Are you insensitive to hypnosis? Science knows how to make you hypnotizable
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Are you having trouble letting go while lying on the hypnotherapist's couch? Know that this lack of sensitivity cannot be cured. Researchers have discovered how to increase an individual's “hypnotizability.” Explanations.
It's in the magazine Natural mental health, the researchers revealed the solution. To put patients with chronic pain to sleep, they use…electrical stimulation.
Susceptibility to hypnosis varies depending on the individual
While about a third of adults are not hypnotizable at all, researchers have attempted the impossible: using brain imaging to temporarily increase hypnotizability in some individuals.
But before starting this research work, psychiatry professor David Spiegel and his team noticed that people who were “highly hypnotizable” had a stronger connection between their left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Participate in information processing and decision making) and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (Involved in detecting stimuli).
In reality, “It made sense that people who naturally coordinated activities between these two areas would be able to concentrate more“, declared Professor Spiegel.
800 electrical pulses are transmitted to the brain
Based on these discoveries, the professor and his team recruited 80 volunteers suffering from Fibromyalgia – “A form of chronic widespread pain, associated with painful hypersensitivity and various disturbances, most notably sleep and mood“, reports Inserm.
Candidates deemed easily hypnotizable were immediately excluded.
However, those selected had to pass a set of tests.
Thus, half of the selected participants obtained “Transcranial magnetic stimulation“; which sent approximately 800 electrical pulses to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
The other half benefited from a placebo.
If the testing process is always the same, the treated area may vary slightly. And for good reason:
“One novel aspect of this experiment is that we used the person's own brain networks, based on brain imaging, to target the right place“, reveals Professor Nolan Williams, co-lead author of the study.
Increased ability to hypnosis
In view of the tests conducted, the results were clear:
Participants who received neurostimulationThey showed a statistically significant increase in their ability to hypnotize, with a score about one point higher“, Eureka reported.
As for the group of candidates who received placebo, no specific effect was reported.
For scientists, these results are actually very promising.
“We were pleasantly surprised that, within 92 seconds of stimulation, we were able to modify a stable trait in the brain that people have been trying to modify for 100 years.“, reveals Professor Williams.We've finally cracked the code on how to do it“.
Excellent news for all people with chronic pain who may consider hypnosis a great alternative to medication.
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