Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis [Hardcover]

Robin Waterfield (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0333779495 | ISBN-13: 978-0333779491 | Publication Date: September 2002

From its origins as animal magnetism, as practised by Franz Anton Mesmer, to its modern day use as a health cure and a form of entertainment, hypnosis encompasses many different facets of humanity. Always controversial, the outlandish claims that its zealous believers make are only matched by the howls of derision that they provoke from sceptics. Hypnotism exists on the periphery of the scientific community, much as it has since its inception. Robin Waterfield approaches the issues with an open mind, seeking to strip the fact from the fancy and the truth from the myth. And as he builds a comprehensive picture of this unusual art, other issues are raised. The relationship, for example, between the predilections of society and the popularity of hypnosis.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The burning gaze and seductive murmur of the hypnotist is both an enduring cultural touchstone and a useful therapeutic tool, according to this fascinating history of, and brief for, hypnosis. Waterfield (Prophet: The Life and Times of Khalil Gibran) follows the evolution of the 18th-century notion of "animal magnetism" into the idea of the hypnotic trance as a psychological phenomenon, an understanding that laid the groundwork for the development of psychotherapy and the concept of the unconscious. Always a matter of scientific controversy, hypnotism was taken up by earnest medical reformers and road show impresarios alike. It was championed by Romantics and revolutionaries opposed to rationalism and elite control, but its rituals reinforced the authority of usually male, upper-class hypnotists over usually female or lower-class subjects, who, it was believed, risked succumbing to the hypnotist's moral and sexual control under trance. Writing with a lightly erudite style, Waterfield explores hypnotism's multifarious meanings and traces its influence in everything from Dracula movies to techniques in advertising and salesmanship. He is also an unabashed partisan of hypnosis ("Let's do it!") in its less flamboyant contemporary guise as a "gentle, effective and empowering treatment for a surprisingly wide range of ailments" that go well beyond the usual psychiatric problems. Occasionally skeptical but broadly credulous (he dismisses past-life regression but believes in telekinesis), Waterfield accepts, often on anecdotal evidence, claims that hypnosis can block pain, clear up skin conditions, boost the immune system and increase breast size. While his discussion of therapeutic hypnosis and mind-body holism in disease processes lacks rigor, his well-written and insightful analysis of hypnosis as a cultural artifact will definitely keep readers from getting sleepy. Photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

One of the most fascinating books published this year, Robin Waterfield's in-depth study of hypnotism examines its history, what it can teach us about the powers of the human mind and the way its techniques have become absorbed into our culture. Hypnotism burst into life with Franz Mesmer, born in 1734, who found he could magnetize glass and water. Believing himself a channel for the magnetic fluid, he effected astonishing cures with his cumbersome paraphernalia and hand passes. Fellow doctors regarded him as a charlatan even though they were unable to replicate his success. Mesmer's brainchild broke free from its limitations with the Marquis de Puyseguer. He junked the paraphernalia and relied on hand passes. But hypnotism aroused little interest among the more phlegmatic British until the spectacular case of Harriet Martineau, cured of chronic pain by hypnotism in 1844. Even then, quacks, impostors and the spectre of sexual malpractice continued to muddy the waters. Hypnotism sank back into the doldrums and had to wait until the late 19th century before Bernheim and Charcot made it a respectable subject for academic study. After the First World War, Freud, a poor hypnotherapist himself, again contributed towards its marginalization. It took until the 1950s for the BMA to admit the usefulness of hypnosis as a form of therapy. Waterfield shows how hypnotism shades over into the paranormal and pervades a vast range of associated phenomena - among those he discusses are clairvoyance, telepathy, past life regression, false memories in sexual abuse cases, hyperamnesia, forensic hypnosis and alien abduction. Similarly, he looks at charismatic leadership, cults and the CIA's involvement in brainwashing, and dissects criminal cases involving claims of hypnosis - fascinating reading in themselves. He gives an idea of the many disorders for which hypnosis may be effective, describing what a hypnotic trance feels like and providing instructions on self-hypnosis. Throughout, Waterfield retains a healthy scepticism for many of the claims tagged onto hypnotism and accepts that the evidence for paranormal phenomena is slight. But he firmly nails his colours to the mast in believing that a genuine altered state of consciousness does exist - the true hypnotic trance. (Kirkus UK) --na --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 495 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan (September 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333779495
• ISBN-13: 978-0333779491
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,624,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor on the Ancient World - Egypt, Greece, Rome, November 6, 2002

