In the late eighteenth century, Austrian doctor Franz Anton Mesmer developed an approach to treating illness based on the idea that disease could be caused by a disturbance in the body’s natural energy flow and cured by restoring the correct flow. He believed he could achieve this through a process of hypnotic induction. His theory was largely rejected by the medical establishment of the day, and Mesmer himself died destitutely. However, the practice of mesmerism experienced something of a revival in the early nineteenth century. His technique of inducing an altered state of consciousness through hypnosis was used to treat patients suffering from nervous disorders, but he also found it a useful tool for scientific research into memory and perception. Early adopters included Jean-Martin Charcot, who employed hypnosis to help him understand the causes behind hysterical symptoms; Joseph Breuer, who worked out how the subconscious mind could control behavior; and Sigmund Freud, whose work in this area culminated in his theory of the unconscious, talking cure, and psychoanalysis.
Mind and brain
In many cultures around this world, there is the view that humans have a soul that exists independently of the physical body. For Greek philosophers, the soul was also viewed as the seat of our reasoning abilities - what we would call our minds today. While Aristotle...
