Science & Technology

Scientists develop new way to make someone easier to hypnotize

By T.K. Randall
January 8, 2024 ·  3 comments

Have you ever undergone hypnosis ? Image Credit: Bing AI / Dall-E 3 Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is not simply a tool for making audience members act out silly things during stage shows, it actually has many legitimate and beneficial applications.

It is particularly effective at helping to treat a range of psychiatric and neurological symptoms, for example, such as those experienced by patients suffering from chronic pain or addiction.

There have even been cases of patients who have undergone surgery without anesthesia using nothing more than hypnosis to enable them to endure the procedure.

Not everyone is able to be hypnotized, however, meaning that such treatments can often be limited to those who are particularly susceptible to hypnosis.Keen to find a solution to this, scientists at Stanford University recently came up with a new way to temporarily boost a person's hypnotizability using a type of targeted brain stimulation.

Known as SHIFT (Stanford Hypnosis Integrated with Functional Connectivity-targeted Transcranial Stimulation), the technique involves applying repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to certain areas of the brain related to a person's susceptibility to hypnosis.

"We tested SHIFT in people with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder, because hypnosis has been shown to be effective in reducing pain, and higher hypnotizability is typically associated with better outcomes," study author Afik Faerman told PsyPost.

"We found that active SHIFT was associated with increased hypnotizability (responsiveness to hypnosis), while sham stimulation did not."

Source: Psypost.org | Comments (3)

Tags: Hypnosis