By 

Peter Keyani "Pete" (London, England, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis (Hardcover)

All books on the historical evolution of hypnosis - and there are a lot of them - start with Anton Mesmer in the 18th Cent. As a professionally-trained Archaeologist and a Certified Hypnotherapist with the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH), I was excited by the idea of Robin Waterfield's book as it was supposed to chart the 'story' of hypnosis from Prehistory to Modern Times.
Waterfield, wisely, skates around defining what hypnosis actually is. He states in his Introduction : "....from our point of view, it doesnt matter there is such a thing as the hypnotic state, which is different from any other state of consciousness. All that matters is that something unusual is going on, that we can trace the history of this unusal something, and that as a result of this unusual something people can have all sorts of experiances, including being cured or being relieved of a number of disorders".
But, a mere few pages later in his all too short chapter called 'In the beginning' which is supposed to review the earliest evidence of hypnosis in the Egyptian, Greek and Roman Periods, his admirable open-mindedness has simply vanished. According to Waterfield, there is no evidence of hypnosis practiced before the Middle Ages because, as he states "... evidence for the induction of trance states is no more evidence for hypnosis than, say, evidence for the ingestion of narcoleptic drugs is evidence for hypnosis. to repeat: not every trance state is a hypnotically induced state" Waterfield, therefore, uses his own, very narrow defination of hypnosis, to simply exclude all evidence of trance induction in the Ancient World from further consideration. Amazingly, Waterfield further goes on to label all those working in the feild of Hypnosis who disagree with him - he's just a translator of ancient lit., remember- as 'Hypnotic Imperialists' (this presumeably includes the founder of Hypnotherapy, Dr Milton H. Erickson, MD) and calls two of the most important figures in Post-Ericksonian Hypnosis, Dr Richard Bandler & Dr John Grinder (Trance-formations) "arch-imperialists"! He therefore sets himself against mainstream opinion within Hypnosis without ever arguing his case for his narrow definition of hypnosis (for instance how would he explain the 'Placebo Effect' or well documented anthropological studies on Voodoo, niether of which would be classed as 'Hypnosis' in his definition) which allows him to simply dismiss the prehistoric evidence without further discussion. Most dissapointing to say the least!!!
I recommend anyone interested in the Ancient History of Hypnosis to read the following:
The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves
by Jean Clottes, et al , Trance: A Natural History of Altered States of Mind, by Brian Inglis, Jesus the Healer: Possession, Trance, and the Origins of Christianity, by Stevan L. Davies, & Trance: From Magic to Technology, by Dennis R. Wier

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars captivating and comprehensive history of hypnosis, March 5, 2006

By 

o. fenech "signifier" (new york city, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis (Paperback)

hidden depths is an absorbing and fascinating history of hypnosis --it's background, high and lows and it's influence in the birth of psychology. highly recommended.

note this is a history of hypnosis, not a history of trance, therefore the main stream is caught with the rise of mesmerism.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, April 9, 2005

By 

M. E. Raines "Author of UNA and THE LAUGHING ... (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis (Hardcover)

This is a very thorough, well organized, superbly researched and intelligently written book on the history of hypnotism. I recommend it to all of my hypnotherapy students and feel it should be required reading for anyone with a serious hypnosis practice.

Mary Elizabeth Raines, Director
Academy for Professional Hypnosis Training