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Global Health Econ Sustain Hypnosis: Refiguring health care practice

Hypnosis can effect rapid, profound learning. In pathology and diagnosis it leaves its scientific basis
hypnosis, the person(s) can acquire information or and stands in the danger of approximating to that
learn about their mind and/or body, others, and/or the medical charlatanry which it is the highest interest of
physical environment that enables them to interact or our profession to combat. (pp. 32–33)
relate more effectively – and, thus, adapt and evolve As is evident from this, Munro (1917) warns that, in
– within their physical and/or social environment. its application by practitioners of medicine, surgery, and
A caveat, however, is that this information needs to dentistry – that is, the established disciplines of that time
be accurate (i.e., tested, valid, or true), the accuracy of – hypnosis should not be separated from diagnosis and
which maximizes the person’s ability to perceive more
accurately, the reality of themselves, others, and/or pathology and, therefore, it should be used in conjunction
the physical environment (i.e., both now and, should a with knowledge of anatomy, physiology, illness, and
similar such interaction, foreseeable or unforeseeable, disease and, moreover, other treatment methods. Put
arise, in the future), thereby enabling them to interact differently, Munro (1917) was advocating the trained use
more effectively. Accordingly, it is not so much the use of hypnosis in multidisciplinary health care to advance the
of hypnosis, per se, but rather the trained use of hypnosis treatment of patients and, thus, the practice of health care,
wherein the value of its use lies. itself.
Given the nature and quality of (tested) knowledge However, at the turn of the last century, there was an
acquired about the human anatomy, physiology, mind, alarming occurrence in this respect in the field of health
and interaction and, in the case of illness or disease, care in South Africa.
the treatment, thereof, it is the trained use of hypnosis 2. Prohibition of hypnosis
in/by multidisciplinary health care that affords its
efficacious use. 2.1. Medical, Dental, and Supplementary Health Service
Professions Amendment Act 89 of 1997 s. 34 (SA)
In advocating, then, as far back at the beginning of the
last century, its use in multidisciplinary treatment, Munro In 1997, South Africa introduced an amendment to its
(1917) states: principal Act, the Health Professions Act 56 of 1974 (SA),
[Hypnosis] has become a part of the armamentarium which provides for the control over the education, training,
of the thinking, progressive physician, surgeon, and and registration for practicing of health professions
dentist…. [There is] incontrovertible evidence that registered under the Act. Section 37 of the Health
the principles of suggestion, as a practical trustworthy Professions Act 56 of 1974 (SA), as amended by section 34
therapeutic measure, are fixed and definite. The of the Medical, Dental, and Supplementary Health Service
intelligent use of these principles by the physician, the Professions Amendment Act 89 of 1997 (SA), provided that
surgeon, and the dentist has resulted in great good the use of hypnosis and hypnotherapy – now deemed to be
being done to their patients. (p. 9) acts specially pertaining to the profession of a psychologist
However, in advocating for its use, Munro (1917) – by any person, not registered as a psychologist or as
cautions: an intern-psychologist, was guilty of an offence and, on
[Hypnosis] should be applied with an understanding conviction, liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period
and comprehension of the anatomical and not exceeding 12 months, or to both such fine and such
physiological relations of the organism, as well as of imprisonment – this not to be construed as: (a) prohibiting
the pathological conditions to be alleviated. It is not the performance of any act by a medical practitioner, a
to be used [by physicians, surgeons, and dentists] to nurse registered under the Nursing Act 50 of 1978 (SA)
the exclusion of other therapeutic resources, but can or a social worker registered under the Social Work Act
always be used with them, for it is not antagonistic to 110 of 1978 (SA) provided that it was performed in the
or incompatible with any remedy which helps to cure ordinary course of the practice of his/her profession, or
disease. (p. 68) (b) authorizing, in the case of a social worker, the conduct
of the treatment of a mental illness as defined in the Mental
And elsewhere, Munro (1917) warns:
Its evolution, like that of all other modes of treatment, Health Act 18 of 1973 (SA; President of the Republic of
South Africa, 1997).
is marked by an ever-increasing precision in
method and an ever-deepening comprehension of Therefore, notwithstanding their use by a medical
the conditions to which it is applicable. Progress in practitioner (i.e., as distinct from a dentist), nurse, or social
these two respects must always go hand in hand, for worker performed in the ordinary course of practice, the
the moment therapeutics becomes divorced from Act as amended outlawed the use of hypnotherapy and

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1713