How far back does Hypnosis go in the history books?

1775: Dr. Franz Mesmer developed healing by 'animal magnetism' or mesmerism, which was later renamed hypnosis.

1784: Count Maxime de Puysegut discovered a form of deep trance he called somnambulism.

1821: First reports of painless dentistry and surgery in France using magnetism. Many breakthroughs were made by such Frenchmen as Ambrose Liebeault (1823-1904), J.M. Charcot (1825-93) a Paris neurologist, and Charles Richet (1850-1935).

1791-1868: John Elliotson, President of the Royal Medical and Surgical Society of London and a professor at London University, used hypnotic trance to perform many surgical operations.

1795-1860: A London/Scottish eye doctor and physician, James Braid, renamed magnetism/mesmerism as HYPNOSIS.

1845-53: A British surgeon in India, James Esdail, performed 2,000 operations - even amputations - with the patients in a deep state of hypnosis later to be known as "The Esdaile State". In which patients felt no pain and recovered without sepsis.

1857-1926: Another Frenchman, Emile Coue, pioneered the use of autosuggestion and the use of affirmations e.g. 'Day by day in every way I am getting better and better'.

1891: The British Medical Association reported favourably on use of hypnosis in field of medicine.

1901-80: Milton H. Erickson MD, the recognised leading authority on clinical hypnosis, a master of indirect hypnosis, was able to put a person into a trance without even mentioning the word hypnosis.

1914: World War I - New Era of Hypnosis. Revival due to multiplicity of paralytic and amnesia cases with psychogenic origin and few psychiatrists available.

1925-1947: Use of hypnosis in dentistry developed in the US.

1950s Both the British Medical Association and the American Medical Association issued statements supporting the usefulness of hypnosis as a form of therapy.

1958: British Hypnotherapy founded.

1962: A brain operation was performed under hypnosis in Indianapolis in the US.

1968: The British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis was founded, exclusively for medical doctors and dentists.

1973: The Hypnotherapy Register established in the UK administered by the National Council for Psychotherapists. Later to become the National Council for Hypnotherapy.

1977: British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis founded mainly for psychologists.

1977: Institute of Psychology and Parapsychology founded. Later to become Institute of Hypnosis and Parapsychology, a unregistered, non-profit making learned society in the UK and the US.