[@hubermanlab] Essentials: Using Hypnosis to Enhance Mental & Physical Health & Performance | Dr. David Spiegel

Link: https://youtu.be/SOo4yNoaAoc

Short Summary

This Huberman Lab Essentials episode features a discussion with Dr. David Spiegel on the science and applications of hypnosis, defining it as a state of focused attention that enhances control over mind and body. They explore clinical uses like stress reduction, sleep improvement, and trauma processing, highlighting brain activity changes during hypnosis and emphasizing the importance of voluntary self-exposure for therapeutic benefits, while cautioning against the dangers of stage hypnosis and emphasizing the importance of a qualified, licensed professional.

Key Quotes

Okay, here are 5 quotes extracted from the transcript that I found particularly insightful:

1. "They think you're losing control. You're gaining control. Self-hypnosis is a way of enhancing your control over your mind and your body. It can work very well. But because it gives you a kind of cognitive flexibility. You're able to shift sets very easily to give up judging and evaluating the way you usually do and see something from a different point of view." - This quote highlights a key misunderstanding about hypnosis (loss of control) and reframes it as a tool for gaining control and cognitive flexibility.

2. "Hypnosis can be very helpful in dissociating somatic reaction from psychological reaction. So, we teach people to imagine their body floating somewhere safe and comfortable like a bath, a lake, a hot tub, or floating in space and then picture the problem that they're that's stressing them on an imaginary screen with the rule that no matter what you see on the screen, you keep your body comfortable." - This quote describes a practical and actionable technique within hypnosis for managing stress by separating the physical response from the psychological trigger.

3. "I think there's more and more evidence that mental state change itself has therapeutic potential. We're seeing that with ketamine treating depression, a dissocien drug. Um we see it, we know it every morning when we wake up that problem. You know, you made the mistake of reading a nasty email at 11 p.m. You didn't know what to do. You wake up in the morning think, "Oh, that idiot. Yeah, here's what I'm going to You know, so just changing mental state itself has therapeutic potential and I think we underestimate our ability to regulate and and change responses to be cognitively, emotionally and somatically flexible." - This quote emphasizes the inherent therapeutic value of simply changing mental states and suggests that hypnosis can be a method to actively induce beneficial mental state shifts.

4. "Gordon helped establish the concept of state dependent memory that when you're in a certain mental state, you enhance your ability to remember things about it. And the sort of the bad example of that is the drunk who hides the bottle and can't remember where he put it until he gets drunk again. That he's in that same mental state. People go into dissociative states uh when they're traumatized. So, in a way, hypnosis is helping them remember and deal with the memories better because they're more in the mental state that is more like what happened." - This quote connects hypnosis to the principle of state-dependent memory, explaining how it can facilitate trauma processing by bringing the individual closer to the mental state experienced during the traumatic event.

5. "You want to find a way to feel in control of the access and to define what happened on your own terms...It's a matter of thinking about a problem in a way that leaves you feeling you understand it better. You're in more control. You can turn it off when you when you want. You can turn it on when you want." - This quote sums up the empowering goal of therapeutic interventions, highlighting the importance of regaining control over accessing and processing traumatic experiences.

Detailed Summary

Okay, here's a detailed summary of the YouTube video transcript in bullet points, focusing on key topics, arguments, and information discussed:

I. Introduction to Hypnosis

• Huberman Lab Essentials revisiting potent and actionable science-based tools.
• Interview with Dr. David Spiegel, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.
• Hypnosis defined: A state of highly focused attention, similar to looking through a telephoto lens – detailed but lacking context.
• Analogy: Being so engrossed in a movie you become part of it, not just an observer.
• Engaging in sports events and feeling the somatic body sensations enhances the hypnotic like experience.

II. Clinical vs. Stage Hypnosis

• Distinction between clinical hypnosis (therapeutic) and stage hypnosis (entertainment).
• Stage hypnosis is often considered harmful because it makes people feel they lose control, potentially embarrassing them.
• Clinical hypnosis empowers people, enhancing control over mind and body.
• Cognitive flexibility is a key aspect – shifting perspectives and suspending judgment. This can be therapeutic but also potentially misused.

III. Brain Activity During Hypnosis

• Specific brain areas are affected during hypnosis:
  • Decreased activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC): The dACC is a "conflict detector" in the salience network, alerting you to potential dangers or distractions. Turning it down reduces susceptibility to distractions.
  • Increased functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the insula: The insula is sensitive to bodily states and part of the mind-body control system. This connection allows the brain to influence physiological functions (e.g., gastric acid secretion).
  • Example: Study showed highly hypnotizable people imagining eating their favorite foods experienced an 87% increase in gastric acid secretion.
  • Another example: Even when injected with pentagastrin (which triggers gastric acid release), individuals could use hypnosis to reduce it by 19%.
  • Inverse functional connectivity between the DLPFC and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC): The PCC is part of the default mode network, associated with self-reflection and autobiographical memory. Decreased PCC activity contributes to dissociation and cognitive flexibility. You're not thinking about what things mean for you.

