Wednesday, November 21, 2007

How hypnosis got eclipsed in psychology

The young Sigmund Freud studied with Liebault and Bernheim at the Nancy School and initially used hypnosis in his practice. In the end, Freud stopped using hypnosis. The reason declared publicly was that a young female patient had jumped up and kissed him. Freud professed to be shocked and concluded that hypnosis was far too volatile to use. The little known history of hypnosis records a different reason why Freud stopped using hypnosis: his cocaine usage had ruined his gums, and his false teeth did not fit well, causing him not to speak well enough to induce trance easily.

In competition with an excellent hypnotist named Breuer, Freud invented 'talking therapy.' Freud said that his talking therapy would not be a therapy for the poor. It would take 100 to 300 hours to effect a cure. His talking therapy became psychoanalysis and this changed the history of European psychology. Freudian psychoanalysis became the rage in psychology and it became inappropriate to use any other techniques. Consequently, hypnosis was eclipsed.

From Tad James' Hypnosis: A Comprehensive Guide - Producing Deep Trance Phenomena

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