Hypnotism

[Mighty_Emperor]

BRITISH HYPNOTIST JAILED OVER CLIENT SEX

A British hypnotist accused of having sex with several patients and secretly video-taping them has been jailed in the United States.

Michael Johnstone, 64, entered a plea deal, admitting reckless endangerment and breach of peace charges.

The London-born immigrant was jailed for 90 days by the Milford Superior Court in Connecticut.

Johnstone, who has lived in the US for more than 20 years, confessed to having sex with female patients and secretly taping trysts in his offices.

The victims, in their 40s and 50s, claimed they were put under a trance before being sexually assaulted.

Johnstone could still face deportation back to Britain if immigration authorities decide to take action.

Under the plea deal he is banned from working as a hypnotist but does not have to register as a sex offender.

On release he will serve three year's probation.

His lawyer, Hugh Keefe, said six women had claimed they were put under a hypnotic trance by Johnstone before he had sex with them.

"But he only admitted having sexual relations to the extent that they were consensual," he added.

Johnstone, who used to operate Positive Changes Hypnosis in Milford, had originally faced charges of first-degree sexual assault.

He was arrested in May 2003 after several women lodged complaints. The incidents occurred between 2000 and 2003.

Source

 

[Anonymous]

Well, my dad was a licensed hypnotherapist and an Eriksonian psychologist. He had some mild contempt (he was a mild-mannered guy) for stage hypnotists, but didn't doubt that some of them could actually put people into hypnotic states.

He hypnotized me on several occasions to help me overcome my stage fright (back when I wanted to be a stage actor) and they worked, to my surprise, when the curtains finally raised. In rehearsals I would be a mess up until the final dress then I would more or less function on autopilot until the end of the show. It was like being 'in the pocket' as I've heard sportsmen and musicians say. I was a very 'mechanical' actor too. I had to have everything absolutely memorized and improvisation was a nightmare.

Anyway, yeah it's real IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

Hypnosis is about acessing the unconcious mind which is basically the same thing as the right hand side of the brain.

Sorry, got to get a bit off-topic on your asses here. Arn't we on semantically/ morally/ medically/ metaphysically shakey ground to state so catagorically that any part of the brain is "the same thing" as any 'part' of the mind?

The Mind is an abstract concept, the brain a physical organ. If one says that "brain" and "mind" are synonymous, then one is beginning to sound like an eliminativist, who would state that all brain functions are chamical/electrical, as there is no abstract "mind" or "emotion", and that one can only ever use terms like "I feel happy" or "I don't like milky tea" as colloquial shorthand for more precise terms like "A certain part of my brain is functioning in a certain way this morning" or "When neurons send my brain information suggesting I can see milky tea, neurons in another part of my brain do something else."

Oh, and don't get me started on the moral implications of thinking like this...


Sorry. Way off topic, and certainly not intended as a dig. Just gets me thinking...

 

[tamyu]

Hypnosis is about acessing the unconcious mind which is basically the same thing as the right hand side of the brain.

Sorry, got to get a bit off-topic on your asses here. Arn't we on semantically/ morally/ medically/ metaphysically shakey ground to state so catagorically that any part of the brain is "the same thing" as any 'part' of the mind?

I just wanted to say that I agree with you.
Although doctors have a vague idea of what parts of the brain USUALLY show activity when certain things are happening, there is no real "map" of the brain. I happen to feel very strongly about this, as my son only has 70% of a brain - and is showing no delays at this point. His father is also missing a big chunk of supposedly "vital" brain tissue, with no ill effects whatsoever (we didn`t even know it was gone until he had a routine check for a concussion after a small car accident - we were told it happened when he was still a baby.)
The brain is capable of moving most, if not all, of it`s functions around.

And now on topic - I go into a panic state if anyone tries to put me under. I don`t know why, but the second I start to feel any sort of driftiness, I feel absolute horror and have to literally get away before I start REALLY panicking.
My husband on the other hand, is very easily put under.

I can`t fall asleep anywhere but in a bed/futon with a heavy blanket (and it takes forever if it`s not MY futon), but he can fall asleep ANYWHERE.

I wonder if there is some sort of connection?

 

[Mal_Adjusted]

Brain Imaging Studies Investigate Pain Reduction By Hypnosis

Greets

more info..

