The Romans are known to have used ‘trance healing’ to help allay pain. They borrowed this technique from the greeks during the rise of the Roman Empire. Hippocrates – the father of modern medicine – is known to have said of hypnosis ‘the afflictions suffered by the body the soul sees quite well with shut eyes’
In 1845 a book was published by James Esdaile MD called ‘Hypnosis in medicine and surgery’ in which he describe a method of production of anaesthesia by the use of hypnosis.
In more modern times, hypnosis and hypnotherapy is now recognised as a valid form of treatment for many conditions.