Famous Hypnotists

Émile Coué was a French pharmacist and psychologist who revolutionised the field of autosuggestion and self-improvement. Born in Troyes, France, Coué initially trained as a pharmacist but became fascinated by the placebo effect he observed in his practice. He studied under Hippolyte Bernheim and Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault at the Nancy School of hypnosis, which profoundly influenced his later work. Coué developed conscious autosuggestion as an alternative to traditional hypnosis, establishing the “New Nancy School” in 1910. His famous mantra, “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better,” became synonymous with his method, known as Couéism. Unlike Mesmer’s animal magnetism theory, Coué emphasised that healing came from within the individual rather than from any external force. He believed the imagination was more powerful than willpower, and that repeatedly focusing on positive suggestions could transform the unconscious mind. His free clinic in Nancy treated approximately 40,000 patients annually. Coué’s work laid the foundation for modern self-help movements and positive thinking techniques, influencing countless therapists and motivational speakers worldwide.

James Braid was a Scottish surgeon widely recognised as the “Father of Modern Hypnotism” who transformed mesmerism into a scientific discipline. Born in Kinross, Scotland, Braid studied medicine at Edinburgh University before establishing his practice in Manchester. His interest in mesmerism began in 1841 after attending demonstrations by Swiss mesmerist Charles Lafontaine. Initially sceptical, Braid became convinced that the phenomena were genuine but rejected Mesmer’s animal magnetism theory. Through systematic experimentation, he discovered that fixed attention on an object could induce a trance-like state. In 1843, Braid published “Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep,” coining the term “hypnotism” after Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep. By 1847, he realised hypnotism wasn’t actually sleep and attempted to rename it “monoideism” (focused attention on a dominant idea), but the term hypnotism had already gained widespread acceptance. Braid pioneered hypnotic anaesthesia for surgery, demonstrating hypnotism’s practical medical applications. His research removed hypnotism from mysticism’s shadows, establishing it as legitimate scientific inquiry. Braid’s emphasis on suggestion and focused attention, rather than operator magnetism, fundamentally changed how hypnotism was understood and practised.

Franz Anton Mesmer was an Austrian physician whose theory of “animal magnetism” became the precursor to modern hypnotism, despite being scientifically discredited. Born in Iznang, Swabia, Mesmer studied medicine at the University of Vienna, receiving his doctorate in 1766. His dissertation, largely plagiarised from Richard Mead’s work, proposed that planetary gravitational forces affected human health through an invisible fluid. In 1774, Mesmer refined his theory into “animal magnetism,” believing he could manipulate this invisible fluid to cure diseases. His dramatic therapeutic sessions in Vienna and later Paris involved elaborate rituals, with patients sitting around a “baquet” (magnetised tub), experiencing convulsive “crises” that supposedly restored health. Despite achieving some clinical success through suggestion and the placebo effect, Mesmer’s theories were investigated by a royal commission in 1784, including Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Lavoisier, who concluded his results were due to imagination rather than magnetism. Though discredited, Mesmer’s work inadvertently laid groundwork for understanding suggestion, expectation, and the mind’s healing capacity. The term “mesmerise” endures in English, whilst his practices influenced subsequent developments in hypnotism and psychotherapy, particularly through those who studied his methods scientifically.

James Esdaile was a Scottish surgeon who pioneered the use of mesmerism for surgical anaesthesia in British India during the 1840s. Born in Perth, Scotland, Esdaile studied medicine at Edinburgh University, graduating in 1829. In 1830, he joined the East India Company as a surgeon, working primarily in Bengal. Starting in 1845 at Hooghly, Esdaile began experimenting with mesmeric techniques to eliminate surgical pain. He developed what became known as the “Esdaile state”—an exceptionally deep hypnotic trance characterised by profound analgesia, reduced bleeding, and faster recovery times. Over six years, Esdaile performed approximately 345 major operations and thousands of minor procedures using only mesmerism for anaesthesia, achieving remarkably low mortality rates. His patients, primarily Bengali-speaking Indians, proved highly responsive to his non-verbal mesmeric techniques, demonstrating hypnosis’s cross-cultural applicability. In 1848, the Calcutta Mesmeric Hospital was established specifically for his work. Esdaile meticulously documented his procedures in “Mesmerism in India” (1846). However, upon returning to Scotland in 1853, he faced scepticism from the medical establishment. The introduction of chloroform largely eclipsed mesmeric anaesthesia, though Esdaile’s contributions remain significant in hypnotherapy history, particularly his demonstration of hypnosis’s profound physiological effects.

