In what ways was Freud influenced by Mesmer and by Charcot?
Curiosity in the hypnosis event helped in promoting the growth of focal point on psychic root of mental illness. Hypnosis was applied for treating the emotional disturbances; the base of which, falls upon the murky force that was called as animal magnetism. It was introduced by Franz Anton Mesmer who was a Viennese physician. According to Mesmer the body of human has a force of magnet, which works just like the magnets, which the physicists use for their experiments.
The animal magnetism had the capability to get penetrated through the objects. It also has the capability of acting on the objects from a distance. Animal magnetism also has the ability to cure nervous disorders. This could be done by resetting the equilibrium amidst the level of magnetism persisting in the environment and the magnetic levels in the patient.
With the efforts of Jean Martin Charcot, a French physician, hypnosis obtained larger professional identification in the medical circles. The success was achieved by Charcot, when he applied hypnosis for the treatment of hysteria. Most importantly, he explained the hysteria’s symptoms.
The term hypnosis was also used by him for the first time in the medical terminology; hence, making both the term and related symptoms to be readily acceptable by the science academy of France. Charcot’s aim was preferentially neurological and he greatly emphasized upon the bodily disturbances, such as paralysis.
Hence, during the development of Freud’s career, in the initial years, the medical establishment was more attentive to the mental illness’s psychological cause and hypnosis, and Freud got motivated by both Charcot and Mesmer for the disclosure made by them that bestowed towards the psychoanalysis development.