Scientists have learned how the brain lends itself to hypnosis
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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At Stanford University, a team of scientists led by neurophysiologist David Spiegel found out what activity is taking place in the human brain during a hypnotic session. Researchers wondered why not all people lend themselves to hypnotic influence. After studying the processes that occur in the brain when immersed in hypnosis, experts came to the conclusion that the activity of some sites is changing, and the more a person is susceptible to hypnosis, the higher the activity.
In the experiment of the research group, volunteers participated, who hypnotize themselves to a greater or lesser degree. It should be noted that every 10th inhabitant of the planet is well hypnotic, more than 500 people wanted to take part in the study, but only 57 of them chose scientists, 21 of whom practically did not perceive hypnosis.
Recently, scientists have found out why some do not lend themselves to hypnosis.
The scientists noted that for the purity of the experiment it was necessary to select volunteers who are not susceptible to hypnotic influence and which were included in the control group. According to Dr. Spiegel, it is possible to document the processes occurring in the brain during hypnosis, but without a control group it will be impossible to state 100% that this is due to hypnotic exposure.
During the hypnotic session, the brain of participants in the experiment was scanned with a magnetic resonance tomograph, as a result of which three areas were identified in which activity began to change, with changes only observed in those participants who reacted as much as possible to hypnosis, and the changes started only during a hypnosis session.
Dr. Spiegel noted that activity in the anterior part of the cingulate gyrus first decreased, this is explained by the fact that during a dive with hypnotic sleep, a person does not think about anything else and is completely engulfed in the process. Further, changes began in the Reilly island and in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, with the activation of the bonds between the two sites. Scientists noted that the island of Reilly is responsible for monitoring the processes occurring in the body.
Further observation showed that between the prefrontal region and the dorsolateral cortex, a decrease in the relationship occurs, which may indicate that there is a gap between the actions of a person injected into hypnosis and the knowledge of the brain, which entails certain consequences, for example, the performance of actions , which offers a hypnotist (smoking cessation, insensitivity to pain, etc.).
In participants susceptible to hypnosis, hypnosis sessions led to a reduction in chronic pain, as well as soreness during various medical procedures (in particular during labor), post-traumatic stresses, and treatment of smoking addiction.
According to Spiegel, this work, carried out by his colleagues, will help to develop new methods of treatment mainly for those who can not be hypnotic, but before such therapy becomes available, a few more years of research will be required.
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