The invention of hypnotherapy

Staring deep into the eyes of his patients, Franz Anton Mesmer, a German physician, took Europe by storm with his claims of curing ailments using what was then thought to be a new science: animal magnetism. In the late-18th century, Mesmer believed that the body was surrounded by a magnetic ‘fluid’, and with the aid of a magnet or an individual thought to have a ‘higher natural magnetic force’, such as himself, he could alter the fluid and thus relieve the patients of their issues, all while putting them into a suggestive mental state. Word spread about Mesmer’s technique – now known as ‘mesmerism’ – throughout Vienna, where he lived. However, so did rumours that the treatment was ineffective and had been disproved by his peers. As more and more people heard of the Mesmer scandal, he fled to Paris to continue his work of fraudulent mesmerism once again. Having built a new reputation, Mesmer secured high-profile clients, including royalty when Queen Marie Antoinette called upon his services. However, once again the scandal of his inaccurate science caught up with him, forcing him to travel around the rest of Europe before dying in Germany in 1815. Although Mesmer’s theory of animal magnetism was fraught with inaccuracy, he did get one thing right: the suggestive mental state he induced in his patients went on to be the basis for the effective hypnosis we see today.