For over 100 years scientists have debated the so-called hypnotic state. Many have argued that it is no more than a "heightened state of suggestibility" which leads to the desire to please the hypnotist. Others have firmly asserted that hypnosis is indeed a truly altered state in which the subject has access to information and mind/body power than no normal state allows.

Personally, my own work and observations have tended to agree with both extremes. In fact, I have witnessed the subject faking hypnosis and attempting in every way to please the hypnotist. I have personally used hypnosis in criminal cases and watched liars lie. In contrast, I have also used hypnosis to both trap the "faker/liar" and to obtain information totally unavailable to the conscious mind.

Often definitions are only weak descriptions of our phenomenal world--both the inner and outer version of it. Those of you familiar with my work will not be surprised to hear me repeat my assertion that our language is inherently incapable of much more than approximations. Unfortunately, many fall unwitting victim to the literal inference implied in the Aristotelian application of language. Well, so much for that.

A new study using positron emission tomography (PET) offers clear evidence that hypnosis is indeed a distinct state of mind. Stephen M. Kosslyn of Harvard University took PET scans of eight adult brains as they completed four tasks, in and out of hypnosis. The scans showed clear differences in brain activity. What may be surprising to many is that the area most effected, that is most excited, during task execution in hypnotic states was in the left-brain. This area of the brain showed a marked increase in blood flow when hypnotized subjects were asked to visualize imaginary colors and a definite decrease when the same subjects were asked to imagine colors as gray. The researchers believe that this region contributes to the hypnotic state. [Bower, 2000 #1]

That abandoned feeling, no hope, already shown to play a significant role in suppressing the immune system, has now been linked to stroke. Researchers Bruce S. Jonas and Michael E. Musolino, both of the National Center for Health Statistics, analyzed the data from a long term study and found that major depression symptoms were linked to higher incidents of stroke. "Major depressive symptoms posed a greater statistical risk for suffering a stroke than did 13 other factors, including having a high blood concentration of cholesterol or high systolic blood pressure, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, shunning exercise, or being overweight, black, diabetic, or elderly." [Bower, 2000 #2]

The Science News headline, "Minds may track danger unconsciously," reminded me of a pilot study I conducted a few years ago. Using a simple repeated phrase, "Watch out! Danger, danger, danger," presented subliminally (masked in ocean waves) caused increases in blood pressure, heart rate and galvanic skin response, as measured by a Stolting polygraph. Further, a debriefing of the subjects participating in the study disclosed that their reverie during the four-minute session was of death and dying. Unconsciously, the subjects in the study had both responded physically and psychologically, incorporating the subliminal danger message in their reverie in a manner suggesting an unconscious collaboration between the conscious and unconscious.

Danger feelings, heightened anxiety, preparedness to fight or flee, may well arise from signals, imagined and real, that are initiated in the unconscious. William James asserted many years ago that we see a bear run and are afraid. That is, our conscious awareness or what we term or feel as fear comes only after our flight. Instinctively, in James' mind, evolution geared our species first for survival, second for reflection (thought). Certain contemporary research has tended to support that view. [LeDoux, 1996 #3]

Researcher Philip S. Wong of the New School for Social Research in New York contends that, "Some kind of unconscious signal function in the brain for anticipating danger situations must be a central feature of any comprehensive model of the mind."

Wong paired frowning faces with mild electrical finger shock during a classical conditioning period. The shock followed the visual presentation of the frowning face pictures by approximately 2.5 seconds during the condition period. Then Wong presented the conditioned/paired frowning faces subliminally followed by no shock. The subjects in the study exhibited a distinct slow-wave brain pattern that emerged about 1/2-second before the shock would have been delivered according to the condition phase. (Wong's complete study is available in the current issue of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association). [Bower, 2000 #4]

Emotional Expression May Influence the Output of Random Event Generators

In a new study reported in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, researcher Richard A. Blasband of the Center for Functional Research, sought to discover whether there was any correlation between emotion and the output of an electronic random event generator (REG). Using patients in Reichian biopsychiatric therapy, comparisons between the output of the REG with neutral speech and spontaneous emotional crying or outbursts of anger were made. Blasband's data suggests a strong correlation between emotion and REG output. He concluded that the observed effect was due to "resonance between the therapist/investigator, the emotionally expanding and/or contracting patient, and the REG." [Blasband, 2000 #5]