| Sumario: | In 1978, after a series of discussions with the council of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), Dr David Waxman, along with a number of his esteemed colleagues, set up a new section of the society, marking the beginning of a new era in which, to some extent, hypnosis was viewed as an important adjunctive tool in psychological medicine. This paper, the first of two, begins by outlining some of the major developments in the use of hypnosis for pain management during World War II. Further uses of clinical hypnosis are then explored, focusing on its application in the hospital setting as well as in clinical practice. Particular attention is given to developments in behaviour psychology in the 1950s and 1960s. The author then outlines the major advances in hypnosis research, outlining clinical tools and theories such as scales of hypnotic susceptibility, role theory, expectation and the state/non-state debate. The thirty years prior to the setting up of the new section, was rich in both clinical application and academic research, and it was perhaps inevitable that a section devoted to the topic should be formed.
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