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Hypnosis has been used in the treatment of schizophrenia for untold generations and ages. We have lost historical perspective because we have failed to take seriously what people were doing with hypnosis two and three thousand years ago. From the literature of the ancient Greek and Egyptian temples of healing we know that they treated people who were what we would call schizophrenic as well as people with psychosomatic and neurotic problems.13
Witch doctors in contemporary primitive societies make similar use of hypnosis.7 Most witch doctors, in fact, develop a socialized (conventional, according to the culture) form of psychosis by using hypnosis in fulfilling the tribal function of witch doctor. Fuller study of these phenomena would, I think, contribute to our understanding of the use of hypnosis in the treatment of schizophrenia. This material has been discussed by Jane Belo2 in her Trance in Bali and by a number of other investigators. Basically what happens is that persons with what we would call serious neurotic or psychotic illness under the treatment of witch doctors either are cured or become witch doctors themselves.
Hypnosis enjoys waves of enthusiasm. This happens because during periods when it is in fashion it is used to treat everything from