Hypnobo: perspectives on hypnosis and placebo

Hypnosis and placebo share in phenomenology. While hypnosis-like phenomena have a documented history going back thousands of years, accounts of placebo effects span several centuries. With the rise of biological psychiatry and the "pharmacological revolution," drug trials have taken a central place in clinical research. These clinical trials increasingly incorporate placebo-controlled conditions as part of their paradigms and may even involve an element of deception. In contrast, the therapeutic effects of hypnosis do not require deception. As researchers begin to identify genetic and neural correlates of hypnotizability, these findings may further elucidate placebo phenomena. Whereas identifying highly hypnotizable individuals may be of limited interest, identifying good placebo responders may revolutionize both basic research and clinical science, offer insights into transcultural psychiatry and elucidate individual differences.

Am J Clin Hypn. 2007 Jul;50(1):49-58. Raz A., Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.