Abstract
ObjectivesThe effects of hypnosis on physiological (gastrointestinal) functions are incompletely understood, and it is unknown whether they are hypnosis-specific and gut-specific, or simply unspecific effects of relaxation.DesignSixty-two healthy female volunteers were randomly assigned to either a single session of hypnotic suggestion of ingesting an appetizing meal and an unappetizing meal, or to relax and concentrate on having an appetizing or unappetizing meal, while the electrogastrogram (EGG) was recorded. At the end of the session, participants drank water until they felt full, in order to detect EGG-signal changes after ingestion of a true gastric load. During both conditions participants reported their subjective well-being, hunger and disgust at several time points. ResultsImagining eating food induced subjective feelings of hunger and disgust as well as changes in the EGG similar to, but more pronounced than those seen with a real gastric water load during both hypnosis and relaxation conditions. These effects were more pronounced when imagining an appetizing meal than with an unappetizing meal. There was no significant difference between the hypnosis and relaxation conditions. ConclusionImagination with and without hypnosis exhibits similar changes in subjective and objective measures in response to imagining an appetizing and an unappetizing food, indicating high sensitivity but low specificity.
Highlights
Hypnosis is a tool used to induce deep relaxation that has been around since Charcot [1]
Twenty participants (50%) in the hypnosis group and 7 participants in the control group (35%) were identified as highly susceptible to hypnosis according to the normative values of the German version of the HGSHS [25] (Chi2 n.s.)
Our study examined whether hypnosis induces gastrointestinal physiological effects, and if so, whether these effects are specific to hypnosis
Summary
Hypnosis is a tool used to induce deep relaxation that has been around since Charcot [1]. In 1984, Whorwell and others [7] presented a clinical study that showed high efficacy of hypnotherapy over supportive psychotherapy and placebo therapy in patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders such as the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). They used a novel hypnosis technique they called "gutdirected hypnosis" (GDH), that used pictures specific to the gastrointestinal tract following induction of hypnotic relaxation [8]. GDH has since shown remarkable short-term as well as long-tem clinical efficacy in many IBS studies [9,10], in adults as well as in children [11], and with individual therapy as well as in group settings [12]
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