From Mesmer to Freud: Magnetic Sleep and the Roots of Psychological Healing

The discovery of magnetic sleep—an artificially induced trance-like state—in 1784 marked the beginning of the modern era of psychological healing. Magnetic sleep revealed a realm of mental activity that was not available to the conscious mind but could affect conscious thought and action. This book tells the story of the discovery of magnetic sleep and its relationship to psychotherapy.

Adam Crabtree describes how in the 1770s Franz Anton Mesmer developed a technique based on "animal magneti...