The ‘Mesmeric Hospital’ & Hypnotic Anesthesia in 19th Century India and beyond…

During the early 19th century hypnosis gained significant traction in the world of medicine, with the use of surgical hypnotic anesthesia in India.

In 1839 Scottish surgeon Dr. James Esdaile (of the East India Company) arrived in a town 37 km from Kolkata (Calcutta) to work at Hooghly Hospital. In April 1845 he performed the worlds first ‘Mesmeric’ induction… and pain-free surgery.

Esdaile performed dozens more operations that year using ‘mesmerism’ (or hypnosis) as the only anesthesia. He conducted extensive research and experimentation with hypnosis.

By 1846 Dr Esdaile had performed ‘pain-free’ major surgery on over 300 people including: amputations, cataract and tumor removals using hypnosis as the sole anesthetic. His work was groundbreaking and generated considerable attention in the medical community.

His remarkable achievements caught the attention of Sir Herbert Maddocks (the Deputy Governor of Bengal). So impressed by his work, Maddocks appointed a committee of seven officials (both medical and non-medical persons) to investigate Esdaile’s claims.

The committee’s findings were overwhelmingly positive, and so in November 1846 a small hospital in Calcutta was allocated to Esdaile for further research and practice.

Esdaile’s work contributed to the growing acceptance of hypnosis as a legitimate medical tool. His case reports and publications helped to dispel skepticism and promote the use of hypnotic anesthesia in various surgical procedures.

In 1848 Lord Dalhousie (the Governor-General of India) appointed Esdaile to the esteemed position of Presidency Surgeon.

The Esdaile State

The Esdaile State is a state of hypnosis so deep, supposed to be the deepest anyone can go… sometimes called Hypnotic-Coma, that oftentimes people do not want to come out of it because it feels so good. However, if that happened the person would simply fall into normal sleep and awaken later. There is no getting stuck in hypnosis!

Editors note:
A famous Stage Hypnotist I know uses the line “Bring me the bucket of ice water” if he has any trouble getting people out of trance.

However Esdaile’s hypnotic induction process was time-consuming. His techniques seemed to lead patients into very deep Somnambulistic Trace States… but this could take hours to reach.

Dr. Frederic J. Mouat, a surgeon, chemist and critic of Esdaile, calculated that the hospital would incur additional expenses (too great) if they employed Mesmerists for hypnotic anesthesia. Instead the cheaper chemical anesthetics like chloroform and ether were much easier to use, without hypnotic skills and offered anesthetic pain relief.

And so an easier to use, cheaper chemical anesthetic was introduced… even though it had: side effects, a longer healing times and higher mortality rates!

Hypnotic Anesthesia Today

Today hypnotic anesthesia is sometimes used in surgery and post-operative hypnosis is increasingly used to aid recovery after a surgical procedures.

Editors note:
Recently, during conversations with a group of Anesthetists at a wedding in England I was surprised to find that they were all very interested in using hypnosis during surgery and had been taking part in professional training… although this was used alongside standard procedures and chemical counterparts.

As a recovery aid, studies have shown that post-operative hypnosis accelerates the healing process by reducing pain, anxiety and improving sleep (essential for healing and recovery), helping patients recover more quickly and return to their normal activities.  

Hypnosis has also been shown to have a positive impact on the immune system, helping the body fight off infections and further promote healing.

“At both the 1 and 7 week post-surgical observation intervals, one-way analyses showed the hypnosis group to be significantly more healed than the usual care control” Pubmed

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