IV. Hypnosis for Focus and Attention (ADHD)

• Hypnosis can enhance focus and attention.
• Potential use for ADHD, but hypnotizability needs to be assessed.
• Analogy: Being absorbed in reading or writing, the task becomes game-like.

V. Applications of Clinical Hypnosis

• Successfully used for:
  • Stress Reduction
  • Improving Sleep
  • Treating Phobias
  • Pain Management
  • Trauma Processing (PTSD)

VI. Hypnosis for Stress Reduction

• Hypnosis can help dissociate somatic reactions (e.g., tension, sweating) from psychological stress.
• Technique: Imagine your body floating in a safe place while picturing the stressor on an imaginary screen, maintaining physical comfort.
• This helps regain a sense of control.

VII. Hypnosis and Sleep

• Many people report improved sleep using self-hypnosis.
• Huberman uses self-hypnosis and the Revery app for sleep.

VIII. Hypnosis and Phobias

• People with phobias tend to avoid the phobic trigger, reinforcing fear-based memories.
• Hypnosis can help manage anxiety and create a wider array of (potentially positive) associations with the trigger.

IX. Hypnosis and Trauma (PTSD)

• Narrative is a crucial component of therapy and hypnosis.
• Mental state change itself has therapeutic potential (unsistatic desensitization).
• Hypnosis can allow individuals to confront trauma and restructure their understanding of it more quickly and effectively.
• Example: Woman with Basler skull fracture from attempted rape
• One randomized trial out of Israel showed that adding hypnosis to PTSD treatment actually improves outcomes.

X. State-Dependent Memory and Trauma

• Concept of state-dependent memory (Gordon Bower): recall is improved when in the same mental state as when the memory was formed.
• People in traumatic episodes often enter dissociative states ("blank out").
• Hypnosis can help access and process traumatic memories because it makes the current mental state more congruent with the state during the trauma.

XI. The Importance of Naming and Acceptance

• Suggests that a different name for clinical hypnosis (other than "hypnosis") might reduce stigma and increase acceptance.
• Reinforces the idea that hypnosis ultimately boils down to changing neural brain states.

XII. Permanence of Changes and Self-Hypnosis vs. Clinician-Guided

• Most people start with a clinician.
• The clinician can assess the problem, make sure underlying medical issues aren't overlooked, and teach self-hypnosis techniques.
• Frequency of sessions depends on the individual and the issue.

XIII. Revery App

• Developed an app (Revery) to guide people through self-hypnosis for:
  • Pain
  • Stress
  • Focus
  • Insomnia
  • Eating Better
  • Stopping Smoking
• Includes short (1-2 minute) refresher elements.
• If it helps, you can learn to do it for yourself.

XIV. Hypnosis and Obsessive Thoughts (OCD)

• Individuals with OCD tend to be less hypnotizable.
• They often over-control their thoughts and are more evaluative than experiential.

XV. Hypnotizability

• Hypnotizability is a person's capacity to have hypnotic experiences.
• About 1/3 of adults are not hypnotizable, 2/3 are, and 15% are extremely hypnotizable.

XVI. The Spiegel Eye-Roll Test

• Hypnotic Induction Profile measures capacity
• Involves looking up at the ceiling and then closing the eyelids while keeping the eyes elevated.
• The amount of sclera (white part of the eye) visible as the eyes close indicates hypnotizability.
• Eye movements related to levels of consciousness.

XVII. Deliberate Self-Exposure

• Importance of deliberate self-exposure (deciding to confront the trauma/pain).
• It's not just about the state you get into, but whether you brought yourself there voluntarily.
• It is not about avoiding painful experiences, but learning how to handle them.

XVIII. Mind-Body Connection

• Hypnosis is a kind of limiting case where you can push the management of mind-body connection about as far as you can push it.

XIX. Hypnosis and Pain

• Teach people to categorize pain: does it indicate further injury or is it a sign of healing?
• You can modify the way you process pain based on what your brain tells you the pain means.

XX. Hypnosis and Children

• Children can be safely hypnotized.
• Need more structure.
• Effective for fear, pain, and medical procedures.
• Example: study on avoiding cysto urethrograms in children.

XXI. Group Hypnosis

• Hypnosis can be done in groups.
• Shared social experience.
• Ex: metastatic breast cancer support group.

XXII. Role of Breathing

• Breathing is a bridge between conscious and unconscious states.
• Neocylic sighing (longer exhale than inhale) may induce parasympathetic activity.
• Deep breath during induction, followed by slow exhale, enhances relaxation.

XXIII. Resources and Conclusion

• Revery App: reve.com or Revery App from the app store
• To find trained hypnotists: Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH.org) and American Society for Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH.net)
• Look for someone licensed and trained in their primary professional discipline, with additional hypnosis training.
• Hypnosis is powerful and applicable for performance, mental and physical well-being.