Comments on: The rebirth of hypnosis

By: Mary Beth Sutter

Mary Beth Sutter — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:03:40 +0000

Dear Mark,
Many thanks for your quick reply which is helpful.
Sincerely
Mary Beth

By: Mark Tyrrell

Mark Tyrrell — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 12:08:03 +0000

Hello Mary
I wrote an article about this: http://www.uncommonhelp.me/articles/whats-the-difference-between-meditation-and-hypnosis/ but it doesn’t really address what is happening in the brain during these states in any detailed neurological sense and I do state that what I write there is my personal opinion. During meditation people tend to report a slowing down of thoughts, a reduction in mental activity generally, feeling good, calm and relaxed and that is certainly what people report during therapeutic hypnosis. Functioning neuroimaging studies have found an up-regulation in brain regions associated with sustained internalized attention and emotional processing during both meditation and hypnosis. Researchers have found more activation of alpha and theta states which it’s suggested reflects enhanced sustained attention to inner experiences during these states. Subjectively meditation may be more of a suspension of thoughts or imagination whereas during hypnosis thoughts and visualizations may be more directed. So, meditation might be used a as a general method of relaxation and ‘awareness training’ but not used so specifically, perhaps, to help someone overcome an addiction, phobia or trauma whereas hypnosis may in a sense be a more dynamic use of someone’s inner focus-if that makes sense.
Cheers
Mark

By: Mary Beth Sutter

Mary Beth Sutter — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:32:37 +0000

Dear Mark

Do you know whether the same mechanisms are at work in the brain when one is hypnotised as one practices meditation? If they are not the same, can you tell me how they differ.

Many sincere thanks,
Mary Beth Sutter
Kew, London

By: Mark Tyrrell

Mark Tyrrell — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:14:44 +0000

Hi I just want to say how much I enjoy and appreciate what you do here. It’s great to see some serious discussion of the role of hypnosis and suggestibility. Working as a hypnotherapist and co-founder of a hypnosis downloads site it can feel strange when, after telling someone what you do they want to talk about whether you can make them “cluck like a chicken” as if on hearing someone is an airline pilot insisting on talking about “magic carpets” to them. Hypnosis, as a tool to effectively treat ‘hysteria’ or psychosomatic conditions was certainly well respected at one time. Anton Mesmer, from which “mesmerism” derived, apparently had great success using hypnosis as a method of affecting psychological and even possibly psycho-physiological cures. But in a time of ‘rationalism’ his insistence of the necessity of ‘universal fluid’ as an explanation of mesmerism (what we know as ‘hypnosis’) may have damaged its reputation and consigned it to the “mumbo jumbo” heap as far as science was concerned. In 1784 a French Royal Commission (including Benjamin Franklin) appointed by Louis XVI studied Mesmer’s magnetic fluid to try to establish it by scientific evidence.-of course they couldn’t because the explanation lies within the brain
All best wishes
Mark

By: amelie

amelie — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:46:09 +0000

Resolve competing demands…..I wonder if someone could be convinced to vote a certain way just before going into the voting booth? Or is that considered “against their will”?

(Note: no sinister intentions here. Just curiosity).

By: Mary Beth Sutter

Mary Beth Sutter — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 08:16:19 +0000

Dear Mr. Bell,
Have you done any research into meditation or mindfulness in terms of their impact on the brain? If so, are these impacts similar to hypnosis?