Hypnosis as a State of Selective Attention and Disattention

Hypnosis as a State of Selective Attention and Disattention.


6th Internet World Congress for Biomedical Sciences Index
One-page version


The Neurophysiology of Hypnosis: Hypnosis as a State of Selective Attention and Disattention.
Marcelle Bartolo Abela(1)
(1)The Experimental Hypnosis Research Clinic - Hamrun. Malta

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HISTORY
Theories of hypnosis are generally divided into psychological and physiological theories, with the former being sub-divided into psychological and psychoanalytical: the psychological theories of hypnosis emphasize role definition, expectation, and subject motivation, while the psychoanalytical theories emphasize hypnosis as a regressive state. However, these will not be presented here as they are not pertinent to the subject matter under discussion. Physiological theories, meanwhile, emphasize the neural bases of hypnosis, an overview of which is provided herewith:


Animal magnetism theory (Mesmer)
Sleep theory (Marquis de Puysegur)
-Lucid sleep theory (Faria)
- Suggestibility hypothesis (Braid)
- Nervous sleep theory (Braid)
Waking theory (Lesser)
Cerebral inhibition theory (Pavlov)
- Partial sleep theory (Kubie and Margolin)
Partial cortical inhibition theory (Das)
- Ideomotor activity and inhibition theory (Arnold, Eysenck)
Pathological theory (Charcot, Pere, Binet)
- Dissociation theory (Janet, Prince, Walrath and Hamilton)
- Dissociation/altered state of consciousness theory (Fromm, McCabe, Collins and Burns, Barmark and Gaunitz, London, Ludwig, Marmer, Spiegel, Tart, Walrath and Hamilton)
- Neo-dissociation theory (Hilgard)
- Dissociated control theory (Bowers)
- Controlled dissociation theory (West)
State theory (Alexander, Erickson, Orne, Zimbardo, Maslach, and Marshall)
Informational theory
The first physiological theory was Mesmer´s theory of animal magnetism, which maintained that an invisible magnetic fluid resided in the therapist´s body, and was responsible for curing the afflicted parts of a patient´s body by means of hand-passes. This was followed by de Puysegur´s sleep theory, which considered hypnosis to be a "sleeping" trance (Udolf 1987), later redefined by Abbe Faria as lucid sleep, and eventually combined with Braid´s suggestibility hypothesis, to form the latter´s nervous sleep theory (Abela 1998). Sleep theories were supported by the resemblance in the appearance of subjects in the somnambulistic state to those in natural sleep, and because phenomena ordinarily taking place during the act of falling asleep constitute a large part of the usual induction suggestions (Horvai 1959). However, such theories were incorrect, because clinical and experimental evidence listed in Table 1 has demonstrated that hypnosis is distinctly different from sleep. Therefore, such theories were rejected in favor of a theory of hypnosis as a waking state (Lesser 1985) which is also incorrect, because the same data also shows distinct differences between hypnosis and the normal waking state, even though some similarities do exist, as shown in Table 2. Moreover, a review of the evidence also shows converse differences in the neurophysiological characteristics of hypnosis according to high or low hypnotizability, as listed in Table 3.

Meanwhile, Pavlov regarded hypnosis as a state of cerebral inhibition because the monotony of a low-intensity stimulus, presented to a subject whose motor functioning was inhibited, was considered to produce a radiating area of neural inhibition in the cerebral cortex, which inhibition differed from that of normal sleep in that the latter was generalized cortical inhibition (Crasilneck and Hall 1985). The localized inhibition was considered to allow the more primitive part of the brain - the part more susceptible to suggestion (Waxman 1981) - to become dominant, and this theory eventually developed into the theory of hypnosis as partial sleep in a regressed state (Kubie and Margolin 1944, Roth 1962), later redefined as a learned state of partial cortical inhibition (Das 1958) and excitation (Kraines 1969), after findings that the development of inhibition in the presence of monotonous stimuli improved with practice, and could possibly be correlated with increasing hypnotizability (Das 1 58). Concurrently, others contended that the effects of suggestibility were the result of ideomotor action and inhibition (Arnold 1946, Eysenck 1947), with suggestibility being merely the experience of imagining what is actualized through ideomotor activities (Arnold 1946). However such a theory is incomplete, because it failed to explain the complex psychological reactions elicited during hypnosis (Kroger 1977).

The pathological theory of hypnosis primarily promoted by Charcot, Pere, and Binet regarded hypnosis as a product of some disease process in the CNS, similarly to hysteria: this was temporarily supported by Freud, who found that hysterical patients would often improve after hypnotic trance. Later evidence, though, indicated that both hypnotic and hysterical phenomena may occur in persons whose central nervous systems are normal (Crasilneck and Hall 1985). However, from Charcot´s theory was formulated Janet´s dissociation theory, which considered hypnosis to be primarily as a defense mechanism (Waxman 1981), and this theory was to become the basis for the current theories of neo-dissociation, hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness, dissociated control, and controlled dissociation. Meanwhile, hypnosis has also been considered as an altered state of consciousness (Ludwig 1966, Tart 1969, Walrath and Hamilton 1975), while a controlled dissociation theory has also been put forward ( est 1960), which regards hypnosis as a state of altered awareness maintained through parassociative mechanisms mediated by the ascending reticular activating system (Crasilneck and Hall 1985).

Other physiological theories of hypnosis are the state and informational theories, the former maintaining hypnosis to be a distinct state from either wakefulness or sleep (Orne 1972) being a state of intensified attention and receptiveness, and an increased responsiveness to an idea or sets of ideas (Erickson 1958) - a theory having the most physiological support, as demonstrated by the data listed in Tables 1, 2, and 3, while informational theory is a speculative hypothesis representing hypnosis as a regression from functioning, like a general purpose computer to that of a special purpose computer (Kroger 1977).

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Discussion Board
[ABSTRACT] [INTRODUCTION] [HISTORY] [CURRENT THEORIES AND EVIDENCE] [TABLES] [DISCUSSION] [CONCLUSIONS] [ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS] [REFERENCES] [Discussion Board]

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[Neuroscience]
[Physiology]

Marcelle Bartolo Abela
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Last update: 10/01/00