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

Hypnotize Yourself Out of Pain Now, Second Edition



A Book Review by Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D.

Once in a while, I read a book on hypnosis that is to eloquent, so well-organized, so understandable, and written with such clarity and sensitivity that I wish I'd written it myself. That's how I felt about reading Hypnotize Yourself Out of Pain Now (Second Edition) by Bruce Eimer, Ph.D. This is the quintessential book on self-hypnosis for pain management.

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Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation.



Recent brain imaging studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have implicated insula and anterior cingulate cortices in the empathic response to another's pain. However, virtually nothing is known about the impact of the voluntary generation of compassion on this network. To investigate these questions we assessed brain activity using fMRI while novice and expert meditation practitioners generated a loving-kindness-compassion meditation state. To probe affective reactivity, we presented emotional and neutral sounds during the meditation and comparison periods. Our main hypothesis was that the concern for others cultivated during this form of meditation enhances affective processing, in particular in response to sounds of distress, and that this response to emotional sounds is modulated by the degree of meditation training. The presentation of the emotional sounds was associated with increased pupil diameter and activation of limbic regions (insula and cingulate cortices) during meditation (versus rest). During meditation, activation in insula was greater during presentation of negative sounds than positive or neutral sounds in expert than it was in novice meditators. The strength of activation in insula was also associated with self-reported intensity of the meditation for both groups. These results support the role of the limbic circuitry in emotion sharing. The comparison between meditation vs. rest states between experts and novices also showed increased activation in amygdala, right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), and right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) in response to all sounds, suggesting, greater detection of the emotional sounds, and enhanced mentation in response to emotional human vocalizations for experts than novices during meditation. Together these data indicate that the mental expertise to cultivate positive emotion alters the activation of circuitries previously linked to empathy and theory of mind in response to emotional stimuli.

PLoS ONE. 2008 Mar 26;3(3):e1897. Lutz A, Brefczynski-Lewis J, Johnstone T, Davidson RJ. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America. alutz@wisc.edu

A Pilot Study Comparing the Effects of Mindfulness-Based and Cognitive-Behavioral Stress Reduction.



Objectives: The objective of this pilot study was to compare the effects of two mind-body interventions: mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and cognitive-behavioral stress reduction (CBSR). Subjects: Fifty (50) subjects were recruited from the community and took part in MBSR (n = 36) and CBSR (n = 14) courses. Participants self-selected into MBSR or CBSR courses taught at different times. There were no initial differences between the MBSR and CBSR subjects on demographics, including age, gender, education, and income. Intervention: MBSR was an 8-week course using meditation, gentle yoga, and body scanning exercises to increase mindfulness. CBSR was an 8-week course using cognitive and behavioral techniques to change thinking and reduce distress. Design: Perceived stress, depression, psychological well-being, neuroticism, binge eating, energy, pain, and mindfulness were assessed before and after each course. Pre-post scores for each intervention were compared by using paired t tests. Pre-post scores across interventions were compared by using a general linear model with repeated measures. Settings/Locations: Weekly meetings for both courses were held in a large room on a university medical center campus. Results: MBSR subjects improved on all eight outcomes, with all of the differences being significant. CBSR subjects improved on six of eight outcomes, with significant improvements on well-being, perceived stress, and depression. Multivariate analyses showed that the MBSR subjects had better outcomes across all variables, when compared with the CBSR subjects. Univariate analyses showed that MBSR subjects had better outcomes with regard to mindfulness, energy, pain, and a trend for binge eating. Conclusions: While MBSR and CBSR may both be effective in reducing perceived stress and depression, MBSR may be more effective in increasing mindfulness and energy and reducing pain. Future studies should continue to examine the differential effects of cognitive behavioral and mindfulness-based interventions and attempt to explain the reasons for the differences.

J Altern Complement Med. 2008 Mar 27 Smith BW, Shelley BM, Dalen J, Wiggins K, Tooley E, Bernard J. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.

