Hypnosis can also be “very helpful” in treating stress, anxiety and PTSD, Spiegel says. “If you asked 10 hypnosis experts how hypnosis works, you would probably get 10 different explanations,” Milling says.Īlmost everyone in the field agrees that the practice of hypnosis involves two stages, which are usually referred to as “induction” and “suggestion.” Research has found hypnosis can even alter a person’s immune function in ways that offset stress and reduce susceptibility to viral infections.īut what exactly does hypnosis entail, and how does it provide these benefits? That’s where things get a little murky. “During the induction, the subject is typically told to relax, focus his or her attention, and that he or she is going into hypnosis,” Milling says. This stage could last anywhere from a few seconds to 10 minutes or longer, and the goal of induction is to quiet the mind and focus its attention on the therapist or counselor’s voice and guidance. The “suggestion” phase involves talking the hypnotized person through hypothetical events and scenarios intended to help him or her address or counteract unhelpful behaviors and emotions. Patients are invited to experience imaginary events as if they were real, Milling says. The type of suggestions used depend on the patient and his or her unique challenges. In some ways, hypnosis can be compared to guided meditation or mindfulness the idea is to set aside normal judgments and sensory reactions, and to enter a deeper state of concentration and receptiveness. Both Milling and Spiegel compare hypnosis to losing oneself in a book or movie-those times when the outside world fades away and a person’s mind is completely absorbed in what she’s reading or watching. Research has also referred to hypnosis as the temporary “obliteration” of the ego. “While most people fear losing control in hypnosis, it is in fact a means of enhancing mind-body control,” Spiegel says. Instead of allowing pain, anxiety or other unhelpful states to run the show, hypnosis helps people to exert more control over their thoughts and perceptions. How does hypnosis do this? Spiegel’s research has shown it can act on multiple brain regions, including some linked to pain perception and regulation. Hypnosis has also been found to quiet parts of the brain involved in sensory processing and emotional response. However, there’s a lot of controversy over how hypnosis works, Milling says. “Originally, Freud theorized that hypnosis weakens the barrier between the conscious and subconscious,” he says, adding that this theory has largely been abandoned. While some attribute the power of hypnosis to the placebo effect, another theory is that “hypnosis causes people to enter an altered state of consciousness, which makes them very responsive to hypnotic suggestions,” he says.
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