Dr. David Spiegel

And I think what you can do in hypnosis in narrowing your focus of attention, in dissociating, is suspend your usual view, feeling about what you're like and try out being different.

Well, the thing is that hypnosis is really a naturally occurring ability that people have to varying degrees, but it's something that we just don't tap. And all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. So just like you try to teach people, you do teach people how to meditate, how to be mindful of what they're doing. You're helping them discover a capacity within themselves that they can use.

Well, the thing is that hypnosis is really a naturally occurring ability that people have to varying degrees, but it's something that we just don't tap. And all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. So just like you try to teach people, you do teach people how to meditate, how to be mindful of what they're doing. You're helping them discover a capacity within themselves that they can use.

Hypnosis is very similar in that sense, that most people have some ability to narrow their focus. And it's not a loss of control, it's a gain of control. You're learning that you can filter hurt out of pain, that you can get to sleep better, that you can manage stress in a way that doesn't keep it proliferating but teaches you to control it. I saw a man yesterday, a brilliant professor who...

Hypnosis is very similar in that sense, that most people have some ability to narrow their focus. And it's not a loss of control, it's a gain of control. You're learning that you can filter hurt out of pain, that you can get to sleep better, that you can manage stress in a way that doesn't keep it proliferating but teaches you to control it. I saw a man yesterday, a brilliant professor who...

had radiation to his nose because he had a tumor there that needed to be treated. And he had terrible sensitivity in his nose and in his mouth. And he tried everything. He tried like seven different ways to neutralize the nerve signals. He took medications. He did all kinds of things. It didn't work. And he was getting more and more frustrated because his life was his words.

had radiation to his nose because he had a tumor there that needed to be treated. And he had terrible sensitivity in his nose and in his mouth. And he tried everything. He tried like seven different ways to neutralize the nerve signals. He took medications. He did all kinds of things. It didn't work. And he was getting more and more frustrated because his life was his words.

And he was a teacher and couldn't stand the thought of not being able to do that because he was so frustrated by it. And he found with a few minutes of learning self-hypnosis that he could reduce the interference by 50%. He was amazed. He said, you know, my hand is feeling light and I feel some waves going through it. And I had him touch his face and kind of spread those waves.

And he was a teacher and couldn't stand the thought of not being able to do that because he was so frustrated by it. And he found with a few minutes of learning self-hypnosis that he could reduce the interference by 50%. He was amazed. He said, you know, my hand is feeling light and I feel some waves going through it. And I had him touch his face and kind of spread those waves.

And he felt different right away. He was amazed. His wife was sitting and watching and she said, I'm not surprised. But It is a way of altering the way we manage our focus of attention, our processing of sensory input. And so literally we can filter the hurt out of the pain. We can manage stress better by focusing on the body up rather than the head down.

And he felt different right away. He was amazed. His wife was sitting and watching and she said, I'm not surprised. But It is a way of altering the way we manage our focus of attention, our processing of sensory input. And so literally we can filter the hurt out of the pain. We can manage stress better by focusing on the body up rather than the head down.

We often think, well, if I just figure out what's stressing me and decide it's not important or figure out a better way to do it, I won't be stressed. But what happens with stress is usually it's from the body up, that you see something that threatens you. We're pretty pathetic physical creatures. We don't run that fast. We don't smell that well. We don't hear that well.

We often think, well, if I just figure out what's stressing me and decide it's not important or figure out a better way to do it, I won't be stressed. But what happens with stress is usually it's from the body up, that you see something that threatens you. We're pretty pathetic physical creatures. We don't run that fast. We don't smell that well. We don't hear that well.

And so normally we evolve because we treated most stressors as physical threats and you better get your heart rate up and your blood pressure up, be ready to fight or flee. But most of the stressors we have now are not life threats. So if you respond physically, Your body's telling your brain, oh my God, this is really terrible. And the brain thinks, oh yeah, this really, I feel bad.

And so normally we evolve because we treated most stressors as physical threats and you better get your heart rate up and your blood pressure up, be ready to fight or flee. But most of the stressors we have now are not life threats. So if you respond physically, Your body's telling your brain, oh my God, this is really terrible. And the brain thinks, oh yeah, this really, I feel bad.

This must be really bad. And it's like a snowball rolling downhill. And with hypnosis, you can deal with the aspect of the threat that actually makes you most worried about it. And you can control it. You can say, well, your boss may have said something awful to you, but your body doesn't have to react that way. So imagine you're floating in a bath, a lake, a tub, or floating in space.

This must be really bad. And it's like a snowball rolling downhill. And with hypnosis, you can deal with the aspect of the threat that actually makes you most worried about it. And you can control it. You can say, well, your boss may have said something awful to you, but your body doesn't have to react that way. So imagine you're floating in a bath, a lake, a tub, or floating in space.

And then picture on an imaginary screen your boss on one side and what you might say or do on the other in the context of feeling physically more comfortable. So hypnosis is a way of, in a very focused way, controlling mind and body interactions in a way that helps you handle them better.

And then picture on an imaginary screen your boss on one side and what you might say or do on the other in the context of feeling physically more comfortable. So hypnosis is a way of, in a very focused way, controlling mind and body interactions in a way that helps you handle them better.

Yeah, well, I've lived with it for a long time. But we've spent a decade studying what's going on in the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques. with people who are high and low in hypnotizability in and out of hypnotic states. And we find three things happen in the brain when you go into hypnosis. The first is you turn down activity in the anterior cingulate cortex.