The history of hypnotherapy

Later, the term hypnotherapy came around the corner. The term hypnotherapy probably originated in 1973 when Dr. John Kappas first described it. It means as much as using hypnosis in therapy and that particularly in psychotherapy. It has boomed since then and from the late 1970s professional associations arose in the Netherlands

When you look at hypnotherapy now, there are many hypnotherapists to be found. However, it is true that the quality in them varies tremendously and that is because of a number of things that I touch on in my report hypnosis 2.0 that you can download below.

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Milton Erickson

Nevertheless, he has meant a lot to hypnotherapy and hypnosis. Indeed, after Freud introduced his psychoanalysis, hypnosis had been relegated to the background. This was partly because Freud was not a very good hypnotist and did not achieve the results with it that others did.

He was one of the first to write about the unconscious mind, though, and made a threefold distinction. He stated that there was an ID, an EGO and a SUPEREGO. The ID was the small child who only responds to urges. Later the EGO comes before it and then the child learns to deal with the demands of the environment. The SUPEREGO, according to Freud, was the conscience and the bridge between the EGO and ID.

Now that we can do much more brain research and test Freud's theories, it is becoming increasingly clear that the best man was wrong. In psychoanalysis, it was common to spend years with the therapist, or psychiatrist. Those were often hundreds of sessions and yes they were all reimbursed, until 2006. And that while it hardly worked.

Erickson's way was very different and he also talked about the subconscious. Where Freud saw the subconscious as a pool of destruction and sexual urges, Erickson saw it as the area where everything is already there to make a change.

He assumed that the patient already had all the resources within them to make the change themselves. This was obviously a very different premise and is also one of the reasons why many hypnotherapists also adhere to this model.

Thanks to Erickson, hypnotherapy is back on the map, and because he was a psychiatrist himself. He has been very influential in the development of hypnotherapy. He has also been an important model for the later developed NLP model devised by Richard Bandler and John Grinder.

Dave Elman

Dave Elman lived from May 6, 1900 to December 5, 1967. Elman was a very different type of hypnotist than Erickson because he began his career as a show hypnotist. What was interesting about Elman was that he began hypnotizing as early as 8 years old and was already achieving success with it at that

At the time, hypnotic induction took a long time. Doctors used the phenomenon but it took a long time. Elman discovered faster ways and was also the one who was able to mimic James Esdaile's state where no one was able to do it at the time.

In fact, Esdaile was a surgeon who operated on people without anesthesia but by putting them into a state of deep hypnosis. He did that in India with hypnosis and mesmerism. No one could mimic that state and Esdaile's title as a doctor was even taken away at that time and that while he had great successes in India. The downside was that he could not match those successes in England and was therefore seen as a charlatan.

Elman was the first person who did manage to recreate that state with a protocol we now also call the Elman induction. A simple, straightforward induction that puts people very quickly into a deep state of hypnosis in which you can start working.Much faster than Erickson's hypnosis protocols.

Elman is also the person who has trained the most doctors in hypnosis. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 doctors went to him to learn the protocol, so in the 1950s there were a lot of doctors working with hypnosis in America.

Unfortunately, that has passed again after the advent of even better anesthesia and they have once again pushed hypnosis aside as an effective means of sedation, so to speak. But not only that, hypnosis has no side effects and patients heal faster.

Fortunately, in the year 2015 it is being applied more in hospitals again but the road is still long, although the results are very good. Below you can see an episode of Koppen which was broadcast by Belgian Television in 2015.

Gil Boyne

Gil Boyne lived between Oct. 28, 1924, and May 5, 2010. Boyne opened the first Hypnotherapy Institute in 1976 which certified people in hypnotherapy who were not medically trained.

Boyne's institute may have trained more than 15,000 people in his approach, what he called Transforming Therapy. A protocol based on regression and gestalt therapy. Very effective and Boyne has therefore greatly influenced my work and was an inspiration for me to be more effective as well.

You can still find films of his on youtube and it is very fascinating to watch. Elman, Erickson and Boyne have definitely been a major influence on hypnosis and almost everything you will come across has come about because these three gentlemen have been in the world.

Unfortunately, I have never been live with them but have had the honor of training with direct students of theirs. And while that is obviously not the same thing, the protocols I did learn from them. In addition, there have been many other trainers who have inspired me and they all contribute consciously and unconsciously.

Want to know more of their inspirations? Then download the hypnosis 2.0 report below

Click here to download the hypnosis 2.0 report