University of Iowa News Release

March 14, 2005

Brain Imaging Studies Investigate Pain Reduction By Hypnosis

Although hypnosis has been shown to reduce pain perception, it is not clear how the technique works. Identifying a sound, scientific explanation for hypnosis' effect might increase acceptance and use of this safe pain-reduction option in clinical settings.

Researchers at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and the Technical University of Aachen, Germany, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to find out if hypnosis alters brain activity in a way that might explain pain reduction. The results are reported in the November-December 2004 issue of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

The researchers found that volunteers under hypnosis experienced significant pain reduction in response to painful heat. They also had a distinctly different pattern of brain activity compared to when they were not hypnotized and experienced the painful heat. The changes in brain activity suggest that hypnosis somehow blocks the pain signal from getting to the parts of the brain that perceive pain.

"The major finding from our study, which used fMRI for the first time to investigate brain activity under hypnosis for pain suppression, is that we see reduced activity in areas of the pain network and increased activity in other areas of the brain under hypnosis," said Sebastian Schulz-Stubner, M.D., Ph.D., UI assistant professor (clinical) of anesthesia and first author of the study. "The increased activity might be specific for hypnosis or might be non-specific, but it definitely does something to reduce the pain signal input into the cortical structure."

The pain network functions like a relay system with an input pain signal from a peripheral nerve going to the spinal cord where the information is processed and passed on to the brain stem. From there the signal goes to the mid-brain region and finally into the cortical brain region that deals with conscious perception of external stimuli like pain.

Processing of the pain signal through the lower parts of the pain network looked the same in the brain images for both hypnotized and non-hypnotized trials, but activity in the top level of the network, which would be responsible for "feeling" the pain, was reduced under hypnosis.

Initially, 12 volunteers at the Technical University of Aachen had a heating device placed on their skin to determine the temperature that each volunteer considered painful (8 out of 10 on a 0 to 10 pain scale). The volunteers were then split into two groups. One group was hypnotized, placed in the fMRI machine and their brain activity scanned while the painful thermal stimuli was applied. Then the hypnotic state was broken and a second fMRI scan was performed without hypnosis while the same painful heat was again applied to the volunteer's skin. The second group underwent their first fMRI scan without hypnosis followed by a second scan under hypnosis.

Hypnosis was successful in reducing pain perception for all 12 participants. Hypnotized volunteers reported either no pain or significantly reduced pain (less than 3 on the 0-10 pain scale) in response to the painful heat.

Under hypnosis, fMRI showed that brain activity was reduced in areas of the pain network, including the primary sensory cortex, which is responsible for pain perception.

The imaging studies also showed increased activation in two other brain structures -- the left anterior cingulate cortex and the basal ganglia. The researchers speculate that increased activity in these two regions may be part of an inhibition pathway that blocks the pain signal from reaching the higher cortical structures responsible for pain perception. However, Schulz-Stubner noted that more detailed fMRI images are needed to definitively identify the exact areas involved in hypnosis-induced pain reduction, and he hoped that the newer generation of fMRI machines would be capable of providing more answers.

"Imaging studies like this one improve our understanding of what might be going on and help researchers ask even more specific questions aimed at identifying the underlying mechanism," Schulz-Stubner said. "It is one piece of the puzzle that moves us a little closer to a final answer for how hypnosis really works.

"More practically, for clinical use, it helps to dispel prejudice about hypnosis as a technique to manage pain because we can show an objective, measurable change in brain activity linked to a reduced perception of pain," he added.

In addition to Schulz-Stubner, the research team included Timo Krings, M.D., Ingo Meister, M.D., Stefen Rex, M.D., Armin Thron, M.D., Ph.D. and Rolf Rossaint, M.D., Ph.D., from the Technical University of Aachen, Germany.

University of Iowa Health Care describes the partnership between the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics and the patient care, medical education and research programs and services they provide. Visit UI Health Care online at www.uihealthcare.com.

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa Health Science Relations, 5135 Westlawn, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1178

http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/2005/march/031405hypnosis.html

mal

 

[ramonmercado]

Theodore Barber Dies at 78; Was Major Critic of Hypnosis

September 23, 2005
Theodore Barber Dies at 78; Was Major Critic of Hypnosis
By JEREMY PEARCE
Theodore X. Barber, a psychologist who became a leading critic of hypnosis after his scientific studies concluded that the power of suggestion often worked nearly as well, died on Sept. 10 at a hospital in Framingham, Mass. He was 78 and lived in Ashland, Mass.

