Hypnosis reduces pain by altering brain signals

Scientists already know that hypnosis reduces pain perception. They just don't know how. That's why researchers at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and the Technical University of Aachen, Germany, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to find out if hypnosis alters brain activity in a way that might explain pain reduction. Their research might make more patients likely to accept this safe pain-reduction option in clinical settings.

The researchers found that volunteers under hypnosis experienced significant pain reduction in response to painful heat. They also had a distinctly different pattern of brain activity compared to when they were not hypnotized and experienced the painful heat.

The changes in brain activity suggest that hypnosis somehow blocks the pain signal from getting to the parts of the brain that perceives pain.

"The major finding from our study is that we see reduced activity in areas of the pain network and increased activity in other areas of the brain under hypnosis," said Sebastian Schulz-Stubner, M.D., Ph.D., UI Hospitals and Clinics anesthesiologist and first author of the study.