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Jan Ehrenwald has divided his history of psychotherapy into four major parts: Magic, Religion, Science, and “Beyond Psychoanalysis.” He subtitles them “quests” for omnipotence, salvation, knowledge and mastery, and “new solutions.” The sequence of these quests parallels the evolution of the psyche from illusions of omnipotence of the self, to belief in the omnipotence of parental figures and their surrogates, to knowledge, mastery, and discovery, and to a rediscovery of reality. Ehrenwald finds that when man has not been able to heal himself he turns to others. If the man has hope and expectations, if he finds a practitioner with corresponding motivations who has faith in his own ability to help, and if these hopes, expectations, and beliefs are held by the social group in which both are immersed, improvement and even cure often ensues.
Around 2500 B.C. the magician addressed his tribal gods with incantations. Other magicians challenged the evil demon or disease to yield to the magician's superior powers and department from the victim. By 1500 B.C. in both East and West much medical advice as well as prescriptions were added to the spells and incantations, as was the laying on of hands without any use of external or chemical paraphernalia. The laying on of hands emphasized the paramount importance of the personal relationship between patient and healer, who shared a belief that a healing power could be transmitted from some Christlike healer or royal personage