Johann Joseph Gassner (22 August 1727 in Braz, near

Bludenz Bludenz (; Alemannic: ''Bludaz'') is a town in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is the administrative seat of the Bludenz District, which encompasses about half of the Vorarlberg's territory. Geography The town is located on the Il ...

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

– 1779 Pondorf, now part of Winklarn,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

) was a noted exorcist. While a Catholic priest at Klösterle he gained a wide celebrity by professing to "cast out devils" and to work cures on the sick by means simply of prayer; he was attacked as an impostor, but the

bishop of Regensburg The Bishops of Regensburg (Ratisbon) are bishops of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany.

, who believed in his honesty, bestowed upon him the cure of Pondorf. Gassner's methods have been linked to a special form of hypnotic training. He has been described as a predecessor of modern

hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

Henri Ellenberger Henri Frédéric Ellenberger (Nalolo, Barotseland, Rhodesia, 6 November 1905 – Quebec, 1 May 1993) was a Canadian psychiatrist, medical historian, and criminologist, sometimes considered the founding historiographer of psychiatry. Ellenberger i ...

, in his "Discovery of the Unconscious", placed the dispute between Gassner and

Franz Anton Mesmer Franz Anton Mesmer (; ; 23 May 1734 – 5 March 1815) was a German physician with an interest in astronomy. He theorised the existence of a natural energy transference occurring between all animated and inanimate objects; this he called " ani ...

at the center of modern

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

.Ellenberger Henri, "Discovery of the Unconscious". New York: Basic Books, 1970.

References

* Midelfort, H. C. Erik. ''Exorcism and Enlightenment: Johann Joseph Gassner and the demons of eighteenth-century Germany'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005). .
Gassner at the Catholic Encyclopedia
(German) 1727 births 1779 deaths People from Bludenz District 18th-century Austrian Roman Catholic priests {{Austria-reli-bio-stub