Robert Winthrop White was an American psychologist whose early work challenged traditional views of hypnosis, proposing it as goal-directed behaviour rather than a special altered state. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, White graduated from Harvard College before earning his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard in 1937 with a dissertation on hypnosis supervised by Henry Murray. His seminal 1941 article, “A Preface to a Theory of Hypnotism,” argued that hypnotic behaviour represents meaningful, goal-directed striving, with subjects actively enacting the role of a hypnotised person as continuously defined by the operator. This radical interpretation laid groundwork for subsequent social-psychological and cognitive-behavioural theories of hypnosis, influencing researchers including Theodore Sarbin, Theodore Barber, and Nicholas Spanos. Beyond hypnosis, White made major contributions to personality psychology and motivation theory. His 1959 paper on competence as a fundamental human drive challenged psychoanalytic theory’s focus on sex and aggression, introducing concepts of effectance urge and intrinsic motivation. White authored influential textbooks including “The Abnormal Personality” and “Lives in Progress,” pioneering longitudinal personality research. He served as chair of Harvard’s Department of Social Relations and received the Murray Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology shortly before his death.

Irving Kirsch is an American psychologist renowned for his response expectancy theory and controversial research on antidepressant efficacy. Associate Director of Harvard Medical School’s Program in Placebo Studies and Professor Emeritus at universities in Plymouth, Hull, and Connecticut, Kirsch has fundamentally influenced understanding of hypnosis, placebo effects, and psychopharmacology. His response expectancy theory posits that what people experience depends partly on what they expect to experience—the mechanism underlying both placebo effects and hypnosis. Kirsch characterises clinical hypnosis as a “nondeceptive placebo,” arguing that hypnotic and placebo responses share the common mechanism of expectation rather than resulting from special altered states of consciousness. This cognitive-behavioural perspective challenges traditional trance-based theories. His meta-analyses of antidepressant clinical trials, particularly his 2008 study accessing FDA data, demonstrated that antidepressants produce clinically insignificant improvements over placebo for most depression cases. This controversial research, listed among the “10 most controversial psychology studies ever published” by the British Psychological Society, influenced UK treatment guidelines and sparked international debate about depression treatment. Kirsch has published over 250 scientific articles and numerous books, fundamentally reshaping understanding of suggestion, expectation, and the mind’s role in healing across multiple domains.

Nicholas Peter Spanos was an American-born Canadian psychologist who became director of Carleton University’s Laboratory for Experimental Hypnosis, fundamentally challenging mainstream hypnosis theories through his sociocognitive model. Born in 1942, Spanos received his degrees from Boston University before working with Theodore Barber at the Medfield Foundation, then moving to Carleton University in 1975. Over nearly three decades, Spanos conducted over 250 experimental studies demonstrating that hypnotic behaviours could be explained through social-psychological and cognitive factors without invoking special trance states. His sociocognitive theory emphasised strategic role enactment, how individuals transform imaginings, thoughts, and feelings into experiences consistent with their understanding of how hypnotised subjects should respond. Spanos argued that attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and goal-directed strategies primarily determined hypnotic responsiveness, which could be enhanced through training. His research showed hypnotic suggestibility wasn’t fixed but malleable through cognitive-skills-based instruction. Spanos also controversially applied his sociocognitive framework to dissociative identity disorder, arguing multiple personalities represented socially-constructed roles rather than genuine trauma-induced dissociation. His final book, “Multiple Identities and False Memories,” published posthumously after his death in a 1994 plane crash, remains influential. Spanos’s work profoundly shaped contemporary understanding of hypnosis as ordinary psychological processes rather than mysterious altered states.