The cause was a ruptured aorta, his family said.

Dr. Barber developed what became careerlong studies of hypnosis in the 1960's, while conducting research at the Medfield Foundation, a private psychiatric research center in Massachusetts.

Earlier, in a series of experiments performed door to door, he and other researchers found that they could induce sleepiness by suggestion alone, without the swinging watches or formal protocols used by hypnotists. Power of suggestion worked effectively on about 20 percent of the people tested, although another 25 percent had no reaction.

The results stimulated Dr. Barber's interest in the hypnotic state, and he examined people who could be easily or deeply hypnotized. In the 1970's, he helped identify a small minority - 2 percent to 4 percent of the population - who were especially responsive, and he then studied the group. With other researchers, he found that the people most susceptible to hypnosis included those who were "gifted fantasizers" or "amnesia prone."

John F. Chaves, a psychologist at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, said Dr. Barber's studies "took a lot of the magic away from hypnotism," but explained a great deal about phenomena traditionally associated with hypnosis, including memory and concentration.

In 1969, Dr. Barber published a book, "Hypnosis: A Scientific Approach," that Dr. Chaves said "placed hypnotic phenomena in the mainstream of social psychology." Also in the 1960's, Dr. Barber's research introduced the Barber Suggestibility Scale, a method of evaluating patients and measuring their responsiveness to a range of suggestions. The scale is still in use.

Theodore Xenophon Barber was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio. He earned his doctorate in social psychology from American University in 1956, and after a period of research at Harvard, he joined the Medfield Foundation in 1961. He became director of research there in 1973, and served as chief psychologist at Cushing Hospital in Framingham from 1978 to 1986. He was also a former chief psychologist at Medfield State Hospital.

Dr. Barber is survived by a son, X. Theodore Barber of Manhattan; two daughters, Elaine Barber of Silver Spring, Md., and Rania Richardson of Manhattan; a brother, John Barber of San Antonio; and two sisters, Angela Fardy of Westwood, N.J., and Mary Brillis of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/natio ... arber.html

 

[poozler]

My partner and I were hypnotized years ago for our smoking problem. We had a great hypnotherapist who insisted on a free first session to determine whether we were suggestible enough for hynosis to work. We were, so we continued the following day. I should add that though we were both suggestible, we were also highly skeptical.

I was hynotized first, while my partner waited in the waiting room. I was concious all the time, and at one point, when the hypnotist did that "you are getting sleepy" and "you are slowly descending ... going down ... down ... down", I started to laugh. It was all so hokey. The therapist said "laugh all you want, it's still going to work". My partner and I compared notes afterwards, and he had the same experience of laughing at the silliness of the whole thing.

We both came out of the therapist's office feeling quite stoned. This stoned feeling lasted for about two days, which I thought was quite nice. Not for my partner though: he had to teach the same afternoon as our first session. Although he remembers the hypnotism, he doesn't remember the class he gave.

We had several close sessions after that, which were more like straight therapy, with some "affirmations" thrown in. Nothing terribly exciting or dramatic, but it did seem to work.

So we stayed non-smokers for six years until a crisis emerged and we both fell off the wagon. So I really think that hypnosis works IF you want it to and IF you are committed to the goals of the hypnosis. There's nothing magical about it, and the hypnotist has no control. You do.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Self-Hypnosis

Almost all of us have used self-hypnosis techniques, whether we admit to the term or not.

"Counting sheep" in order to fall asleep is a self-hypnotic device. So is listening to the tick-tock of a clock for the same purpose. Or a white noise generator.

 

[Anonymous]

Thought it might be time to take this thread up again. I've recently been researching suggestibility and hypnosis etc (purely out of interest). I have yet to put any techniques into practice, but have some willing victi..er...participants lined up. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in discussing induction techniques, relaxation etc?

 

[ramonmercado]

18 July 2006

'UNI SOLD DIPLOMAS'

HYPNOTIST Paul McKenna got a PhD from a university which later offered diplomas for sale over the phone, a court heard yesterday.

