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The word “hypnosis” has many connotations. For some people, it conjures up visions of a stage entertainer who uses hypnosis to make volunteers behave foolishly for the audience’s amusement. At the other extreme are those who, in our self-help era, see hypnosis as a quick and easy cure-all for their problems, from smoking to chronic back pain. Hypnosis is neither a tool to control other minds nor a panacea. It is, rather, a natural phenomenon that helps people harness their inner resources to improve their [...read more...]

The historical pathway leading to the present understanding of hypnosis is long and uneven, with apparent dead-ends and switchback trails along the way. It is a path people have created over an extended period of time out of quite different philosophies, beliefs, and scientific orientations, coming from diverse national backgrounds, and with varied motives. Early accounts of phenomena that may have been what we now call hypnotic can be found in such sources as the Bible, the Talmud, and a 3000-year-old Egyptian stone stele. A [...read more...]