| Franz Anton Mesmer (1734 - 1815). A German physician, he was also known as Friedrich Anton Mesmer. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna; for his thesis, he developed the theory of “animal magnetism,” based on the works of Newton and gravity and his studies of astrology and the influence of magnetic fields on objects. His 1776 dissertation was titled “De Planetary Influxu” (On the Influence of the Planets)
After 10 years of a normal medical practice (for the times) Mesmer grew ever so impatient with the “classic” potions, salves, and bloodletting. He treated a woman of what today would be called “hysteria” or “somatization disorder” with every known medical treatment unsuccessfully; she improved after a treatment with magnets! leading Mesmer to believe that “animal magnetism” was the way to continue his career.
Mesmer developed a pseudotechnique to “magnetize” almost every element except steel, and his patient base grew. These patients all had some type of mental disorder that was susceptible to treatment by suggestion. Mesmer had discovered what today we know as the “placebo effect” and the basics of therapeutic hypnosis. Mesmer had so many patients that he had to treat them in “batches”, several at a time. Patients who were treated by Mesmer were said to have been “Mesmerized”.
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| Mesmer came under attack by the scientific establishment and when he could not prove his theories he was discredited. The fact that Mesmer used theatrics to further influence his suggestive patients did not help and he was labeled a “quack”. Mesmer retired a rich man to Switzerland where he died in 1815.
Sources:
1. "Franz Anton Mesmer and the Rise and Fallof Animal Magnetism: Dramatic Cures,Controversy, and Ultimately a Triumph for the Scientific Method"Lanska DJ, Lanska JT Brain, Mind and Medicine: Essays in Eighteenth-Century Neuroscience, 2007
2. "Early American mesmeric societies: a historical study" Gravitz, MA Am J Clin Hypn (1994) 37, 41–48
3. "Franz Anton Mesmer: The first psychotherapist of the modern age?" Traetta, L (2008) Int J Psychol 43 (3-4) 121
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