The TV star is suing the Mirror for libel over an article by ex-columnist Victor Lewis-Smith which claimed his qualification could be bought for £1,435.

McKenna, 42, said he worked hard for the degree but was duped by the now discredited Lasalle university in Louisiana.

He was invited to send Lewis-Smith's business partner Paul Sparks his thesis, the High Court heard. But Mr Sparks said: "We didn't hear from him."

The hearing continues.

www.mirror.co.uk/printable_version.cfm? ... teid=94762

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Two-Stage, Two Voice Self-Hypnotic Technique

I tried unsuccessfully for many years to put myself under self-hypnosis.


Among other things, I had a 78-rpm "go to sleep" recording (male voice) which never put me to sleep and a self-hypnosis LP album (female voice) which never worked either.

But one day I put both recordings onto a single reel-to-reel tape.

The very next time I listened, the "sleep " segment first, I went out like the proverbial light when the hypnotic count-down began on the much longer "hypnosis" portion, waking up again as the count-back-up was nearing its end. And the mental suggestions on the LP this time actiually implanted.

I named this technighe "Two-Stage, Two-Voice Self-Hypnosis."

 

[James_H]

Did anyone catch Paul Mckenna on desert island discs on sunday? It was really, totally weird. Sadly you can't listen again, but the list of his music choices is here - oddly very heavy on cheesy 90s dance-pop. Anyway, he's a lifestyle/self help guru now, believes that the human brain is like a computer and you can 'override' 'programs' in it without having to adress any issues, and that all there really is to life is having a big car collection. :?

 

[Anome]

The dangers of stage-hypnosis...

Source.
Hypnotised man flees show into path of traffic

MINUTES after a man was hypnotised on stage into thinking people were invisible and that he could smell a stench, police were called amid fears he would get hit by a car.

The man ran from a Peter Powers show at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney's Newtown on October 19 soon after he was on stage scratching an itch brought on by hypnosis.

Mr Powers last week played down the dramatic incident, saying he always "removed hypnosis" before the subjects he prompts to see leprechauns and preach gospels leave the stage.

He said the drama began shortly after hypnosis was removed and the 20-year-old man, Chris, left the theatre and another audience member chased him fearing he was still under hypnosis.

Police were called to the scene after a report 180cm-tall Chris, who was dressed in faded jeans, was seen running through traffic "acting crazy" just after 9.30pm.

He had earlier been on stage, hypnotised into thinking he was itching all over, had been convinced he was feeling cold enough to shiver and he was convinced Mr Powers was invisible.

Chris was stopped in King St after running into traffic and, according to Mr Powers said he had only run because he thought he was being followed from the theatre.

"When somebody is hypnotised they are not in any danger, you could cross the street and walk around town, it is not going to make you walk into the path of a bus," Mr Powers said.

"But before anyone leaves the stage I remove hypnosis from them, when we heard someone had left the building who had been on the stage we were concerned.

"We had removed hypnosis but one member of the audience panicked and chased this guy up the road. I spoke to the guy and he was fine -- he was perfectly normal. He said 'when I left a guy was chasing me, I was frightened so I ran'."

Mr Powers said he ensured his "process" to remove hypnosis had been successful and then gave a personal number to the man in case he needed it.

The hypnotist is on a national tour and said he was able to send people to sleep with a simple command and even had subjects chasing leprechauns around theatres. He said he always tells his subjects to remain in the theatre until the show ends.

A box office worker at the Enmore theatre said events management staff were unable to comment over the phone and could only be contacted by email. Staff declined to return a phone call.

Newtown police were unable to confirm whether they attended the incident but it is understood there are no ongoing investigations.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

I've got enough neurotic problems without turning my mind over to a stage hypnotist for entertainment value.

 

[rynner2]

Hypnotism does change the brain
Last Updated: 5:01pm GMT 11/01/2008

"You will not remember this" seems to work, says Roger Highfield

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."

About two thirds of the population can be hypnotised and common uses include the treatment of pain, anxiety and phobias.

The study found that parts of the brain were affected by hypnosis
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.

"The surprise for us was that activity was raised during memory suppression in one specific region in the frontal cortex." In effect, it probably tells the other brain regions "don't even think about retrieving that memory" he says.