Theodore Xenophon Barber was an American psychologist whose rigorous experimental research fundamentally challenged the concept of hypnotic trance, establishing cognitive-behavioural approaches to hypnosis. Born in 1927 to Greek immigrant parents in Ohio, Barber graduated early from high school before earning his doctorate. He established one of the world’s most productive hypnosis research centres at Medfield State Hospital, Massachusetts, attracting numerous researchers including Nicholas Spanos and John Chaves. Barber’s landmark 1969 book “Hypnosis: A Scientific Approach” and his influential 1974 work with Spanos and Chaves, “Hypnosis, Imagination, and Human Potentialities,” systematically demonstrated that phenomena traditionally attributed to “hypnotic trance” could be produced through positive attitudes, motivations, expectations, and imagination alone. He coined the term “cognitive-behavioural” to describe his nonstate theory, arguing hypnotic responses result from task motivation and situational definition rather than altered consciousness. Barber showed that highly motivated subjects could respond comparably to suggestions whether or not they received hypnotic inductions. His controversial practice of placing quotation marks around “hypnosis” reflected his view that the term was misleading. Barber served as president of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Psychological Hypnosis and received lifetime achievement awards. His research transformed understanding of suggestibility, demonstrating hypnotic phenomena arise from ordinary psychological processes.

Theodore Roy Sarbin was an American psychologist known as “Mr. Role Theory” for his pioneering work applying role theory to hypnosis and psychopathology. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Sarbin earned his Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1941 before establishing his academic career at UC Berkeley (1949-1969) and UC Santa Cruz (1969-1975). In the 1950s, Sarbin became the first prominent psychologist to explicitly reject the “altered state” theory of hypnosis, building on Robert White’s earlier suggestions. His role-taking theory argued that hypnotic subjects weren’t in special states of consciousness but rather actively enacting socially-constructed roles. Sarbin emphasised the crucial distinction between “faking” (little subjective identification) and genuine “role-taking” (subjective identification with acting, thinking, and feeling “as if” hypnotised). His 1971 book with William Coe, “Hypnosis: A Social Psychological Analysis of Influence Communication,” became foundational for nonstate and cognitive-behavioural hypnosis theories. Sarbin’s role theory profoundly influenced subsequent researchers including Spanos and Barber. Beyond hypnosis, Sarbin argued “mental illness” represented social constructs reflecting moral disapproval rather than medical conditions. From 1985 onwards, Sarbin pioneered narrative psychology, emphasising stories’ primacy in understanding human behaviour. His contextualist approach challenged both mentalism and mechanism, fundamentally reshaping psychological theory.

Milton Hyland Erickson was an American psychiatrist widely regarded as the father of modern clinical hypnotherapy, revolutionising the field through his innovative indirect and permissive approaches. Born in Nevada, Erickson contracted polio at seventeen, becoming temporarily paralysed. This experience heightened his awareness of non-verbal communication and the mind’s potential. After receiving his medical degree and psychology PhD, Erickson became founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis. Unlike authoritarian traditional hypnosis, Erickson developed an artfully vague, metaphorical style that bypassed conscious resistance. He believed the unconscious mind possessed innate wisdom and healing capacity, responding better to indirect suggestions, stories, and confusion techniques than direct commands. Erickson pioneered utilisation—using whatever the client brought to sessions, including symptoms, resistances, and personal experiences—as therapeutic leverage. His hand levitation induction method and strategic brief therapy approach profoundly influenced psychotherapy beyond hypnosis. Each intervention was uniquely tailored to individual clients’ needs and experiences. Erickson’s work inspired neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) founders Bandler and Grinder, who modelled his techniques. The Milton H. Erickson Foundation, established 1979, continues promoting his methods. Despite being confined to a wheelchair and experiencing chronic pain, Erickson maintained an extraordinarily productive career, fundamentally transforming hypnotherapy into a flexible, creative, client-centred discipline.

