Two Centuries of Hypnosis Specialty Journals

Early American Mesmeric Societies: A Historical Study

“…In an unsigned note that was published in the Magnet, a mesmeric journal edited by LaRoy Sunderland in New York City (Gravitz, 1987), there is an announcement by Daniel S. Heffernan, Secretary, that Sunderland had been unanimously elected an Honorary Member of the Phreno-Magnetic Club of Clinton on September 21, 1842. This organization listed its office as being located in the Clinton Seminary, an educational institution in Oneida County, New York (Anonymous, 1842, p. 130).…”

“…One result of this movement was the establishment in 1842 of an Ohio mesmeric group called the Phreno-Magnetic Society of Cincinnati (Wester, 1976). A journal was published for only one issue (Gravitz, 1987) in August 1842, and the society itself existed for no more than one year according to available records. Under the presidency of Thomas J. Matthews, there were 44 regular members and seven honorary affiliates.…”

“…The latter included animal magnetism. Since the interests of Barthet and his colleagues were more clearly turned to Paris than elsewhere, the proceedings and deliberations of the Societe du Magnetisme de la Nouvelle-Orleans were published in French in the Parisbased Journal du Magnetisme , the most influential mesmeric periodical of its day, which was edited by the esteemed Jules Denis du Potet de Sennevoy (Gravitz, 1987;Gravitz & Gerton, 1986). When the Journal du Magnetisme was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1848, an influx of new subscribers, chiefly from the United States, saved it from ruin (Anonymous, 1849).…”

“…Sunderland (1843) was a well-known and, literally as well as figuratively, spell-binding speaker who was greatly influenced by revivalism and spiritualism, as well as magnetism. He was the founding editor of The Magnet, a mesmeric journal that was published in 1882-1884 (Gravitz, 1987). By the "pathernatic process," or "pathetization," he would guide a subject to the development of a self-induced "sornnipathic state" of trance and cataleptic rigidity for surgery and other therapeutic purposes (Gravitz, 1985).…”

An Early Nineteenth Century Absorption-Based Theory of Mesmerism

“…Self-hypnosis had by then been practiced, having originally been described by Mesmer who treated himself for a gastrointestinal problem (Gravitz, 1994b); the modality had already been effectively utilized in a number of clinical areas, especially surgical anesthesia and pain management (Gravitz, 1988); professional societies had been founded in a number of parts of the United States; and numerous specialty periodicals had been published (Gravitz, 1987(Gravitz, , 1994a. It is evident that many of the clinical applications of hypnosis in use today had their origins more than a century ago.…”