The Attitudes Toward Hypnosis Questionnaire (ATHQ) is a 14-item, self-report measure of positive versus negative attitudes about hypnosis. It is composed of three subscales identified via factor analysis: Positive Beliefs, Fearlessness, and Mental Stability. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the generalizability of the original factor structure of the ATHQ and to provide normative data based on a large sample of 925 introductory psychology students. Internal consistency analysis and factor analysis did not support the scale's original factor structure. Accordingly, it is recommended that the subscales be abandoned and that the 14 items of the ATHQ be utilized as a unidimensional scale. Although attitudes toward hypnosis have been described as an important determinant of hypnotic responding, there has been very little research evaluating this association. If employed as a unidimensional scale, the ATHQ could be a very useful tool in future studies on this topic.

Am J Clin Hypn. 2012 Jan;54(3):202-12. Milling LS. University of Hartford, Department of Psychology, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA. milling@hartford.edu

BACKGROUND: Nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting) is a socially disruptive and stressful condition which affects around 15% to 20% of five year olds, and up to 2% of young adults.
OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of complementary interventions and others such as surgery or diet on nocturnal enuresis in children, and to compare them with other interventions.

[More]

Narrowly defined, mindfulness is the tendency to encounter moment-to-moment experience without being lost in unhelpful or distressing thoughts triggered by the experience. Mindfulness training involves group instruction in and discussion of a variety of meditation styles aimed at enhancing this tendency in daily life.There is an accumulating evidence base, albeit of variable quality, which suggests that mindfulness training, when used as part of an integrated approach to chronic disease management, may help alleviate associated psychological distress and improve patients' quality of life.

Med J Aust. 2012 May 24;196(9):569-71. Monshat K, Castle DJ. St Vincent's Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. k.monshat@unimelb.edu.au.

Erratum in Am J Clin Hypn. 2012 Apr;54(4):373.

Enhancing safety in hypnosis workshops is an issue of significant concern in the progress and promulgation of hypnosis as a facilitator of treatment. In general, hypnosis is a safe modality, but occasional adverse effects are encountered in its use in clinical, research, and professional workshop settings. To develop and implement modifications designed to reduce the number and/or severity of such unfortunate incidents in workshop settings, it is necessary to establish an awareness of the nature and implications of these adverse events. This article describes 9 categories of problem presentations known to have been generated in workshop settings. It also discusses a particular constellation of factors that--without imputing blame to either faculty or to workshop participants--creates powerful forces that minimize the likelihood that adverse effects will either be recognized by faculty or reported by workshop participants.

Am J Clin Hypn. 2012 Jan;54(3):213-32. Kluft RP. Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. rpkluft@aol.com

Gloria Arenson specializes in using Energy Psychology modalities to treat stress, trauma, anxiety, panic, depression, phobias, and compulsions. Her extensive knowledge of eating disorders and compulsive behaviors led her to write How To Stop Playing The Weighting Game, A Substance Called Food and Born To Spend. Her award winning book about Meridian Therapy is Five Simple Steps to Emotional Healing. She is a co-author of Freedom At Your Fingertips. Gloria is a Past President of ACEP. She is in practice in California and does extensive phone counseling.

For more information, please visit one of her websites: www.GloriaArenson.com; www.Meridiantherapy.net; www.Borntospend.com.

OBJECTIVE: Awareness of stimuli originating inside of the body (interoceptive awareness) is thought to have an impact on psychopathology. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether heartbeat perception accuracy is reduced in depressed patients. Furthermore, we investigated whether putative differences are reflected in heartbeat-evoked potentials. METHOD: We assessed the heartbeat perception score in 16 depressed patients and in matched healthy controls. A 63-channel EEG was recorded while participants counted pseudo-randomly presented target tones or heartbeats during a fixed number of cardiac cycles. ECG R-waves served as the trigger for EEG averaging. The cardiac-field artifact was minimized using independent component analysis and current-source density. RESULTS: Behaviorally, the depressed sample showed less accurate heartbeat perception in comparison to the control group (p=.011). The two groups also demonstrated psychophysiological differences, showing that heartbeat-evoked potentials were significantly reduced in depressed patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that heartbeat evoked potentials are objective markers of altered bodily awareness. Reduced interoception during depression may be linked to alexithymia, as well as to both decreased capacity for decision-making and for cognitive processing. SIGNIFICANCE: It may be helpful to practice interoceptive awareness to improve depressive symptoms, for example by practicing meditation. Clin Neurophysiol. 2012 Apr 25. Terhaar J, Viola FC, Bär KJ, Debener S. Pain and Autonomics - Integrative Research (PAIR), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philosophenweg 3, University Hospital, Jena, Germany.