Improving quality of life using compound mind-body therapies.



Objective: Assess changes in quality of life and in sense of coherence (SOC), after an intervention involving a self-development course using mind-body medicine (MBM) activities. Design A questionnaire study using a health-related quality of life (HRQOL) instrument, the SWEDQUAL, with 13 subscales and scores ranging from 0 to 100, combined with the SOC-13 scale, healthcare utilisation, medication and sick listing data. Setting A training centre for MBM. Eligible course attendants (study group, SG, n = 83) assessed their HRQOL before and 6 months after a 1-week course. A control group (CG) of individuals who had previously attended the course (n = 69), matched for age, sex and length of course time to the SG, also made assessments. Main outcome Changes in HRQOL and SOC in SG and CG. Results Of the 13 HRQOL subscales, eight showed clinically significant improvement in the SG (>9%, p < 0.01), namely, General health perceptions (9%), Emotional well-being [negative (45%) and positive (26%)], Cognitive functioning (24%), Sleep (15%), Pain (10%), Role limitation due to emotional health (22%) and Family functioning (16%). Sexual, marital and physical function and role in the SG as well as all CG scores were similar to average population values. The assessed SOC also improved in the SG after intervention (p < 0.01), challenging previous statements of 'the stableness of SOC'. Use of psychotropic medication was slightly reduced in the younger aged SG participants after intervention. Conclusions This group of men and women (SG), starting from a clinically significant low health assessment, had improved their HRQOL and SOC after the course intervention.

Qual Life Res. 2008 Apr;17(3):367-376. Fernros L, Furhoff AK, Wändell PE. Karolinska Institutet/Stockholm County Council's Center for Family and Community Medicine, Huddinge, Sweden, lotta.fernros@sll.se.

Hypnosis decreases presurgical distress in excisional breast biopsy patients.



Excisional breast biopsy is associated with presurgical psychological distress. Such distress is emotionally taxing, and may have negative implications for postsurgical side effects and satisfaction with anesthesia. We investigated the ability of a brief hypnosis session to reduce presurgical psychological distress in excisional breast biopsy patients. METHODS: Ninety patients presenting for excisional breast biopsy were randomly assigned to receive either a 15-minute presurgery hypnosis session (n = 49, mean age: 46.4 (95% CI: 42.3-50.4)) or a 15-minute presurgery attention control session (n = 41, mean age: 45.0 (95% CI: 40.8-49.2)). The hypnosis session involved suggestions for increased relaxation and decreased distress. The attention control session involved nondirective empathic listening. Presurgery distress was measured using visual analog scales (VAS) and the short version of the Profile of Mood States (SV-POMS). Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and chi2 procedures. RESULTS: Groups did not differ in terms of the following: demographics (age, education, ethnicity, marital status, all P's > 0.28); medical variables (presurgery diagnosis, previous excisional biopsy, previous breast cancer, all P's > 0.11); or preintervention distress (SV-POMS P > 0.74) assessed on the day of surgery. Postintervention, and before surgery, patients in the hypnosis group had significantly lower mean values for presurgery VAS emotional upset (16.5 vs 38.2, P < 0.0001, d = .85), VAS depressed mood (6.6 vs 19.9, P < 0.02, d = .67), and SV-POMS anxiety (10.0 vs 5.0, P < 0.0001, d = 0.85); and significantly higher levels for VAS relaxation (75.7 vs 54.2, P < 0.001, d = -0.76) than attention controls. CONCLUSIONS: The study results indicate that a brief presurgery hypnosis intervention can be an effective means of controlling presurgical distress in women awaiting diagnostic breast cancer surgery.

