Tim Brunson DCH

Welcome to The International Hypnosis Research Institute Web site. Our intention is to support and promote the further worldwide integration of comprehensive evidence-based research and clinical hypnotherapy with mainstream mental health, medicine, and coaching. We do so by disseminating, supporting, and conducting research, providing professional level education, advocating increased level of practitioner competency, and supporting the viability and success of clinical practitioners. Although currently over 80% of our membership is comprised of mental health practitioners, we fully recognize the role, support, involvement, and needs of those in the medical and coaching fields. This site is not intended as a source of medical or psychological advice. Tim Brunson, PhD

Evaluating biofield treatments in a cell culture model of oxidative stress.

Posted At : August 14, 2008 4:15 PM | Posted By : Tim Brunson, PhD
Related Categories: Bioelectric Medicine


OBJECTIVE: To test whether healing treatments by biofield practitioners can protect normal human brain cells against cell death induced by oxidative stress. DESIGN: Cultured human brain cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and cell death was quantified by computerized time-lapse microscopy. Biofield treatments were delivered to cells from a short distance in 24 independent experiments. Six highly experienced biofield practitioners each participated, all with exceptional reputations within their respective communities (4 independent experiments each). An equal number of control experiments involving no healing intervention were conducted to provide a measure of intrinsic variability of the experimental system. Experiments were conducted with blinding applied to each of the scientists and randomized sample assignment. INTERVENTION: Healing treatments were delivered to cells from a short distance by a single practitioner, before and after exposure to hydrogen peroxide, for a total of 30 minutes. OUTCOME MEASURE: Cell death was quantified over a 4-hour period following experimental treatments. RESULTS: We found no significant difference in cell death rates between treatment and control groups.

Mager J, Moore D, Bendl D, Wong B, Rachlin K, Yount G. California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA. Explore (NY). 2007 Jul-Aug;3(4):386-90.

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Evaluating biofield treatments in a cell culture model of oxidative stress.

Posted At : August 14, 2008 4:15 PM | Posted By : Tim Brunson, PhD
Related Categories: Bioelectric Medicine


OBJECTIVE: To test whether healing treatments by biofield practitioners can protect normal human brain cells against cell death induced by oxidative stress. DESIGN: Cultured human brain cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and cell death was quantified by computerized time-lapse microscopy. Biofield treatments were delivered to cells from a short distance in 24 independent experiments. Six highly experienced biofield practitioners each participated, all with exceptional reputations within their respective communities (4 independent experiments each). An equal number of control experiments involving no healing intervention were conducted to provide a measure of intrinsic variability of the experimental system. Experiments were conducted with blinding applied to each of the scientists and randomized sample assignment. INTERVENTION: Healing treatments were delivered to cells from a short distance by a single practitioner, before and after exposure to hydrogen peroxide, for a total of 30 minutes. OUTCOME MEASURE: Cell death was quantified over a 4-hour period following experimental treatments. RESULTS: We found no significant difference in cell death rates between treatment and control groups.

Mager J, Moore D, Bendl D, Wong B, Rachlin K, Yount G. California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA. Explore (NY). 2007 Jul-Aug;3(4):386-90.

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The effect of pulsed electromagnetic fields on secondary skin wound healing: an experimental study.

Posted At : October 12, 2007 2:11 AM | Posted By : Tim Brunson, PhD
Related Categories: Bioelectric Medicine


A variety of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) have already been experimentally used, in an effort to promote wound healing. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of short duration PEMF on secondary healing of full thickness skin wounds in a rat model. Full thickness skin wounds, 2 by 2 cm, were surgically inflicted in two groups of male Wistar rats, 24 animals each. In the first group (experimental group - EG), the animals were placed and immobilized in a special constructed cage. Then the animals were exposed to a short duration PEMF for 20 min daily. In the second group (control group - CG), the animals were also placed and immobilized in the same cage for the same time, but not exposed to PEMF. On days 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 22, following the infliction of skin wounds, the size and healing progress of each wound were recorded and evaluated by means of planimetry and histological examination. According to our findings with the planimetry, there was a statistically significant acceleration of the healing rate for the first 9 days in EG, whereas a qualitative improvement of healing progress was identified by histological examination at all time points, compared to the control group.

Bioelectromagnetics. 2007 Jul;28(5):362-8.

Athanasiou A, Karkambounas S, Batistatou A, Lykoudis E, Katsaraki A, Kartsiouni T, Papalois A, Evangelou A.

Laboratory of Experimental Physiology, Ioannina University School of Medicine, Greece. tanasisa@yahoo.gr

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Designed electromagnetic pulsed therapy: Clinical applications.

