Nancy School

The Nancy School was a French hypnosis-centered school of psychotherapy. The origins of the thoughts were brought about by Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault in 1866, in Nancy, France. Through his publications and therapy sessions he was able to gain the attention/support from Hippolyte Bernheim: another Nancy Doctor that further evolved Liébeault's thoughts and practices to form what is known as the Nancy School.

It is referred to as the Nancy School to distinguish it from the antagonistic Paris School that was centred on the hysteria-centred hypnotic research of Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.

Origins

Liébeault was born to a peasant family in Farrières France. While expected to become a priest, he rather started his medical studies at Strasbourg, where he obtained his medical degree in 1850. At Strasbourg, he stumbled upon an old book about animal magnetism and became fascinated with it.

He moved to Nancy, France in 1860 and opened up his own clinic. Having finally established a successful practice, his thoughts turned back to that book on animal magnetism and he decided to start experimenting with hypnotic therapies. He did this by offering his patients a strange bargain: they could either continue their standard methods of treatment and continue their usual fee or they could be treated hypnotically, through suggestion, for free. Naturally, at first, many patients stayed with their standard methods because hypnosis at this time was still controversial. As more and more patients started receiving the hypnotic treatment and spreading news of its success, Liébeault became known as "Good Father Liébeault."