George Hoben Estabrooks was a controversial Canadian-American psychologist and hypnosis authority whose work intersected with military intelligence during World War II. Born in 1895, Estabrooks was a Harvard graduate, Rhodes Scholar, and chairman of Colgate University’s Psychology Department. He controversially claimed to have used hypnosis to create “super spies” with split personalities who unknowingly carried secret information, making them invulnerable to interrogation. Estabrooks described creating dissociated personalities as “child’s play,” stating he could hypnotise individuals without their knowledge or consent into committing acts including treason. His 1943 book “Hypnotism” and 1971 Science Digest article “Hypnosis Comes of Age” detailed his intelligence work, though many specifics remained classified. Estabrooks corresponded with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover about using hypnosis on juvenile delinquents and conducted experiments on children. His theories about hypnotically-induced multiple personalities proved controversial, with critics questioning both ethics and efficacy. Following President Kennedy’s 1963 assassination, Estabrooks suggested Oswald and Ruby “could very well have been performing through hypnosis.” Whilst his dramatic claims about “Manchurian Candidates” captured public imagination, they remain largely unverified. Nevertheless, Estabrooks’s work highlighted hypnosis’s potential psychological power and raised important ethical questions about covert influence and manipulation in military/intelligence contexts.

Clark Leonard Hull was an American psychologist whose rigorous experimental approach to hypnosis helped establish it as legitimate scientific inquiry, despite his ultimate conclusion that hypnotic phenomena didn’t require special trance states. Born in 1884, Hull earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and later became professor at Yale University, where he achieved fame for learning theory and behaviour research. His 1933 landmark book “Hypnosis and Suggestibility: An Experimental Approach” systematically examined hypnotic phenomena through controlled experimentation, rejecting supernatural explanations. Hull concluded that hypnotic susceptibility represented a habit phenomenon and that no essential features distinguished “hypnotic state” except increased “prestige suggestibility.” His scientific rigour and scepticism about special altered states profoundly influenced subsequent researchers, particularly social psychologists like Theodore Sarbin and Robert White, who developed nonstate theories. Hull’s work demonstrated that hypnotic effects could be studied quantitatively and that apparent hypnotic feats reflected suggestion and expectation rather than mystical powers. He pioneered standardised susceptibility scales, laying groundwork for later researchers like Ernest Hilgard. Hull’s behaviourist framework and experimental methodology transformed hypnosis from parlour trick to scientific subject. Though his learning theory eventually overshadowed his hypnosis work, his contributions established hypnosis as respectable research area, paving the way for modern scientific investigation of suggestibility and trance phenomena.

Ernest Ropiequet “Jack” Hilgard was an eminent American psychologist whose neodissociation theory of hypnosis and research on pain control fundamentally shaped modern hypnosis understanding. Born in Illinois, Hilgard initially studied chemical engineering before receiving his psychology Ph.D. from Yale in 1930. He spent his career at Stanford University, where he developed the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales with André Weitzenhoffer, becoming the field’s gold standard. Hilgard proposed his influential neodissociation theory in 1973, arguing hypnosis involves divided consciousness where executive control systems split into separate streams separated by “amnesic barriers.” His famous “hidden observer” experiments demonstrated that whilst hypnotically-analgised subjects reported no pain, a dissociated part could report pain awareness when appropriately questioned. This controversial finding supported his theory that hypnosis produces genuine alterations in consciousness rather than mere role-playing or compliance. Hilgard’s work challenged purely social-psychological theories, providing experimental evidence for altered states whilst avoiding mysticism. Beyond hypnosis, he authored hugely influential textbooks including “Conditioning and Learning,” “Theories of Learning,” and “Introduction to Psychology”—the latter being the world’s most widely-used introductory psychology text for years. Ranked amongst the twentieth century’s most cited psychologists, Hilgard legitimised hypnosis as serious scientific subject, profoundly influencing contemporary understanding of consciousness, dissociation, and pain management.

