapy: Neo-Ericksonian and Strategic Hypnosis
Erickson’s influence didn’t stop with hypnosis itself — it rippled outward into entire new fields of psychotherapy. His ideas contributed directly to the development of strategic and family therapy (through Jay Haley), Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP (through Richard Bandler and John Grinder), and later approaches such as generative trance (Stephen Gilligan), possibility therapy (Bill O’Hanlon), and the psychobiology of mind-body healing (Ernest Rossi). Today, this broader lineage is often referred to as neo-Ericksonian, or third-generation, hypnosis.
One of the clearest developments within this modern lineage is Strategic Hypnotherapy, developed in Australia by Gordon Young, founder of the Institute of Applied Psychology (IAP). Young trained directly with practitioners connected to Erickson’s own foundation — he was the only Australian hypnotherapy trainer invited to the inaugural Erickson Online Congress, endorsed by the Milton H. Erickson Foundation<cite index=”49-1″>.</cite> His contribution was to build a comprehensive, structured framework that helps practitioners apply Ericksonian principles in a consistent, person-centred way — hypnosis that is deliberately script-free, adapting to each client’s own language, patterns and resources rather than following a fixed formula<cite index=”54-1″>.</cite>
This same period saw parallel and complementary contributions from clinicians such as Michael Yapko, whose work has emphasised the integration of hypnosis with strategic, solution-focused psychotherapy — treating hypnosis not as a standalone technique, but as a way of facilitating genuine psychological flexibility and durable therapeutic change.
Why This History Matters for Your Therapy Today
This isn’t just a history lesson. It explains a distinction that matters directly for anyone considering hypnotherapy: not all hypnosis is the same.
The scripted, one-size-fits-all inductions associated with stage hypnosis or generic relaxation recordings sit at one end of a long historical spectrum. At the other end is the neo-Ericksonian, strategic approach — collaborative, non-scripted, and tailored specifically to the person in the room, built on more than a century of clinical refinement.
I trained in this specific lineage: my Diploma in Clinical Hypnosis and Strategic Psychotherapy was completed under Gordon Young at the Institute of Applied Psychology in Australia, with further influence from the work of Michael Yapko. In practice, this means that sessions are never delivered from a script — they are built around your own language, your own goals, and the specific patterns that are keeping a difficulty in place.
If you’d like to understand how this approach could apply to what you’re currently experiencing, you can read more about Clinical Hypnotherapy in Tokyo & Online, or book a session to discuss your goals directly.
Sources
- Mesmer’s animal magnetism and public sessions — National Geographic
- James Braid and the origin of the term “hypnosis” — PubMed
- Milton Erickson and indirect suggestion — Milton H. Erickson: The Father of Modern Hypnosis; American Journal of Psychiatry
- Erickson’s influence and the Milton H. Erickson Foundation — ReachLink
- Gordon Young, Institute of Applied Psychology, and Erickson Foundation faculty — IAP; IAP Career Guide
This article is intended for general educational purposes and does not replace individual clinical assessment. If you have questions about whether hypnotherapy may be appropriate for you, feel free to get in touch.