"The one thing we can say for sure is that hypnotism worked under the conditions we used," says Prof Dudai, adding that the findings are different from those seen in people who attempt to deceive. "We are therefore highly confident that this is not an artifact."

Coauthor Avi Mendelsohn adds that further studies will be needed to determine whether their findings give insights into how the brain stores memory and apply to cases of amnesia seen by doctors.

The team is cautious about extrapolating from their finds to other use of hypnotism.

http://tinyurl.com/2uedcs

 

[AsamiYamazaki]

A friend of mine's dad was hypnotised by a stage hypnotist and after the show they had to go backstage for help as her dad hadn't quite come out of it. It totally freaked them all out. He was really spacy.

I had hypnosis to give up smoking and it didn't work at all, although I did feel a bit stoned and had a dramatic ice-cream craving afterwards that I got a free session with the hypnotist to remove (which did work).

She had this weird monitor thing on my hand which really really hurt - anyone know what that was for?

 

[rynner2]

'Hypnotist' thief hunted in Italy

Police in Italy have issued footage of a man who is suspected of hypnotising supermarket checkout staff to hand over money from their cash registers.
In every case, the last thing staff reportedly remember is the thief leaning over and saying: "Look into my eyes", before finding the till empty.

In the latest incident captured on CCTV, he targeted a bank at Ancona in northern Italy, then calmly walked out.

A female bank clerk reportedly handed over nearly 800 euros (£630).

The cashier who was shown the video footage has no memory of the incident, according to Italian media, and only realised what had happened when she saw the money missing.

CCTV from the bank showed her apparently being hypnotised by the man, according to the reports.

Italian police believe the suspect could be of Indian or North African extraction.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7309947.stm

 

[rynner2]

Man hypnotises himself before op

A hypnotist from West Sussex has undergone surgery on his right hand without a general anaesthetic.

Alex Lenkei, 61, from Worthing, chose to sedate himself by hypnosis before undergoing the 83-minute operation.

He said he was fully aware of everything going on around him during the procedure but was free from pain.

The operation at Worthing Hospital involved removing some bone in the base of the thumb and fusing some joints in an attempt to improve his arthritis.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon David Llewellyn-Clark said he was happy in agreeing to the unusual sedation on Mr Lenkei, a registered hypnotist who has been practising since the age of 16.

Mr Lenkei said Wednesday's surgery "went amazingly well".

"It took between 30 seconds to a minute for me to place myself under hypnosis, and from that point I felt a very deep relaxation.

"I was aware of everything around me, from people talking and at one stage a hammer and chisel was used as well as a surgical saw, but I felt no pain." :shock:

Throughout the operation, an anaesthetist was on standby to administer an anaesthetic if necessary.

Mr Llewellyn-Clark said he had been confident that Mr Lenkei was a skilled hypnotist and was "delighted all went well".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7355523.stm

 

[ramonmercado]

Is it safe? IS IT SAFE? IS IT SAFE?

I think I'll stick with the old needle.

USC School Of Dentistry Teaches Hypnosis As An Alternative To Needles And Novocain
01 Oct 2008

What if it was possible to undergo a root canal filling or tooth extraction without feeling the pinch of a needle or the after effects of general anesthesia? Hypnosis could uncover a new world for patients seeking dental care.

The soothing voice of your dentist could transport you into a state of mind that allows the dental professional to complete a procedure simple cleaning or a complex procedure that involves oral surgery slip into a state of relaxation.

"Now as I count from one to 10, I can feel myself sinking more and more deeply into the quiet, relaxed, enjoyable feeling. More relaxed with each count."

Wendy J.N. Lee listens to the words uttered by associate professor Peter Stone, D.D.S., as her body slips into a more comfortable position during a recent visit to the USC School of Dentistry. Lee, a USC cinema graduate student, filmed Stone's hypnosis techniques for Say Aah, a documentary about her fear of dentistry.

Hypnosis in dentistry was first reported in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. The demise of its practice occurred with Horace Wells in the 19th century, who initiated the use of nitrous oxide and ether during procedures.

In the years that followed, chemicals and general anesthesia became common practice, and hypnosis became a sleepy alternative to sedation.

Today, the USC School of Dentistry is the only dental school in the United States that offers formal training for dental professionals in the use of hypnosis.

