Hypnosis has been commonly recognized as an effective intervention in the treatment of obsessions, compulsions, and addictions. It may not be for the reasons that we normally think. Too often efficacious findings are coupled with head scratching admissions pertaining to the lack of understanding of the causality. Modern findings and recent discoveries by neuroscientists may open the door for understanding the relationship between hypnosis and the treatment of addictions. Suggestions of relaxation and slow, calm breathing as promoted by hypnosis, meditation, and yoga are significant factors in the treatment of addictions.

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To explore the hypothesis that nontouch therapy such as therapeutic touch (TT) reduces stress to a clinically important degree and is safe to use in preterm infants. DESIGN: A pilot randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. SUBJECTS: Two groups of 10 infants were enrolled and randomly assigned to treatment or nontreatment groups. Gestational age was less than 29 weeks. Demographic descriptions of the 2 groups were statistically similar. METHODS: The observer and staff were blinded to assignment; the TT practitioner was blinded to observed measurements. Each infant received either TT or no therapeutic touch (NTT) for 5 minutes on 3 consecutive days at the same time of day, behind a curtain. Heart period variability (HPV) was measured 5 minutes before, during, and after the treatment phase. RESULTS: Examination of the parameters of oxygen saturation and episodes of apnea demonstrated no increase in adverse events in TT group compared with NTT group. Repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance on HPV revealed differences in the interaction of group assignment with low-frequency, high-frequency, and low-to-high- frequency ratio interaction (F2,143 = 8.076, P = .000) and for group, day, and low-frequency, high-frequency, and low-to-high-frequency ratio (F2,288 = 3.146, P = .015), and in the posttreatment time period (F1,16 = 6.259, P = .024), reflective of greater parasympathetic activity in TT group. CONCLUSION: In this pilot trial, HPV showed an increase for the TT group compared with the NTT group. The study reveals no adverse effects of TT in preterm infants.

Adv Neonatal Care. 2008 Dec;8(6):315-33. Whitley JA, Rich BL. Neonatal Nurseries, McMaster Children's Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

When we listen to rhythm, we often move spontaneously to the beat. This movement may result from processing of the beat by motor areas. Previous studies have shown that several motor areas respond when attending to rhythms. Here we investigate whether specific motor regions respond to beat in rhythm. We predicted that the basal ganglia and supplementary motor area (SMA) would respond in the presence of a regular beat. To establish what rhythm properties induce a beat, we asked subjects to reproduce different types of rhythmic sequences. Improved reproduction was observed for one rhythm type, which had integer ratio relationships between its intervals and regular perceptual accents. A subsequent functional magnetic resonance imaging study found that these rhythms also elicited higher activity in the basal ganglia and SMA. This finding was consistent across different levels of musical training, although musicians showed activation increases unrelated to rhythm type in the premotor cortex, cerebellum, and SMAs (pre-SMA and SMA). We conclude that, in addition to their role in movement production, the basal ganglia and SMAs may mediate beat perception.

J Cogn Neurosci. 2007 May;19(5):893-906. Grahn JA, Brett M. MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK. Jessica.grahn@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk

Headache is one of the most common and enigmatic problems encountered by family physicians. Headache is not a singular entity, and different pathologic mechanisms are involved in distinct types of headache. Most types of headache involve dysfunction of peripheral or central nociceptive mechanisms. Mind-body therapies such as biofeedback, cognitive behavior therapy, hypnosis, meditation, and relaxation training can affect neural substrates and have been shown to be effective treatments for various types of headache. Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials show that the use of mind-body therapies, alone or in combination, significantly reduces symptoms of migraine, tension, and mixed-type headaches. Side effects generally are minimal and transient.

Sierpina V, Astin J, Giordano J.

University of Texas Medical Center, Galveston, Texas, USA. vssierpi@utmb.edu

Am Fam Physician. 2007 Nov 15