Studying the history of hypnosis is required by the UK Training Standards, so many of you will have looked at it, at least briefly, in your practitioner training. The names that tend to come up include Franz Mesmer, James Braid, Jean-Martin Charcot, Hippolyte Bernheim, Dave Elman, and Milton Erickson. This is because they made important contributions to our views of hypnosis and hypnotherapy. But have you noticed that they all have something else in common, too? They’re all male.
It’s not just the history of hypnosis that has been largely told through male voices, but the early days of psychological sciences generally. Many women contributed to our early understanding of psychology and hypnosis, but their work was often overlooked, under-recognised, or attributed to male colleagues. So, this month, I’m going to try to redress the balance a bit to give you a fuller and more accurate picture of how the field developed.
Women in Early Psychological Research
Mary Whiton Calkins
Let’s start with a pioneering American psychologist and the first female president of the American Psychological Association. This is despite her having been denied a PhD by Harvard because of her gender (Furumoto, 1991).
Calkins’ research into memory, consciousness, and the self, had a significant influence on thinking about dissociation and awareness, both central themes in later hypnosis research. That makes her work a reminder that influence in our understanding of hypnosis is not always direct; ideas often move between fields and subtly influence one another.
Josephine Hilgard
Josephine Hilgard was a child psychologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, who worked with her husband, Ernest Hilgard, at Stanford University. Together they developed the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, which is still used in research today (Hilgard & Hilgard, 1965).
Millicent Shinn
Shinn’s work in developmental psychology and attention contributed to the broader understanding of how suggestion and mental processes develop over time (Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987).
Eugenie Sokolnicka
Sokolnicka was a French psychoanalyst who was credited with bringing psychoanalysis to France in the 1920s. Although she’s better known in that field, a lot of her work explored unconscious processes and suggestibility, which are obviously relevant to our understanding of hypnosis.
Women Researchers in the Development of Hypnosis
So far, the women we’ve mentioned contributed through research that was related to hypnosis, rather than ideas about hypnosis itself. But others worked more directly with it, in areas such as suggestion, dissociation, and altered states.
Madeleine Pelletier
Pelletier was the first woman in France to receive a doctorate in psychiatry. The concepts she explored were closely linked at the time with hypnotic practice: hysteria, suggestion, and mental functioning.
Blanche Wittman
Wittman was sometimes known as the “Queen of the Hysterics” at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. Although not a researcher herself, she was one of the best-known subjects in Charcot’s public demonstrations of hypnosis. Of course, this illustrates another important aspect of hypnosis history: when women were visible, it was often as subjects to be experimented upon, rather than as recognised contributors. James Braid’s use of the maids at the London Hospital would fall into the same bracket.
These women highlight certain ethical issues for modern historians. For example, in many cases, we don’t know for sure how much choice they had in deciding whether or not to participate. And records of their experiences tend to be based on experimenters’ observations and interpretations, rather than on reports from the women themselves. Still, I feel we should acknowledge their contribution.
Elisabeth von Morgenstern
von Morgenstern lived in Austria and collaborated with well-known hypnotists, including Oscar Vogt. She never achieved the same level of public recognition as some of her male contemporaries, but she investigated the effects of hypnosis on people experiencing nervous disorders and was particularly interested in the relationship between hypnotic states and brain functioning.
Karen Horney
Horney was a more recent researcher, whose work on anxiety, identity, and internal conflict influenced a variety of therapeutic approaches, which, in their turn, influenced indirect and client-centred forms of hypnosis. Horney was not a hypnosis researcher as such, but her contribution to understanding the inner world of the client can still be found in modern hypnotherapeutic thinking.
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Women on the Margins of Early Psychology
It’s important to realise that many women had no choice but to work on the margins of the field. They were often not allowed to hold formal qualifications or research roles. That meant they had fewer opportunities to publish their work, lead research, or gain any recognition (Furumoto, 1991).