Stone, who works in the division of health promotion, disease prevention and epidemiology, teaches "Modern Hypnosis for the 21st Century Dentist." He has taught the techniques and applications of hypnosis since 1981 for the Southern California Society of Clinical Hypnosis.

"The time spent learning hypnosis not only makes a visit to the dentist more pleasant for the patient, but it also enhances a practitioner's productivity, providing a stress-free environment for all," he says.

"Working with nervous patients makes it difficult to carry out our job," Stone explains. "Dentists by nature, we don't like to hurt people ¬ we're trained to bring them relief from pain. When a patient is relaxed and calm, the procedure goes more smoothly and more quickly."

Hypnosis could be a win-win for both patient and dentist. It's a less expensive alternative to general or conscious sedation, which can cost hundreds of dollars.

"In the average patient, we can teach them to relax and control their fears 90 percent of the time. In a small group of patients, hypnosis allows them to control pain, bleeding or salivation during a procedure or speed up recovery time," Stone says.

Stone shares his experience with one patient during oral surgery: "I remember telling my assistant, OIf only John would stop bleeding, I could finish this procedure quicker and remove the root tip causing his pain.' Instantly my patient stopped bleeding."

The technique is also used to control gagging, bruxism (teeth grinding and clenching) or breathing problems. In addition, hypnosis can enhance memory of a pleasant visit to the dentist.

Each year, dentists from across the country and Canada travel to Los Angeles for the two-day hypnosis course taught by Stone at the USC School of Dentistry. The workshop provides dentists with the tools and skills they need to use hypnosis comfortably in their dental practice.

By Monday morning, these dentists are equipped with the knowledge they need to put their patients at ease.

Hala Al-Tarifi, a South Pasadena dentist, shares her experience: "I started implementing hypnosis in my office, and one of my patients slept through a crown prep."

For more information, visit The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis at http://www.asch.net or the Southern California Society of Clinical Hypnosis at http://www.scsch.camp7.org.

You can also learn more about Lee's documentary by visiting http://www.sayaahfilm.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/123764.php

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Isn't it possible to suddenly, completely, accidentally and all unexpectedly come out of a hypnotic trance in a way that it's not possible to to instantaneously exit a standard dose of Novocaine?

In any case, I suspect that the possibility of suddenly discovering myself in intense and agonizing pain would in itself be enough to keep me from being able to enter the hypnotic state in the first place.

 

[ramonmercado]

Hypnosis, Memory and the Brain
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=hyp ... mory-brain

A new study points to specific areas of the brain affected by hypnosis. The technique could be a tool for exploring what happens in the brain when we suddenly forget.
By Amanda J. Barnier, Rochelle E. Cox and Greg Savage

Hypnosis has long been considered a valuable technique for recreating and then studying puzzling psychological phenomena. A classic example of this approach uses a technique known as posthypnotic amnesia (PHA) to model memory disorders such as functional amnesia, which involves a sudden memory loss typically due to some sort of psychological trauma (rather than to brain damage or disease). Hypnotists produce PHA by suggesting to a hypnotized person that after hypnosis he will forget particular things until he receives a “cancellation,” such as “Now you can remember everything.” PHA typically only happens when it is specifically suggested and it is much more likely to occur in those with high levels of hypnotic ability, or “high hypnotizable” people. Now a new study shows that this hypnotic state actually influences brain activity associated with memory.

High hypnotizable people with PHA typically show impaired explicit memory, or difficulty consciously recalling events or material targeted by the suggestion, and a dissociation between implicit and explicit memory, so that even though they can’t recall the forgotten information it continues to influence their behavior, thoughts and actions. The forgetting is reversible—when the suggestion is cancelled, their memories come flooding back. These last two features—the dissociation and reversibility—confirm that PHA is not the result of poor encoding of the memories or of normal forgetting, because the memories return as soon as PHA is cancelled. Rather, PHA reflects a temporary inability to retrieve information that is safely stored in memory. That makes it a useful tool for research.

Researchers have used PHA as a laboratory analogue of functional amnesia because these conditions share several similar features. Case reports of functional amnesia, for instance, describe men and women who, following a traumatic experience such as a violent sexual assault or the death of a loved one, are unable to remember part or all of their personal past. However, as in PHA, they might still show “implicit” evidence of the forgotten events. For instance, they might unconsciously dial the phone number of a family member whom they can’t consciously recall. (In contrast, explicit memories are those we consciously have access to, such as remembering a childhood birthday or what you had for dinner last night.) And, as suddenly as they lost their memories, they can just as suddenly recover them.

