Hypnosis does change the Brain
January 16th 2008 23:29
Category: Indian Sciences
When hypnosis is used to make people forget, it produces measurable changes in the brain that suggest the effects are real and not simply people "letting themselves go."
Hypnosis is a form of inducing suggestion to the subject’s sub-conscious and has been found to be very successful in curing psychological problems in patients. Like Meditation, hypnosis can be used very effectively to improve confidence, achieve goals of life, and for programming the sub-conscious. I am sure a scientific study of meditation will also result in a similar conclusion, though unlike hypnosis cannot be induced by a second
person.
About two thirds of the population can be hypnotized and common uses include the treatment of pain, anxiety and phobias.
However, sceptics have argued that hypnosis does not result in an altered state of consciousness - a "trance" - but is an exaggerated form of social compliance, where subjects suspend their critical faculties to do whatever a hypnotist asks of them.
Now brain scans of people that are taken following a hypnotic suggestion to forget have revealed parts of the brain really are affected.
The Israeli team that did the study say their insights into memory suppression and recall may help understand the mechanisms underlying some forms of amnesia, along with how we suppress distressing memories or things we would rather not
dwell upon.
Prof Yadin Dudai and colleagues at The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, describe in the journal Neuron a study on two groups of volunteers - those who were susceptible to hypnotic suggestions and those who were not - after they had shown a documentary depicting a day in the life of a young woman.
A week later, they placed them in a brain scanner and induced them into a hypnotic state. In this state, the scientists gave the subjects a posthypnotic suggestion to forget the movie, also giving them a reversibility cue that would restore the memory.
Once the subjects had been brought out of the hypnotic state, the researchers tested their recall, then gave them the reversibility cue and tested their recall again. As expected, the hypnosis-susceptible group showed reduced recall of the movie, compared with the hypnosis-non-susceptible group.
Analysis of the brain scans revealed distinctive differences between the hypnosis-susceptible group and -non-susceptible group in specific brain areas - occipital, temporal, and prefrontal areas.
Complete story can be read on The Telegraph.
Another study carried out in University of Iowa and Carver College of Medicine and Technical University of Aachen in Germany proved that hypnosis does reduce pain. The same study was published in 2005 in Science Daily.
Images from www.hypnotism-secrets.com and www.richard-wilkinson.com
Hypnosis is a form of inducing suggestion to the subject’s sub-conscious and has been found to be very successful in curing psychological problems in patients. Like Meditation, hypnosis can be used very effectively to improve confidence, achieve goals of life, and for programming the sub-conscious. I am sure a scientific study of meditation will also result in a similar conclusion, though unlike hypnosis cannot be induced by a second
About two thirds of the population can be hypnotized and common uses include the treatment of pain, anxiety and phobias.
However, sceptics have argued that hypnosis does not result in an altered state of consciousness - a "trance" - but is an exaggerated form of social compliance, where subjects suspend their critical faculties to do whatever a hypnotist asks of them.
Now brain scans of people that are taken following a hypnotic suggestion to forget have revealed parts of the brain really are affected.
The Israeli team that did the study say their insights into memory suppression and recall may help understand the mechanisms underlying some forms of amnesia, along with how we suppress distressing memories or things we would rather not
Prof Yadin Dudai and colleagues at The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, describe in the journal Neuron a study on two groups of volunteers - those who were susceptible to hypnotic suggestions and those who were not - after they had shown a documentary depicting a day in the life of a young woman.
A week later, they placed them in a brain scanner and induced them into a hypnotic state. In this state, the scientists gave the subjects a posthypnotic suggestion to forget the movie, also giving them a reversibility cue that would restore the memory.
Once the subjects had been brought out of the hypnotic state, the researchers tested their recall, then gave them the reversibility cue and tested their recall again. As expected, the hypnosis-susceptible group showed reduced recall of the movie, compared with the hypnosis-non-susceptible group.
Analysis of the brain scans revealed distinctive differences between the hypnosis-susceptible group and -non-susceptible group in specific brain areas - occipital, temporal, and prefrontal areas.
Complete story can be read on The Telegraph.
Another study carried out in University of Iowa and Carver College of Medicine and Technical University of Aachen in Germany proved that hypnosis does reduce pain. The same study was published in 2005 in Science Daily.
Images from www.hypnotism-secrets.com and www.richard-wilkinson.com
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Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
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Comment by MaaUpma
Indus Guru
Vastu - The Indian Science of Dwelling
EGurumantra - Demystifying India
Let us say it is their problem not ours.
Ma Upma
Comment by mantra and hypnosis
hello my dear friends ..i m new to this site ..but i have a question ... what is the relation of kundalini shakti and hypnotism? and how can one help development of other?
expecting an answer soon ...
thank you
Comment by MaaUpma
Indus Guru
Vastu - The Indian Science of Dwelling
EGurumantra - Demystifying India
Hypnotism has not talked about Chakras, though based on common sense I think Hypnotism can act as an aid in activating Kundalini shakti.
Have never tried doing it though.
One word of caution - while you can practise self-hypnosis which is more of "programming of subconscious" without the help of a guru, you should not try kundalini activation without a guru to guide you in each step.
Ma Upma