Posted At : October 11, 2007 2:10 AM | Posted By : Tim Brunson, PhD
Related Categories: Bioelectric Medicine


First reduced to science by Maxwell in 1865, electromagnetic technology as therapy received little interest from basic scientists or clinicians until the 1980s. It now promises applications that include mitigation of inflammation (electrochemistry) and stimulation of classes of genes following onset of illness and injury (electrogenomics). The use of electromagnetism to stop inflammation and restore tissue seems a logical phenomenology, that is, stop the inflammation, then upregulate classes of restorative gene loci to initiate healing. Studies in the fields of MRI and NMR have aided the understanding of cell response to low energy EMF inputs via electromagnetically responsive elements. Understanding protein iterations, that is, how they process information to direct energy, we can maximize technology to aid restorative intervention, a promising step forward over current paradigms of therapy.

J Cell Physiol. 2007 Sep;212(3):579-82.

Gordon GA.

Electromagnetic Research and Education Foundation (EMREF), Port Gamble, Washington.

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Modeling electromagnetic fields detectability in a HH-like neuronal system.

Posted At : October 9, 2007 2:09 AM | Posted By : Tim Brunson, PhD
Related Categories: Bioelectric Medicine


Noise has already been shown to play a constructive role in neuronal processing and reliability, according to stochastic resonance (SR). Here another issue is addressed, concerning noise role in the detectability of an exogenous signal, here representing an electromagnetic (EM) field. A Hodgkin-Huxley like neuronal model describing a myelinated nerve fiber is proposed and validated, excited with a suprathreshold stimulation. EM field is introduced as an additive voltage input and its detectability in neuronal response is evaluated in terms of the output signal-to-noise ratio. Noise intensities maximizing spiking activity coherence with the exogenous EM signal are clearly shown, indicating a stochastic resonant behavior, strictly connected to the model frequency sensitivity. In this study SR exhibits a window of occurrence in the values of field frequency and intensity, which is a kind of effect long reported in bioelectromagnetic experimental studies. The spatial distribution of the modeled structure also allows to investigate possible effects on action potentials saltatory propagation, which results to be reliable and robust over the presence of an exogenous EM field and biological noise. The proposed approach can be seen as assessing biophysical bases of medical applications funded on electric and magnetic stimulation where the role of noise as a cooperative factor has recently gained growing attention.

Biol Cybern. 2006 Feb;94(2):118-27. Epub 2005 Dec 21.

Giannì M, Liberti M, Apollonio F, D'Inzeo G.

ICEmB at Department of Electronic Engineering, La Sapienza University of Rome, 00184 Rome, Italy. gianni@die.uniroma1.it

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Demodulation in tissue, the relevant parameters and the implications for limiting exposure.

Posted At : October 8, 2007 2:08 AM | Posted By : Tim Brunson, PhD
Related Categories: Bioelectric Medicine


In the biomedical literature there are a number of reports that speculate about possible effects in the body due to the demodulation of electromagnetic fields. However, only few interactions in amplitude-modulated or even pulse-modulated electromagnetic waves are fundamentally plausible and have been demonstrated to occur in humans. The following observations fall into this specific category: thermal effects of amplitude- or pulse-modulated microwaves; demodulation of amplitude- or pulse-modulated electromagnetic waves in cell membranes; and demodulation of amplitude- or pulse-modulated electromagnetic fields in the electronics of implants such as cardiac pacemakers or cardioverter defibrillators. The possible consequences of these effects for the organism, their probability of occurrence in everyday life field conditions, and, consequently, the implications for limiting exposure are very different. Microwave hearing is a harmless effect which is perceived by humans only in strong fields with high peak power densities of more than 100 mW cm(-2). In normal residential or occupational environments the peak power density of even the strongest microwave sources is only around 1 mW cm(-2). Demodulation of pulse-modulated electromagnetic fields in the cell membranes decreases the stimulation threshold of nerves and muscles and can introduce numerous adverse effects ranging from perception of pain to dangerous cardiac fibrillations. The stimulation and demodulation effects are restricted to carrier frequencies up to several MHz. In experiments with 900 and 1,800 MHz packets with lengths of up to 100 ms and applied powers of up to 100 W, neither a direct stimulation of superficial nerves and muscles nor the conditioning of an electrical current stimulus could be confirmed. Pulse-modulated electromagnetic waves are demodulated in the electronic circuits of implants and can inhibit cardiac pacemakers and introduce cardiac arrest in this way. The highest sensitivity results from repetition rates of pulses below 100 Hz. The preceding two implications should be considered in the elaboration of new general guidelines limiting the exposure for healthy as well as for sick persons in the future.

Health Phys. 2007 Jun;92(6):604-8.

Silny J.

femu-Research Center for Bioelectromagnetic Interaction, University Hospital RWTH, Aachen University, 30 Pauwelsstrasse, Aachen, Germany. silny@femu.rwth-aachen.de

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