Tribute to Harry Arons
Harry Arons contributed greatly to improving the image of hypnosis for the medical profession and the general public. As a teenager, he came to America with his family. He said that he was trained in hypnosis by his grandfather, a friend of Rasputin, while still in Lithuania. He started out as a stage hypnotist working in the Northeast USA. In the late 40's, his book Master Course in Hypnotism was printed by Power Publishers and sold many thousands of copies.
He was the Director of the Ethical Hypnosis Training Center in New Jersey. He developed courses in hypnosis for this Center and trained others who opened Hypnosis Centers in several United States cities.
He trained hundreds and perhaps thousands of hypnotists at these Centers. In the 50's he was an associate editor of the Journal of Hypnotism, the journal of the newly formed National Guild of Hypnotists which is today one of the largest, if not the largest, hypnotherapy groups in the world. Later in the 1954, he formed the AAEH and devoted his time and energy to his new organization. In the early days of the AAEH, only health professionals could be members, but he later admitted to training "hypno-technicians," who were only allowed to use hypnosis for therapeutic purposes, and then only under medical supervision. Arons later included law enforcement employees who were properly trained in hypnosis. His textbook for law enforcement personnel was Hypnosis in Criminal Investigation. In time, the AAEH consisted of physicians, psychologists, dentists, lawyers, ministers, hypno-technicians, etc.
For several years from 1954 to the late 1980's the AAEH had substantial growth and then went into decline. From the list of organizations in the Council of Professional Hypnosis Organizations (CPHO), AAEH is still in existence headed by T. J. Farris of New Olmstead, OH.
Harry Arons died of heart failure, September 9, 1997.
Tribute to Pioneers of Hypnosis
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