title: Salient findings: A potentially groundbreaking study on the neuroscience of hypnotizability, a critical review of hypnosis' efficacy, and the neurophysiology of conversion disorder.
abstract: Three papers of special interest to researchers and clinicians alike have recently appeared in the general scientific and medical literatures. Two of these papers are original research studies that employ brain-imaging technologies, one using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), the other position emission tomography (PET). A third paper is a comprehensive review of the empirical findings on the clinical use of hypnosis in pediatric oncology. The research study using MRI technology is extraordinary, because it is the first to document differences in brain morphology between high hypnotizable and low hypnotizable individuals. Arguably, if its findings replicate, the study could be one of the most important developments in scientific hypnosis since the genesis of the Stanford scales 45 years ago. The PET study notes differences in brain activation during intentionally simulated and hypnotically experienced paralysis. The review article examines empirical work addressing the efficacy of hypnosis for procedural pain in pediatric oncology.
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-0900, USA. mnash@utk.edu
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Nash
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology; D003291:Conversion Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D016896:Treatment Outcome