Eight women who were in treatment for breast cancer (n = 4) or breast cancer survivors (n = 4), presenting with 1 or more of 4 symptoms (chronic pain, fatigue, hot flashes, and sleep difficulties), were given 4 to 5 sessions of self-hypnosis training for symptom management. Analyses revealed (a) significant pre- to posttreatment decreases in pain intensity, fatigue, and sleep problems and (b) that pain intensity continued to decrease from posttreatment to 6-month follow-up. Although there was a slight increase in fatigue severity and sleep problems from posttreatment to 6-month follow-up, the follow-up scores did not return to pretreatment levels. The findings provide initial support for using hypnosis to manage symptoms in women who are breast cancer survivors. Clinical trials evaluating hypnosis efficacy over and above other treatments are warranted.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2012 Apr;60(2):135-59. doi: 10.1080/00207144.2012.648057. Jensen MP, Gralow JR, Braden A, Gertz KJ, Fann JR, Syrjala KL. University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98104, USA. mjensen@uw.edu

Full title: Altered and asymmetric default mode network activity in a "hypnotic virtuoso": an fMRI and EEG study.

Very highly hypnotizable subjects are rare, easily induced, and able to manifest the whole spectrum of hypnotic phenomena, including post-hypnotic amnesia. The aim of this study was to detect and localize by means of quantitative functional MRI and EEG changes in cortical activity during hypnosis induction and deep "pure hypnosis" in a hypnotic "virtuoso" subject. We focused on areas forming the default mode network (DMN), since previous studies found that very highly suggestible subjects in hypnosis showed decreased activity in anterior DMN. During undisturbed hypnosis, our "virtuoso" subject showed not only detectable changes in DMN, but also peculiar activations of non-DMN areas and hemispheric asymmetries of frontal lobe connectivity. Our findings confirm that hypnosis is associated with significant modulation of connectivity and activity which involve the DMN but are not limited to it, depending on the depth of the hypnotic state, the type of mental content and emotional involvement.

Conscious Cogn. 2012 Mar;21(1):393-400. Lipari S, Baglio F, Griffanti L, Mendozzi L, Garegnani M, Motta A, Cecconi P, Pugnetti L. Department of Radiology, Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Milan, Italy.

Full title: Effect of pranayama and meditation as an add-on therapy in rehabilitation of patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome-a randomized control pilot study

Objective: To study the add-on effects of pranayama and meditation in rehabilitation of patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Patients and Method: This randomized control pilot study was conducted in neurological rehabilitation unit of university tertiary research hospital. Twenty-two GBS patients, who consented for the study and satisfied selection criteria, were randomly assigned to yoga and control groups. Ten patients in each group completed the study. The yoga group received 15 sessions in total over a period of 3 weeks (1 h/session), one session per day on 5 days per week that consisted of relaxation, Pranayama (breathing practices) and Guided meditation in addition to conventional rehabilitation therapeutics. The control group received usual rehabilitation care. All the patients were assessed using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Numeric pain rating scale, Hospital anxiety and Depression scale and Barthel index score. Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon's signed rank test were used for statistical analysis. Results: Quality of sleep improved significantly with reduction of PSQI score in the yoga group (p = 0.04). There was reduction of pain scores, anxiety and depression in both the groups without statistical significance between groups (pain p > 0.05, anxiety p > 0.05 and depression p > 0.05). Overall functional status improved in both groups without significant difference (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Significant improvement was observed in quality of sleep with yogic relaxation, pranayama, and meditation in GBS patients.

Disabil Rehabil. 2012 May 24. Sendhilkumar R, Gupta A, Nagarathna R, Taly AB. Neurological Rehabilitation Division, Department of Psychiatric and Neurological Rehabilitation, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) , Bangalore , India.

Full title: An investigation of Taiwanese norms for the Stanford hypnotic susceptibility scale: form C (Mandarin Chinese translation).