In some cases, women worked closely with male researchers but were not credited equally (or sometimes, at all). In others, their work was published but later ignored in favour of work by better-known researchers. This pattern is not unique to hypnosis or psychology. It appears across many academic fields. But for hypnotherapists, it means that our understanding of the history of hypnosis can be narrower than it should be.
Why Understanding the History of Hypnosis and Psychology Matters Today
You might well be thinking: what difference does all this make to me in the 21st Century? On one level, it’s about historical accuracy, of course. But on the other hand, it’s about how we understand how ideas in hypnosis and psychology developed.
Certain topics are central to hypnotherapy, including dissociation, attention and focus, the structure of consciousness, and responsiveness to suggestion. These did not emerge fully formed from any one person. They developed gradually, through the contributions of many researchers, including those who are less often named.
Recognising as broad a history as possible gives us a more flexible and reflective approach to practice. It reminds us that there isn’t a single “correct” model of hypnosis. Ideas evolve over time as new information is discovered, and different perspectives complement each other.
Beyond Mesmer and Erickson: Women in Hypnosis History
If you think back to your own training, you may find that the history of hypnosis was presented through a fairly small group of well-known figures. This is understandable. There is only so much that can be covered in the time available. But it can give the impression that progress in hypnosis was down to just a handful of individuals. In reality, the field has always been much more varied.
When we look beyond the familiar names, it doesn’t undermine the things we already know. But it adds depth, and context, and helps us to see that hypnosis is not a fixed set of techniques or ideas, but something that has grown organically over time. And it’s still growing now, if you look at how neuroscience is expanding out understanding of it.
A More Balanced View of Hypnosis History
I didn’t set out to write a specifically “feminist” article here, or to suggest you should dismiss the many men who have added to our understanding of hypnosis and hypnotherapy. And it’s not just women in hypnosis history who get overlooked. Some of the men don’t get mentioned much either, and that’s just as unfair. (Maybe there’s another article there?)
I just wanted to make you think, and to redress the balance a bit.
Recognising that women did contribute to early psychology and hypnosis is not about rewriting history. It’s about completing it. It encourages a better understanding of how ideas develop and influence each other, even if this isn’t fully recognised at the time. As hypnotherapists, a wider understanding supports a thoughtful approach that is:
- open to new ideas,
- grounded in critical thinking and
- aware that what we practise today is the result of many voices, not just a few.
References:
Furumoto, L. (1991) ‘On the margins: Women and the professionalization of psychology in the United States, 1870–1970’, American Psychologist, 46(7), pp. 703–714.
Hilgard, E.R. and Hilgard, J.R. (1965) Hypnosis in the Relief of Pain. Los Altos, CA: William Kaufmann.
HS. (2025). The Hypno Heroines You’ve Probably Never Heard Of (But Totally Should). [online] Available at: https://nationalhypnotherapysociety.org/blog/the-hypno-heroines-youve-probably-never-heard-of-but-totally-should [Accessed 14 May 2026].
Scarborough, E. and Furumoto, L. (1987) Untold Lives: The First Generation of American Women Psychologists. New York: Columbia University Press.
Sidis, B. (1908) The Psychology of Suggestion. New York: D. Appleton.
About Debbie Waller
Blog Author Debbie Waller is a hypnotherapist, supervisor, and trainer with more than twenty years of experience. As well as having a busy client practice, she runs Yorkshire Hypnotherapy Training and writes books and articles for therapists who want to deepen their knowledge and develop effective practice.
Disclaimer
The information and ideas shared on this blog are based on the author’s professional experience, research, and training. They are intended for educational purposes and to support reflection and professional development. Therapists should always apply their own professional judgment and consider the needs of individual clients when using any techniques or suggestions discussed here.
While every effort is made to ensure the information is accurate and helpful, no responsibility can be accepted for any loss, damage, or difficulties arising from the use or misuse of material contained in these articles.