Forgetting in the Brain
But for the comparison between PHA and functional amnesia to be most meaningful, we need to know that they share underlying processes. One way to test this is to identify the brain activity patterns associated with PHA. In a groundbreaking study published in Neuron, neuroscientist Avi Mendelsohn and colleagues at the Weizmann Institute in Israel did just that using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They carefully selected 25 people to participate in their experiment. Although all were susceptible to hypnosis, earlier testing had shown that half could respond to a PHA suggestion (labelled “the PHA group”) and half could not (the “non-PHA group”). In the Study session of their experiment, participants watched a 45-minute movie. One week later, in the Test session, participants returned to the laboratory and were hypnotized while they lay within the fMRI scanner. During hypnosis, people in both the PHA and non-PHA groups received a suggestion to forget the movie until they heard a specific cancellation cue.

After hypnosis, participants’ memories were tested twice while the fMRI scanner recorded their brain activity. For Test 1, they were asked 40 questions about the content of the movie (for example, the actress knocked on her neighbor’s door on the way home) and 20 questions about the context in which they saw the movie (for instance, during the movie, the door to the study room was closed). These questions required a “yes” or “no” response. For Test 2, participants were asked the same 60 recognition questions, but first they heard the cue to cancel PHA. So Test 1 measured memory performance and brain activity while the PHA suggestion was in effect and Test 2 measured memory performance and brain activity after it was cancelled.

In Test 1 Mendelsohn and colleagues found that people in the PHA group (who could experience PHA) forgot more details from the movie than people in the non-PHA group (who could not experience PHA). But in Test 2, after the suggestion was cancelled, this memory loss was reversed. People in the PHA group correctly recognized just as many details from the movie as people in the non-PHA group. Somewhat surprisingly, however, the suggestion to forget was selective in its impact. Although people in the PHA group had difficulty remembering the content of the movie following the forget suggestion, they had no difficulty remembering the context in which they saw the movie.

This finding—that PHA temporarily disrupted some people’s ability to recall the past—echoes decades of hypnosis research. What is entirely new in Mendelsohn et al.’s study is their demonstration that PHA was associated with a specific pattern of brain activation. Consistent with what normally occurs in remembering, when people in the non-PHA group performed the recognition task and successfully remembered what happened in the movie, fMRI showed high levels of activity in areas responsible for visualizing scenes (the occipital lobes) and for analyzing verbally presented scenarios (the left temporal lobe). In stark contrast, when people in the PHA group performed the recognition task and failed to remember the content of the movie, fMRI showed little or no activity in these areas. Also, fMRI showed enhanced activity in another area (the prefrontal cortex) responsible for regulating activity in other brain areas.

So far, so good. For people in the PHA group, brain activation measured by fMRI correlated with the failure to remember. But what if reduced activation is always found in such people regardless of whether they are remembering or forgetting? We can rule this possibility out because people in the PHA group showed reduced activation only when they (unsuccessfully) answered questions about the content of the movie, not when they (successfully) answered questions about the context of the movie. Indeed, for the context questions, they showed the same activation as people in the non-PHA group. Perhaps then, the reduced activation reflects complete forgetting of the information, not just temporary suppression? We can rule this possibility out also because, in a neat reversal, people in the PHA group showed normal activation—just as those in the non-PHA group did—as soon as the suggestion was cancelled.

Hypnosis Is Real
Mendelsohn et al.’s study is important because it demonstrates that hypnotic suggestions influence brain activity, not just behavior and experience. Hypnotic effects are real! This fact has been demonstrated clearly in earlier work, for instance, by psychologist David Oakley (University College London) and colleagues, who compared brain activation of genuinely hypnotized people given suggestions for leg paralysis with brain activation of people simply asked to fake hypnosis and paralysis.

This latest study is also important because it starts to specify the underlying brain processes, which we assume are shared by PHA and functional amnesia. Mendelsohn et al. argued that the brain activation seen in PHA reflects a dampening—some form of rapid, early inhibition of memory material—due to heightened activity in the prefrontal cortex.