Anesth Analg. 2008 Feb;106(2):440-4, table of contents. Schnur JB, Bovbjerg DH, David D, Tatrow K, Goldfarb AB, Silverstein JH, Weltz CR, Montgomery GH. Department of Oncological Sciences, Box 1130, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, New York City, NY 10029-6574, USA. julie.schnur@mssm.edu

The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body



Book Review by Tim Brunson DCH

When Les Fehmi, Ph.D., BCIA-EEG, writes a book for general audiences, he does so with the authority of over forty years of experience in the areas of psychology, biofeedback, and neurofeedback. Dr. Fehmi and his co-author, Jim Robins, the award-winning journalist who has written several books found in my rather large library, have produced one of the best contributions that I've seen for a while. This rather short (192 page) work titled The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body (together with a brilliant, included CD) provides the reader with a concise and well explained explanation on how changing one's focus can positively affect multiple aspects of life.

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The Inner Mind Revisited: Researching the Soul



Book Review by Tim Brunson DCH

The Inner Mind Revisited: Researching the Soul by the well-known and respected California hypnotist, A. L. Ward, is essentially a second , expanded version of his earlier book The Inner Mind, which was published almost four decades earlier. His tone and approach reminds me so much of classic hypnotists such as Estabrooks, Bernheim, and Elman. This book is a thought provoking volume that winds through a series of anecdotal case studies to include a continuation of one first discussed in his earlier work.

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How is Transformation Different from Change?



by Marilyn Gordon, BCH, CI

We're shifting out of our old ways of working with our difficulties. Something big is happening in the area of inner transformation, and it's big enough to be the force that can ultimately transform our world. We're experiencing an actual revolution in consciousness. We're shifting from our traditional psychological paradigms to a healing mindset. This is a big shift, a leap from "improving ourselves" into taking a giant leap into the eternal essence of ourselves. In this inner part of ourselves, all solutions lie, and this revolution in consciousness is taking us to a profound next step.

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How to put hypnosis into a placebo pill?



Many case studies and several controlled clinical trials have indicated the effectiveness of hypnotherapy for some medical conditions. However, because of methodological inadequacies hypnotherapy is still criticized for not having strong scientific evidence to support its claims. While randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial is generally accepted as the gold standard study design, creating a credible placebo control for hypnotherapy is a major challenge. This paper recommends "neutral hypnosis" as a credible placebo control for hypnotherapy trials.

Complement Ther Med. 2008 Feb;16(1):52-4. Gholamrezaei A, Emami MH. Clinical Hypnotherapy Research Group, Medical Student Research Committee, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; Poursina Hakim Research Institute, Isfahan, Iran.

Gary Craig



Gary Craig the founder of Emotional Freedom Technique. He is a Stanford engineering graduate and an ordained minister with the Universal Church of God in Southern California, which is non-denominational and embraces all religions. He is an avid student of A Course In Miracles.

He was born April 13, 1940 and has been intensely interested in personal improvement via psychology since my age 13. That was when he recognized that the quality of his thoughts were mirrored in the quality of his life. Since then he has been self taught in this field, seeking only those procedures that, in his opinion, produced results. EFT is his latest finding, the core of which he learned from Dr. Roger Callahan. He also has a high regard for Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) in which he am a Certified Master Practitioner.

For more information visit: www.EmoFree.com

A mindfulness-based health wellness program for an adolescent with Prader-Willi syndrome.



Individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome have hyperphagia, a characteristic eating disorder defined by a marked delay in the satiety response when compared to controls. This eating disorder has been particularly difficult to control. The authors taught and evaluated effectiveness of regular exercise alone, regular exercise plus healthy eating, and mindfulness-based strategies combined with exercise and healthy eating to an adolescent with this syndrome. Mindfulness-based strategies included mindful eating, visualizing and labeling hunger, and rapidly shifting attention away from hunger by engaging in Meditation on the Soles of the Feet. On average, when compared to baseline levels, there were decreases in weight with regular exercise and exercise plus healthy eating, but the most consistent and sustained changes were evidenced when mindfulness training was added to exercise and healthy eating. The adolescent continued using the mindfulness health wellness program and further reduced his weight during the 3-year follow-up period.