This study establishes normative data for the Mandarin Chinese Translation of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C-MCT). Fourteen administrators gave the SHSS:C-MCT as well as demographic and meditation questionnaires to 322 participants of Taiwanese nationality. Score distributions, normality, internal consistency, item difficulty, and comparisons with other SHSS:C samples are presented. Scores on the SHSS:C-MCT were compared to both demographic and meditation practice data. The psychometric properties of the SHSS:C-MCT were found to be similar to those of other samples, and the Taiwanese mean score was found to be higher than most other samples, providing support for continued and expanded use of hypnosis in relative treatment applications in Taiwan.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2012 Apr;60(2):160-74. doi: 10.1080/00207144.2012.648062. Roark JB, Barabasz AF, Barabasz M, Lin-Roark IH. University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-7410, USA. jeremy.roark@sa.ucsb.edu

Living Buddha Master Yu Tienjien is the Highest Master of Hanmi Buddhism, an Estoeric Mystery School. Master Yu is an Abhiseika Dharma King was recently enthroned as (Golden Crown) the Great Enlightener, a high worldly honor in Buddhist realms. He is currently the Abbot of the Dari Rulai Temple (LA), and has temples in Maui, Las Vegas, Toronto, and China. He represented Buddhist leaders at the United Nations millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and spiritual Leaders. A Doctor of Chinese Medicine, he has healed thousands utilizing Buddhist Dharma techniques.

Find out more by visiting: www.darirulai.org

by Tim Brunson, PhD

No other field so completely, overtly, and explicitly uses the power of suggestion as does hypnotherapy. Yet although the term is frequently used by practitioners – including the general public and those who use hypnosis for other purposes – when challenged, I sincerely doubt that the presumptive user could adequately explain it. Even popular dictionaries fail to give explanations of substantive relevance. Implying – or may I say suggesting – that a suggestion is merely an idea or proposal that may be considered does little to clarify how a verbal, physical, or mental act could influence a future action or state and thus precipitate a transformative experience.

[More]

Full title: Breathing meditation by medical students at Khon Kaen University: effect on psychiatric symptoms, memory, intelligence and academic achievement.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the short-term effects on fifth-year medical students of a 4-week, breathing meditation-based, stress reduction intervention on psychiatric symptoms, memory function, intelligence, and academic achievement. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Using a randomized control trial, the meditation group practiced every 8.00 to 8.20 a.m. before beginning daily learning schedule. Meditation emphasized mindful awareness of the breath during inhaling and exhaling. The control group went about their normal activities in the other room. The psychiatric symptoms were measured using the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90), the memory used the Wechsler Memory Scale-I (WMS-I), the intelligence used the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), and the academic achievement used psychiatry course MCQ examination score. Analysis was done using Ancova statistic. RESULTS: Fifty-eight volunteer medical students during their psychiatry rotation between June 2008 and May 2009, were randomized into either in the meditation (n = 30) or the control (non-meditation) (n = 28) group. There was no significant difference between the groups in their respective SCL-90, WMS-I, APM, and psychiatry course MCQ examination score. CONCLUSION: Among normal, intelligent, mentally healthy persons, short-term breathing meditation practice will not likely change psychiatric symptoms, memory function, intellectual performance, and academic achievement.

J Med Assoc Thai. 2012 Mar;95(3):461-9. Paholpak S, Piyavhatkul N, Rangseekajee P, Krisanaprakornkit T, Arunpongpaisal S, Pajanasoontorn N, Virasiri S, Singkornard J, Rongbudsri S, Udomsri C, Chonprai C, Unprai P. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand. suchat_p@kku.ac.th

Debate regarding the neural basis of the hypnotic state continues, but a recent hypothesis suggests that it may produce alterations in the default mode network (DMN). DMN describes a network of brain regions more active during low-demand compared to high-demand task conditions and has been linked to processes such as task-independent thinking, episodic memory, semantic processing, and self-awareness. However, the experiential and cognitive correlates of DMN remain difficult to investigate directly. Using hypnosis as a means of altering the resting ("default") state in conjunction with subjective measures and brain imaging, the authors found that the state of attentional absorption following a hypnotic induction was associated with reduced activity in DMN and increased activity in prefrontal attentional systems, under invariant conditions of passive visual stimulation. The findings that hypnosis and spontaneous conceptual thought at rest were subjectively and neurally distinctive are also relevant to understanding hypnosis itself.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2012 Apr;60(2):206-28. doi: 10.1080/00207144.2012.648070. Deeley Q, Oakley DA, Toone B, Giampietro V, Brammer MJ, Williams SC, Halligan PW. Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, United Kingdom. q.deeley@iop.kcl.ac.uk

