Mesmerising Science: The Franklin Commission and the Modern Clinical Trial

> Unlike the occultists of the previous ages, Mesmer was striving to give his practices a rational scientific as opposed to a religious flavour. Indeed, although the magnetic fluid part did not work out, in an important sense, animal magnetism marked the beginnings of hypnosis and psychological suggestion. (emphasis added)

The preeminent hypnotist of the modern era was Milton H. Erickson [0], who moved to Phoenix for the climate.

Dr. Erickson had come down with the polio at 17 years old, and spent a year+ in an iron lung in the family's kitchen. He overheard the doctors tell his mother that he was done for, which "lit a fire" that enabled him to recover and thrive. He never fully recovered from Polio (e.g. pain was a constant experience), but he lived to be 78 years old.

A few years ago on a Saturday, the local NPR station had an announcement about the premiere of Wizard of the Desert [1][2], a documentary produced by the Milton H. Erickson Foundation. I found it to be very well done.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_H._Erickson

[1] https://www.mondodigital.net/wizard/ (autoplay video)

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_YMCHDzLm4

I later had a session with one of the professionals on this Foundation's list of Phoenix-area practitioners. He saw right through me, and brought what I was actually doing to my attention, in exactly a way that was helpful. "oh my, that's no good..."

Sigmund Freud's psycho-analysis/psycho-therapy is basically where people talk about their problems trying to get "insight". There's certainly some value in having someone to bounce your problems off of, but people commonly spend years working on the same problem without getting anywhere. (Freud started out using hypnosis [3], but found the results to be inconsistent...)

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#Development_of_p...

Effective ways to help people help themselves has made a lot of progress from the Freudian days. Ericksonian Hypnosis and other forms of rapid/brief therapy is more likely to quickly help people than plain old "psychoanlysis", because the therapist listens and helps the client find resources within themselves to solve their own problems. Aspects of Milton Erickson's insights are certain to be found in all the best therapists' practices.