Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault

Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault was born in Favières, a small town in the Lorraine region of France, on September 16, 1823.

On February 18, 1904, he died in Nancy, leaving behind a strong legacy and influence on the still developing field of hypnosis and hypnotherapy.

[1] His father was Jean Nicolas Liébeault, a financially stable land owner and farmer, and his mother was Jeanne Fauconnier.

[2] Liébeault, while studying medicine at Strasbourg, read a book on animal magnetism and was immediately interested.

He offered to treat patients with hypnosis free of charge, or by standard methods for the normal consultation fee.

In the following years he developed a unique and unorthodox approach to hypnotherapy which led to getting attention from other professionals interested in the topic.

[4] In 1866, Liébeault published Du Sommeil et des états analogues, in which he discussed his techniques, experiments, and findings.

However he discussed his methods in which he would have each patient stare deeply into his (Liébeault's) eyes while he repeatedly gave them the instruction to sleep.

[3] He was viewed as a fool by many of his colleagues for using hypnosis as a treatment for patients, but this changed in 1882 when he was able to treat and also cure a severe case of sciatica.