Behav Modif. 2008 Mar;32(2):167-81. Singh NN, Lancioni GE, Singh AN, Winton AS, Singh J, McAleavey KM, Adkins AD. ONE Research Institute, Midlothian, Virginia, USA. nirbsingh52@aol.com

Gender-related differences in hypnosis-based treatments for smoking: a follow-up meta-analysis.



In an earlier meta-analysis of 12 studies using hypnosis-based treatments for smoking cessation, we provided preliminary evidence that males fare better than females when trying to quit smoking (Green, Lynn, & Montgomery, 2006). By excluding studies that reported no gender differences, but failed to report final outcome-statistics-by-gender, our previous conclusion may have overestimated the role of gender in hypnosis-based smoking cessation treatment. In the present analysis, we included 12 additional studies that reported no gender differences, but failed to report final outcome-by-gender statistics. Across each of these studies, we calculated identical success rates for male and female participants and then added these results to our database. Among all 24 groups of participants who completed hypnosis-based treatment for smoking, we found a small but significant effect for male participants being more successful in quitting smoking relative to females. Specific suggestions for tailoring hypnosis smoking cessation programs to take gender differences into account are discussed.

Am J Clin Hypn. 2008 Jan;50(3):259-71.Links Green JP, Lynn SJ, Montgomery GH. The Ohio State University, 4240 Campus Drive Lima, OH 45804, USA. green.301@osu.edu

Gregory J Nicosia, PhD, BCFE



Gregory J. Nicosia, Ph.D., B.C.F.E. is a licensed psychologist and the founder of Advanced Diagnostics, P.C., Pittsburgh's premiere center for the thought energy based psychotherapeutic treatment of trauma and remediation of cognitive dysfunction.

Dr. Nicosia has helped to explore and elaborate the newest psychotherapies in the last 25 years including biofeedback and behavioral medicine, EMDR, and most recently thought field therapy. Dr. Nicosia is the originator of TEST® Dx and ThoughtWorks® and has trained thousands of healthcare professionals throughout the U.S. in the use of TFT, and in his more recently developed Thought Energy Synchronization Therapy diagnostic and treatment procedures that have significantly expanded the range of effective application of energy psychology. He has authored a score of professional papers and articles, including publications on TFT and EMDR and was nominated as Pittsburgh Man of the Year in Science and Medicine for 1997.

Dr. Nicosia is a Member of the American Psychological Association, a Fellow of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association and the American College of Forensic Examiners, and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology.

For more information visit: www.ThoughtEnergy.com

Miracles of Inner Healing for Cancer and Other Illnesses



by Marilyn Gordon, BCH, CI

There is an inner power of healing so great that it can shift matter and transform illness. The mind, together with the powers of higher consciousness, can shrink tumors, cause blood to pump faster or more slowly, and create great mind-body shifts. Here we'll look at how personal and creative inner imagery, metaphysical healing, connection with the healing power, and transformation of attitude--together with nutritional and other life changes--can heal life-threatening illnesses.

The mind is electromagnetic. It has magnetism and vibration, and it can magnetize or draw in healing events via healing thoughts. This is how it can shift matter. And because we all have creative capabilities, we don't need scripts or stock visualizations to heal. There is healing imagery in the imagination of each individual. This is personal, intrinsic healing, and it has great power.

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Men are grass: Bateson, Erickson, utilization and metaphor.



The relationship between metaphor and the practice of utilization in therapy and hypnosis can be seen as dependent on metaphor's role in structuring experience. The work of Gregory Bateson and others is used to illustrate how metaphor functions. Bateson's comparison of two forms of syllogistic logic provides a background for distinguishing between the experiential effects of metaphor in contrast to the categorical thinking inherent in simile and analogy. Clinical examples are given to demonstrate how utilization is structured by metaphor, particularly as Bateson has described it in his analysis of the Syllogism in Grass.

