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Hypnosis is not a new concept, and has a long and storied history. It was thought by the Ancient Egyptians to be 'sacred sleep' - a state in which healing could occur. Through the ages, others have suggested religious experiences can account for the state of hypnosis, or sorcery, bewitchment or enchantment.

Franz Mesmer, from whom we get the word 'mesmerism' (which has been, until fairly recently, a synonym for hypnosis), put forth a theory of 'magnetic fluid', and believed that an invisible force existed around people and living things, and which could be directed with magnets to therapeutic ends.

The psychoanalysts of later years felt that hypnosis only occurred because of the hypnotist’s power of suggestion. Others thought that hypnotism depended on an organic predisposition.

To briefly summarise a complex subject is difficult, and to this day most scientists would still have difficulty in defining what hypnosis is. For our purposes here, it is enough to say that hypnosis is an ‘altered state of consciousness’, or a ‘heightened state of awareness’.

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