Richard Bandler (born 1950) and John Grinder (born 1940) co-founded Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in the 1970s, creating a controversial approach to communication and personal change. Grinder, a linguistics professor at UC Santa Cruz with expertise in transformational grammar, supervised Bandler, a mathematics and psychology student leading Gestalt therapy groups. Their collaboration began when Grinder helped Bandler analyse the linguistic patterns underlying his therapeutic effectiveness. Together, they studied exceptional therapists including Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir, and Milton Erickson, attempting to codify their successful communication patterns. Their books “The Structure of Magic” (1975) and “Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson” (1975-1976) identified verbal and behavioural patterns these therapists used. They called their synthesis “Neuro-Linguistic Programming,” symbolising relationships between neurological processes, language, and behavioural patterns. NLP incorporated concepts including anchoring, reframing, representational systems, and the “Milton Model”—their analysis of Erickson’s artfully vague, metaphorical language for inducing trance. Whilst hugely popular in self-help and business training circles, NLP faces widespread criticism from psychologists as pseudoscience lacking empirical support. Their partnership dissolved in 1980 amidst personal and professional conflicts. Despite scientific scepticism, NLP’s influence on coaching, therapy, and communication training remains substantial, particularly their emphasis on modelling excellence and strategic language patterns.

Paul McKenna is Britain’s most successful non-fiction author and one of the world’s most prominent hypnotherapists, having popularised hypnotherapy and NLP through television, books, and live performances. Born in Enfield, London, McKenna initially worked in radio broadcasting before discovering hypnosis and retraining. His television shows “The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna” (1993-1997) attracted 200 million viewers across 42 countries, bringing hypnotherapy into mainstream consciousness. McKenna holds a Ph.D. from the International Management Centres Association, though his earlier degree from unaccredited LaSalle University caused controversy. He specialises in weight loss, smoking cessation, confidence building, and stress reduction, using hypnotherapy integrated with NLP techniques. His book “I Can Make You Thin” became the UK’s best-selling self-help book, whilst other titles including “I Can Make You Rich” and “I Can Make You Happy” achieved number-one status. McKenna has worked with high-profile clients including David Beckham, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Bowie. The Times recognised him as “one of the world’s most important modern self-help gurus.” More recently, McKenna has incorporated techniques including Havening and Amygdala Depotentiation Therapy, focusing on PTSD, trauma, and emotional distress. He maintains the Positivity Podcast and continues touring internationally. Despite occasional media controversies, McKenna’s impact on popularising hypnotherapy and self-improvement techniques has been substantial.

Derren Brown is an English mentalist, illusionist, and psychological entertainer who has revolutionised public understanding of suggestion, influence, and psychological manipulation through critically-acclaimed television specials and stage performances. Born in 1971, Brown studied law and German at Bristol University, where he developed interests in hypnosis and magic. Since his 2000 television debut with “Mind Control,” Brown has consistently challenged beliefs in supernatural phenomena, describing himself as a “psychological illusionist” who exposes supposed psychic abilities through psychological techniques. His performances combine traditional magic, hypnosis, misdirection, memory techniques, cold reading, body language analysis, and cognitive psychology. Unlike many mentalists, Brown openly discusses his methods, emphasising natural psychological processes rather than paranormal powers. His stage shows including “Svengali” won two Laurence Olivier Awards, whilst television specials like “The Push,” “Sacrifice,” and “Apocalypse” demonstrate social influence’s extraordinary power. Brown’s work often carries ethical dimensions, exposing faith healers and psychics whilst exploring how easily people can be manipulated. He acknowledges using suggestion, NLP patterns (though distancing himself from NLP’s pseudoscientific claims), and ideomotor responses. Brown is an atheist and sceptic who nonetheless recognises humanity’s vital meaning-making needs. His Netflix specials and Broadway shows have brought mentalism to massive audiences, demonstrating psychology’s theatrical potential whilst promoting critical thinking about belief, influence, and perception.