Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:749-754
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Hypnotic alteration of somatosensory perception
D Spiegel, P Bierre and J Rootenberg
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305.
Effects of hypnotic alterations of perception on amplitude of somatosensory
event-related potentials were studied in 10 highly hypnotizable subjects
and 10 subjects with low hypnotizability. The highly hypnotizable
individuals showed significant decreases in amplitude of the P100 and P300
waveform components during a hypnotic hallucination that blocked perception
of the stimulus. When hypnosis was used to intensify attention to the
stimulus, there was an increase in P100 amplitude. These findings are
consistent with observations that highly hypnotizable individuals can
reduce or eliminate pain by using purely cognitive methods such as
hypnosis. Together with data from the visual system, these results suggest
a neurophysiological basis for hypnotic sensory alteration.