But how does the suppression mechanism decide what to suppress? In this study, movie content but not movie context was influenced by PHA. Memories involve the “what,” “how,” “when” and “where” of an event interwoven together, such that distinctions between content and context may be blurred (for example, “Was the movie shot with a hand-held camera?”). To make such fine discriminations, the brain’s suppressor module presumably needs to process information at a sufficiently high level. Yet this module needs to act quickly, preconsciously suppressing activation of the information before it even enters awareness. Brain imaging technologies with superior temporal resolution to fMRI, such as magnetoencephalography (MEG), might help to resolve this seeming paradox of sophisticated, yet rapid, operations.

We also wonder how the suppression mechanism in PHA relates to the vast array of forgetting in the laboratory and in the world? Whereas some forgetting is seen as strategic, effortful and conscious (say, suppression), other forgetting is seen as automatic, effortless and unconscious (say, repression). Having mapped the common features of PHA and functional amnesia, we now need to explore and compare in greater detail their common processes (such as strategy use, motivation, level of awareness).

Finally, the neural underpinnings of PHA will be even clearer when we incorporate its most important aspect in imaging studies—the dissociation between implicit and explicit memory. In PHA (and in functional amnesia) the person is unable to explicitly recall certain information, yet we see evidence of this material on implicit measures. For instance, a participant given PHA may fail to recall the word “doctor,” learned earlier, but will have no trouble completing the word fragment “d _ _ t _ r”. Mendelsohn et al. did not assess implicit memory. Rather, they tested recognition, which in a sense confounds explicit and implicit memory. We’d like to compare brain scans of a PHA group trying to explicitly recall the movie (they should show reduced activation, as above) with brain scans of the same group completing an implicit memory measure of the movie (they should show normal activation). This would be tricky to do—implicit measures of complex material such as movies and autobiographical memories are hard to find or construct. But it would contribute to a more complete neural picture of the processes involved in these fascinating forms of forgetting.

 

[goth13girl666]

I think hypnosis works on the dependance of how strong your mind is.

Ive heard alot of cases were people have been hypnotised to get rid of habits like drinking and smoking etc, and in some cases more extreme measures like surgery and to relive past events.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Hypnotism seems to be accepted as a reality by modern medicine (including dentistry), psychiatry and psychology.

So I'm hoping that at least one of my fellow Forteans who opted for the belief that hypnotism is "a load of hooey" is willing to explain his or her reasoning.

 

[goth13girl666]

At least with anesthetics you have a much better and higher rate of staying sedated while the procedure is performed unlike with hypnosis were you can awake at anytime.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

At least with anesthetics you have a much better and higher rate of staying sedated while the procedure is performed unlike with hypnosis were you can awake at anytime.

That's pretty much in agreement with what I wrote in my posting of October 3rd, above.

On the other hand I've never heard of an actual case in which a patient has awakened in excruciating pain from a hypnotically-induced trance right in the middle of a surgical or dental procedure. Can anybody in these parts cite a specific case? (I'm not talking about waking up during regular chemically-induced anesthesia.)

 

[colpepper1]

Hypnotism appears to be a more extreme example of suggestion to which most human beings are prone. Soldiers and others in strictly hierarchical situations are said to be more prone than those who rely on independence and entrepreneurship in their daily lives.
Why would anyone have gone 'over the top' from the trenches if conditioning and expectation weren't key motivators? The logical response would be 'walk where, are you mad, those guys have got machine guns.'

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Why would anyone have gone 'over the top' from the trenches if conditioning and expectation weren't key motivators? The logical response would be 'walk where, are you mad, those guys have got machine guns.'

Because you thought that such a gesture would help protect the wife and the kids at home in Dorset from eventually being raped and/or bayoneted by "the Hun"?

 

[_Lizard23_]

That and the fact that your own side would shoot you if you didn't, I expect.

 

[goth13girl666]

I cant quite recall the case so i will have to look it up but there was a case of someone waking up during a procedure when they were hypnotised.

will google it and see if i can find it!

 

[OldTimeRadio]

That's one thing I've never understood about Britain in World War One. For a modern, mature, educated, democratic 20th Century nation (or collection of nations) its General Staff seems to have been a gang of 10th Century butchers who couldn't think beyond human wave attacks.

Sorry, I don't usually go so off-topic.