Am J Clin Hypn. 2008 Jan;50(3):247-57.Links Roffman AE. New York University, Child Study Center, 577 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA. roffma01@med.nyu.edu

Healing Touch



by Anne H. Spencer. Ph.D.

You have healing power! This is a truism that everyone can honor if they will let the energy flow. Mother's rub their babies back and the little child falls into a peaceful sleep. Nurses stroke infants in Intensive Care and they rest easily. Daddies kiss skinned knees and they are all better. Sisters hold the dying and they slip into heavenly bliss. Therapists touch clients and relaxation occurs. What is this "Mystical Power?"

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Accuracy of the StressEraser((R)) in the Detection of Cardiac Rhythms.



StressEraser((R)) is a commercially marketed biofeedback device designed to enhance heart rate variability. StressEraser((R)) makes its internal calculations on beat-to-beat measures of finger pulse intervals. However, the accuracy and precision of StressEraser((R)) in quantifying interbeat intervals using finger pulse intervals has not been evaluated against standard laboratory equipment using R-R intervals. Accuracy was assessed by simultaneously recording interbeat intervals using StressEraser((R)) and a standard laboratory ECG system. The interbeat intervals were highly correlated between the systems. The average deviation in interbeat interval recordings between the systems was approximately 6 ms. Moreover, correlations approached unity between the systems on estimates of heart period, heart rate, and heart rate variability. Feedback from StressEraser((R)) is based on an interbeat time series that provides sufficient information to provide an excellent estimate of the dynamic changes in heart rate and heart rate variability. The slight variations between StressEraser((R)) and the laboratory equipment in quantifying heart rate and heart rate variability are due to features related to monitoring heart rate with finger pulse: (1) a lack in precision in the peak of the finger pulse relative to the clearly defined inflection point in the R-wave, and (2) contribution of variations in pulse transit time.

Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2008 Apr 1 Heilman KJ, Handelman M, Lewis G, Porges SW. Department of Psychiatry, Brain-Body Center, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1601 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA, kheilman@psych.uic.edu.

Strategic eclecticism in hypnotherapy: effectiveness research considerations.



Hypnosis is attempting to come to grips with the EST (Empirically Supported Therapy) revolution in mental health practice. However, there are ways to account for outcome outside of simple empirical validation of treatment models. In this light, strategic eclecticism as a broader research-based consideration is used to illustrate empirical principles within Eriksonian hypnotherapeutic approaches.

Am J Clin Hypn. 2008 Jan;50(3):233-45.Links Amundson JK, Nuttgens SA. Amundson & Associates, 1614 8th Avenue NW, Calgary. aapsych@telus.net

Toward self-paced brain-computer communication: navigation through virtual worlds.



The self-paced control paradigm enables users to operate brain-computer interfaces (BCI) in a more natural way: no longer is the machine in control of the timing and speed of communication, but rather the user is. This is important to enhance the usability, flexibility, and response time of a BCI. In this work, we show how subjects, after performing cue-based feedback training (smiley paradigm), learned to navigate self-paced through the "freeSpace" virtual environment (VE). Similar to computer games, subjects had the task of picking up items by using the following navigation commands: rotate left, rotate right, and move forward ( three classes). Since the self-paced control paradigm allows subjects to make voluntary decisions on time, type, and duration of mental activity, no cues or routing directives were presented. The BCI was based only on three bipolar electroencephalogram channels and operated by motor imagery. Eye movements (electrooculogram) and electromyographic artifacts were reduced and detected online. The results of three able-bodied subjects are reported and problems emerging from self-paced control are discussed.

IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2008 Feb;55(2):675-82. Scherer R, Lee F, Schlogl A, Leeb R, Bischof H, Pfurtscheller G. Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interfaces, Institute for Knowledge Discovery, Graz University of Technology, Graz 8010, Austria. reinhold.scherer@tugraz.at

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