(Headache 2012;52:785-791) Background.- Although both pharmacological and behavioral interventions may relieve tension-type headache, data are lacking regarding treatment preference, long-term patient compliance, and feasibility of behavioral intervention in a standard neurological outpatient clinic setting.
Objective.- To describe patient choice, long-term compliance, and clinical outcome in a neurological clinic setting where patients are given the choice of the approach they wish to pursue. Design.- Patients presenting to the headache clinic with a diagnosis of tension-type headache that justified prophylactic therapy (frequent episodic tension-type headache or chronic tension-type headache) were given the choice of amitriptyline (AMT) treatment or hypnotic relaxation (HR), and were treated accordingly. Patients were given the option to cross-over to the other treatment group at each visit. HR was performed during standard length neurology clinic appointments by a neurologist trained to perform hypnosis (Y.E.). Follow-up interviews were performed between 6 and 12 months following treatment initiation to evaluate patient compliance, changes in headache frequency or severity, and quality-of-life parameters.

Results.- Ninety-eight patients were enrolled, 92 agreed to receive prophylactic therapy of some kind. Fifty-three (57.6%) patients chose HR of which 36 (67.9%) actually initiated this treatment, while 39 (42.4%) chose pharmacological therapy with AMT of which 25 (64.1%) patients actually initiated therapy. Patients with greater analgesic use were more likely to opt for AMT (P?=?.0002). Eleven of the patients initially choosing AMT and 2 of the patients initially choosing HR crossed over to the other group. Seventy-four percent of the patients in the HR group and 58% of patients in the AMT group had a 50% reduction in the frequency of headaches (P?=?.16). Long-term adherence to treatment with HR exceeded that of AMT. At the end of the study period, 26 of 47 patients who tried HR compared with 10 of 27 who tried AMT continued receiving their initial treatment. Conclusions.- HR treatment was a more popular choice among patients. Patients choosing HR reported greater symptom relief than those choosing AMT and were found to have greater treatment compliance. Patients receiving HR were less likely to change treatments. HR practiced by a neurologist is feasible in a standard neurological outpatient clinic setting; HR training should be considered for neurologists involved in headache treatment.

Headache. 2012 May;52(5):785-91. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2011.02055.x. Ezra Y, Gotkine M, Goldman S, Adahan HM, Ben-Hur T. From the Department of Neurology, the Agnes Ginges Center for Human Neurogenetics, Hadassah University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel (Y. Ezra, M. Gotkine, and T. Ben-Hur); Epidemiology Unit, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel (S. Goldman); Division of the Orthopedic Rehabilitation Department, The Chaim Sheba Medical Rehabilitation Center Tel Hashomer, Israel (H.M. Adahan).

The role of music in intensive care medicine is still unclear. However, it is well known that music may not only improve quality of life but also effect changes in heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). Reactions to music are considered subjective, but studies suggest that cardio/cerebrovascular variables are influenced under different circumstances. It has been shown that cerebral flow was significantly lower when listening to "Va pensioero" from Verdi's "Nabucco" (70.4+3.3 cm/s) compared to "Libiam nei lieti calici" from Verdi's "La Traviata" (70.2+3.1 cm/s) (P<0,02) or Bach's Cantata No. 169 "Gott soll allein mein Herze haben" (70.9+2.9 cm/s) (P<0,02). There was no significant influence on cerebral flow in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony during rest (67.6+3.3 cm/s) or music (69.4+3.1 cm/s). It was reported that relaxing music plays an important role in intensive care medicine. Music significantly decreases the level of anxiety for patients in a preoperative setting (STAI-X-1 score 34) to a greater extent even than orally administered midazolam (STAI-X-1 score 36) (P<0.001). In addition, the score was better after surgery in the music group (STAI-X-1 score 30) compared to midazolam (STAI-X-1 score 34) (P<0.001). Higher effectiveness and absence of apparent adverse effects make relaxing, preoperative music a useful alternative to midazolam. In addition, there is sufficient practical evidence of stress reduction suggesting that a proposed regimen of listening to music while resting in bed after open-heart surgery is important in clinical use. After 30 min of bed rest, there was a significant difference in cortisol levels between the music (484.4 mmol/l) and the non-music group (618.8 mmol/l) (P<0.02). Vocal and orchestral music produces significantly better correlations between cardiovascular and respiratory signals in contrast to uniform emphasis (P<0.05). The most benefit on health in intensive care medicine patients is visible in classical (Bach, Mozart or Italian composers) music and meditation music, whereas heavy metal music or techno are not only ineffective but possibly dangerous and can lead to stress and/or life-threatening arrhythmias, particularly in intensive care medicine patients.

