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Hypnosis: a brief history
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Hypnosis
It has been around for hundreds of years, and yet it is a sidelined subject, not fully understood even by the brightest minds.
It refers to a trance-like state in which there is imagination, extreme suggestibility and relaxation. It is a sort of daydream that makes good use of the power of suggestion.
The word Hypnosis has its roots in ancient Greece and Egypt, and after the Greek God ‘Hypnos’ who was the personification of sleep.
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Modern Hypnotism
Austrian physician Franz Mesmer is the modern father of hypnosis, instrumental in coining the word ‘mesmerism’ which refers to the hypnotic state.
James Braid, an eye doctor, accidentally discovered the power and usability of hypnotism when one of his patients got into a trance-like state starting at a lamp.
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Auto-Suggestion
In the 1900s Emile Coué, worked on affirmations and auto-suggestions, as a form of self-hypnosis therapy. His famous phase was “Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better.”
Milton Erikson, a psychotherapist, was fascinated by this psychological hack and devised many innovative techniques to utilize hypnosis in various clinical practices.
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Anxiety And Pain Relief
Benefits of hypnosis are gaining traction, with many researchers finding that it can treat anxiety, pain and trauma, making it gain respect among medical and psychological professions.
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How Hypnotism Works
- Hypnosis works by first decreasing activity in the brains ‘dorsal anterior cingulate’ area, responsible for decision making and evaluation.
- Secondly, it connects two regions of the brain, the insula and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that increases the brain-body connection, making our body more receptive to our raw thoughts and emotions.
- Finally, it reduces connections between two different regions of the brain (medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex) reducing our cognitive tasks and neural activity, reducing our awareness of actions.
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Great Potential of Hypnosis
The new research for hypnosis and the labelling of the brain regions that get affected can help device further tools and ways to help patients with various addictions, psychological problems, and depression issues.
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Brain areas that impact patience and impulse control
- NAc - nucleus accumbens, a key region that mediates a variety of behaviors, like reward and satisfaction.
- OFC - orbitofrontal cortex is considered to have a role in higher-order thinking.
- mPFC - medial prefrontal cortex is also suggested to mediate decision-making.
Damage to these three regions leads to an increase in impulsive behaviours. Triggering the OFC area improved patience when waiting for food while stimulating the NAc had no impact. When stimulating the brain's mPFC region in mice, their ability to wait was enhanced, suggesting that serotonin in the mPFC can impact the animal's ability to evaluate the time required to wait for a reward.
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Creativity
While some people are born creative, it is possible to acquire this skill. The right conditions and the right training can make everyone creative, in their own unique way.
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Traits Of Creative People
In various studies, it is found that creative people tend to be more driven, impulsive, and self-confident.
They are less conventional and unorthodox in many aspects of life.
Openness to new ideas, curiosity and disagreeableness comes as common traits of creative individuals, as they are opposite of normal or popular, and like Steve Jobs, are a prickly personality.
Steps Of The Cognitive Process
Creativity can be learned as a cognitive skill using the following steps:
- Preparation: The basic rules, languages, and instructions in any skill.
- Incubation: When ideas wander in your brain's neural network, lost in the wild.
- Illumination: This is the Aha! Moment, the light bulb coming on.
- Verification: Where it is verified that the idea is real or just a random dream without legs.