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Hypnosis in Dermatology
MARY ANN BELLINI, MA
F
ranz Anton Mesmer is often credited with the
discovery of hypnosis in the late 18th century. He
believed that a “rarefied fluid, or animal magne-
tism” controlled health and that he could cure disease
by correcting imbalances in this fluid through the use of
magnetism. Mesmer’s theories about magnetism were
discounted by a French investigating commission, al-
though he did cure some patients. Later his cures were
ascribed to suggestion. Mesmerism was for many years
the term for what is now called hypnosis.
The use of hypnosis to look for possible emotional
factors in human illness seems to have originated with
Josef Breuer, a physician in Vienna in his work with the
famous “Anno O” from 1880 to 1882. Breuer observed
that there seemed to be some relationship between a
traumatic experience and a state that he believed was
very much like hypnosis. He called the original trau-
matic experience “hypnoid” and initiated the trauma
theory for hysteria. He felt that through hypnosis of his
patients he might be able to discover some of the causal
events in psychological illnesses. He interested Freud in
the use of hypnosis for the treatment of hysteria; then,
even after Breuer himself ended his work with hypno-
sis, Freud continued, collaborating for a time for Ber-
heim and Charcot, the well known French physicians.
Carl Jung also used hypnosis as an analytic took,
having been attracted to it by Freud’s work. Then both
Freud, in 1909, and Jung, in 1913, gave up hypnosis and
searched for other ways for learning about repressed or
suppressed traumatic events. Freud invented psycho-
analysis and Jung searched for dream content in access-
ing amnesic material.
Hypnosis came back into favor during World War II
for the treatment of war neuroses contracted near the
front lines and posttraumatic stress disorder in soldiers
returning home from combat. Important contributions
to modern hypnosis were made by the late Milton
Erickson (1901–1980) of Phoenix, Arizona.
1
Definition and Explanation
Hypnosis can be defined as an altered state of con-
sciousness in which the individual’s imagination cre-
ates vivid reality from suggestions either that are of-
fered by someone else, coming from environmental
cues, or that originate from within the individual. This
condition allows one to be responsive to suggestions,
such that perception, memory and physiological pro-
cesses can be altered. Usually, under ordinary condi-
tions these functions are not susceptible to conscious
control.
Erickson had great faith in the ability of his patients
to tap personal resources, and he stressed the following
essential aspects of the hypnotic experience:
Y
People go into hypnosis when they are trying to
remember sequential events.
Y
Dissociative methods for pain relief and time distor-
tion in hypnosis are important tools.
Y
Patients return to a hypnotic state when they carry
out a posthypnotic suggestion.
Y
Body image can be the cause of endocrine distur-
bances, and hypnotic techniques can be therapeutic
in improving endocrine balance.
1
The fact that hypnosis can occur even without at-
tempted induction is a very important consideration. It
is essential for physicians and psychotherapists to be
aware of the situations in which hypnosis can occur
spontaneously and be able to recognize the facial ex-
pressions, voice tones and general behavior that char-
acterize a person in a hypnotic state. Understanding
under hypnosis is literal and childlike very different
from the reasoning that occurs at conscious levels. Hyp-
nosis can occur spontaneously with sensory repetition.
Examples include the driver of an automobile or the
pilot of a plane who is lulled by the sound of the engine,
or when the eyes are drawn downward by the regularly
interrupted, white divider-strip markings on a high-
way, raindrops, or the repetitive sweeps of a wind-
shield wiper. Hypnosis can also occur at moments of
great fear or great personal loss, when one is disori-
ented in time or space due to trauma, general anesthe-
sia, hallucinatory drugs or alcohol. Watching television
or a movie can be so absorbing that one becomes com-
pletely unaware of his or her surroundings and can
spontaneously enter a trance like state.
Current Research in the Use of Hypnosis
in Dermatology
Hypnosis, generally regarded as an altered state of
consciousness associated with concentration, relax-
ation, and imagination, and an enhanced responsive-
From the Department of Dermatology, University of Florence, Florence,
Italy.
Address correspondence to Mary Ann Bellini, MA, Instituto di Clinica
Dermosifilopatica, Universita Degli Studi di Firenze, 37, Via Degli Alfani,
50121 Firenze, Italy.