The imaging data confirm what patients, practitioners, and researchers, have known for decades: hypnosis changes the brain rapidly and effectively, and in a way that can reduce pain.

Hypnosis and pain reduction: the evidence from brain scans

Chronic pain is a leading cause of physical and emotional distress. Pain affects one in five people globally, making it more prevalent than diabetes and heart disease (Gaskin and Richard, 2012). The effects of chronic pain extend beyond physical discomfort. Pain affects a person’s mental health, personal finances, and their quality of life.

Hypnotherapy can reduce painful symptoms. Controlled studies have demonstrated the efficacy of hypnosis for pain reduction, both as an adjunct to existing treatment and as a stand-alone technique (). The powerful results have been demonstrated for a broad range of typical presentations, as well as for specific conditions such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, multiple sclerosis, headache,  spinal injury, disability-related pain, cancer-related pain, and more.

Neuroimaging confirms the power of hypnosis to activate key regions of the brain which modulate pain. Del Casale et al., (2015) reviewed studies of brain scans during hypnosis. They found greater activity in three areas of the brain that modulate pain: the right anterior cingulate cortex, the left superior frontal gyrus, and the right insula. There was a corresponding reduction in pain-related activity in the thalamus.

The imaging data aligned with patients’ subjective experience. Patients with greater changes in brain activity reported a greater reduction in their symptoms. The findings align with other studies of neuroimagery and hypnosis; these are summarized in Oakley, D. A. (2008) and, more recently, in Jensen et. al (2015). The results are fascinating, intuitive, and precise. For instance, suggestions regarding ‘unpleasantness’ exclusively fire the anterior cingulate cortex, while suggestions regarding intensity fire the somatosensory cortices (Rainville 1997).

The imaging data confirm what patients, practitioners, and researchers, have known for decades: hypnosis changes the brain rapidly and effectively, and in a way that can reduce pain.

References

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Del Casale, A., Ferracuti, S., Rapinesi, C., De Rossi, P., Angeletti, G., Sani, G., … & Girardi, P. (2015). Hypnosis and pain perception: An Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies. Journal of Physiology-Paris, 109(4-6), 165-172.

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