Dr. David Spiegel On Mind-Body 'Tranceformation' Through Hypnosis
Oct 17, 2022
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Dr. David Spiegel is a leading expert in clinical hypnosis, serving as the associate chair at Stanford University. He discusses how hypnosis can be a powerful tool for healing, addressing issues from anxiety to addiction. Listeners learn about the difference between clinical and stage hypnosis, the scientific basis of hypnotizability, and techniques for self-hypnosis. Dr. Spiegel also shares transformative applications of hypnosis in pain management and performance enhancement, highlighting its potential to reshape perception and foster agency in recovery.
Hypnosis can be used as an effective therapeutic protocol to improve sleep, performance, addiction, and trauma-related symptoms.
Breath plays a critical role in hypnosis, promoting relaxation, stress reduction, and self-soothing.
Neuroimaging studies reveal that hypnosis can modulate brain function, alter perceptions, and promote dissociation.
Hypnosis has shown promise in various domains, such as pain management, stress reduction, sleep improvement, and addiction recovery, offering opportunities for positive transformation.
Deep dives
The Power and Potential of Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a state of highly focused attention and absorption that can induce profound effects on the mind and body. It allows individuals to control their brain and experience by turning down activity in the salience network and increasing activity in the executive control network. Hypnosis can alter perceptions, including color vision and pain perception, by modulating brain regions responsible for visual and sensory processing. Highly hypnotizable individuals have been found to have a genetic predisposition and a childhood history of imaginative involvement. Hypnosis has shown promise in various therapeutic applications, including pain management, stress reduction, sleep improvement, smoking cessation, and addiction recovery. It provides a unique opportunity for individuals to transform themselves and make positive changes.
The Role of Breath in Hypnosis
Breath plays a critical role in hypnosis, acting as a pathway into the mind-body connection. The act of focused breathing can help induce a relaxed state and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting self-soothing and reducing stress. By combining eye movements and deep breathing during hypnotic inductions, individuals can enhance their ability to concentrate and experience comfort and relaxation. The neurophysiology of eye movement and its connection to arousal further explains the correlation between eye movement and hypnosis.
Understanding the Neurobiology of Hypnosis
Neuroimaging studies have shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying hypnosis. Hypnotic states involve turning down activity in the salience network, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, while increasing activity in the executive control network, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This process allows for intense concentration and cognitive flexibility. Hypnosis also promotes dissociation through inverse functional connectivity between the default mode network and the executive control network. These findings suggest that hypnosis has the power to modulate brain function and alter one's perception of reality.
Applications and Outcomes of Hypnosis
Hypnosis has been found effective in various domains, such as pain management, stress reduction, sleep improvement, smoking cessation, and addiction recovery. Research has shown positive results in using hypnosis to reduce pain perception, control chronic conditions, and mitigate addiction symptoms. Hypnosis has the potential to transform one's mindset and approach to problems, leading to improvements in overall well-being. With the use of modern technology, digital hypnosis platforms, like Reverie, provide accessible and interactive hypnosis experiences for individuals seeking these positive outcomes.
Using hypnosis for pain management
Hypnosis has been found to be effective in managing pain and reducing the need for medication. By using hypnotic suggestions, individuals can experience a decrease in pain levels and find relief.
The power of self-compassion in hypnosis
Using hypnosis, individuals can learn to develop self-compassion and treat their bodies with kindness and respect. Showing compassion to oneself can lead to improved overall well-being and a better relationship with one's body.
Hypnosis as a tool for trauma recovery
Hypnosis has shown promise in helping individuals recover from traumatic experiences. By approaching the trauma from a different perspective and gaining a sense of control, individuals can reframe their experiences and find healing.
Exploring the connection between hypnosis and mental states
Hypnosis involves inducing a different mental state, which can have therapeutic benefits. It shares similarities with mindfulness and flow states, both of which involve focused attention, absorption, and a sense of being in control.
This is a conversation about the science, neurobiology and use cases for clinical hypnosis with the world’s leading researcher and clinician in the field, Dr. David Spiegel.
Dr. Spiegel is the associate chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, the director of the Stanford Center on Stress and Health, and has published over 480 journal articles, 170 book chapters, and a whopping 13 books on the subject of hypnosis and related topics.
Hypnosis is unfortunately a loaded term, one I admittedly met with skepticism. But as you’ll soon discover, clinical hypnosis, as opposed to ‘stage’ hypnosis, is a genuine and efficacious therapeutic protocol that induces a unique brain state—one that can be leveraged to improve everything from sleep states to high performance. It can be a powerful tool against addiction. And hypnosis has proven efficacious in the alleviation of trauma-related symptoms such as anxiety, chronic pain, and more.
In this episode, Dr. Spiegel explains hypnosis, distinguishes the ‘stage’ variety from the clinical definition, and dispels the many myths associated with the field.
We discuss the many aforementioned efficacious use cases for hypnosis, and a process Dr. Spiegel calls 'tranceformation'.
Finally, we cover helpful tools for self-hypnosis, a simple test to gauge your own receptivity to hypnosis, and many other topics.
For a special discount on the Reveri mobile app (iOs & Android), visit reveri.com/richroll where you will be entitled to purchase a yearly or lifetime membership at a reduced price. I receive no benefit or remuneration from this offer.
Please enjoy what I think you will find to be a truly fascinating, potentially life-altering conversation.
Peace + Plants,
Rich
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