Summary
Dr. David Spiegel, Willson Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, discusses practical applications of hypnosis for pain management, stress reduction, and behavioral change. As Director of the Center on Stress and Health and founder of Reveri (the world's first interactive self-hypnosis app), Spiegel explains the neurobiology of trance states, compares meditation and hypnosis as distinct tools, and presents evidence for drug-free pain management through clinical hypnosis.
Key Points
- Practical self-hypnosis techniques for pain management without drugs
- Key differences between meditation and hypnosis as mental tools
- The neurobiology of trance states and how they alter brain function
- Clinical evidence for hypnosis in stress reduction and behavioral change
- Reveri app as a tool for interactive self-hypnosis
Key Moments
Hypnosis is heightened focus, not mind control
Hypnosis involves three components: highly focused attention, dissociation of distractions, and increased cognitive flexibility. It's self-generated, not imposed.
"But the truth in it is that you are more cognitively flexible. We've done some research, Afik Fairman, my postdoc, and I did a study looking at the continuous performance task in people who are high and low hypnotizable. The task has subtle changes in the way you solve the problems you're solving, but they don't tell you what it is. So people who are more cognitively flexible will figure out quicker that the rules have changed and how you do it. And that highly hypnotizable people are very good at that. They're good at letting go of the old premise and hooking into the new one. So that's a kind of cognitive flexibility that is very valuable. And I think a key aspect of why hypnosis is so helpful in treatment and helps people just manage problems better. So a question there, just in terms of the reason that it helps people in a clinical context with various issues, is it because the in a sense the errors of causality point both ways in the sense that someone with this higher cognitive flexibility are better at letting go of say one premise and then taking on another but at the same time you can use hypnosis to make someone put someone into a state where they are more cognitively flexible and can kind of overwrite the previous premise? Yes, you're right. And it's because, you know, all hypnosis is frankly self-hypnosis. That is, you don't need to watch somebody dangle a watch or have a develop a smallpox scar on their forehead. People can shift into this state of highly focused attention."
Hypnosis is a flow state; meditation is open presence
Unlike meditation, which cultivates open awareness, hypnosis resembles a flow state with purpose: managing pain, quitting smoking, or controlling stress.
"Hypnosis is like a flow state. It's something that you just get in it to enjoy the feeling of doing it and how you relate to your body."