Int J Crit Illn Inj Sci. 2012 Jan;2(1):27-31. Trappe HJ. Department of Cardiology and Angiology, University of Bochum, Germany.

Abstract The present study examined responses on the Valencia Scale of Attitudes and Beliefs Toward Hypnosis-Client (VSABTH-C) version among a sample of American college students (N?=?448) and explored the relationship between VSABTH-C factor scores and measures of hypnotizability, fantasy proneness, and absorption. Scores across three factors (i.e., help, interest, and marginal factors) accounted for 12% of the variance in responsiveness to suggestions administered from the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. Normative data on the VSABTH-C factors by hypnotizability level and individual VSABTH-C item factor loadings are provided.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2012 Apr;60(2):229-40. doi: 10.1080/00207144.2012.648073. Green JP. The Ohio State University, Lima, OH 45804, USA. green.301@osu.edu

Sandi Radomski is board certified in social work, a psychotherapist, and a naturopathic doctor. She taught for 8 years in the medical school at University of Wisconsin where she was Director of the Learning and Behavior Clinic. She also did biofeedback with pain patients and conducted research in psychoneuroimmunology with children with cancer. Her experience in energy work includes techniques such as TFT (diagnostically trained) , EFT, TAT, and BSFF, and chiropractic techniques such as NAET, TBM, NE, JMT, and NET. She was first to use EFT for eliminating sensitivities. Specializing in allergy work, Sandi has written Allergy Antidotes "The Energy Psychology Treatment of Allergy-Like Reactions and Allergy Antidote" Advanced Procedures. Sandi's approach is unique for combining the most effective techniques available for treating trauma, anxiety, fears, and allergies. She is committed to teaching others to be active participants in their health and conducts numerous workshops in muscle testing and allergy treatments for laypeople and practitioners.

For more information, please visit http://www.allergyantidotes.com/ or http://www.imprint24-7.com/

Experienced Qigong meditators who regularly perform the exercises "Thinking of Nothing" and "Qigong" were studied with multichannel EEG source imaging during their meditations. The intracerebral localization of brain electric activity during the two meditation conditions was compared using sLORETA functional EEG tomography. Differences between conditions were assessed using t statistics (corrected for multiple testing) on the normalized and log-transformed current density values of the sLORETA images. In the EEG alpha-2 frequency, 125 voxels differed significantly; all were more active during "Qigong" than "Thinking of Nothing," forming a single cluster in parietal Brodmann areas 5, 7, 31, and 40, all in the right hemisphere. In the EEG beta-1 frequency, 37 voxels differed significantly; all were more active during "Thinking of Nothing" than "Qigong," forming a single cluster in prefrontal Brodmann areas 6, 8, and 9, all in the left hemisphere. Compared to combined initial-final no-task resting, "Qigong" showed activation in posterior areas whereas "Thinking of Nothing" showed activation in anterior areas. The stronger activity of posterior (right) parietal areas during "Qigong" and anterior (left) prefrontal areas during "Thinking of Nothing" may reflect a predominance of self-reference, attention and input-centered processing in the "Qigong" meditation, and of control-centered processing in the "Thinking of Nothing" meditation.

Cogn Process. 2012 May 5. Faber PL, Lehmann D, Tei S, Tsujiuchi T, Kumano H, Pascual-Marqui RD, Kochi K. The KEY Institute for Brain-Mind Research, Clinic for Affective Disorders and General Psychiatry Zurich East, University Hospital of Psychiatry, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland, pfaber@key.uzh.ch.

The authors detail their multidisciplinary collaboration of cardiologists, physiologists, neurologists, psychologists, engineers, and statisticians in researching the effects of hypnosis on the cardiovascular system and their additions to that incomplete literature. The article details their results and provides guidelines for researchers interested in replicating their research on hypnosis' effect on the cardiovascular system.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2012 Apr;60(2):241-61. doi: 10.1080/00207144.2012.648078. Casiglia E, Tikhonoff V, Giordano N, Andreatta E, Regaldo G, Tosello MT, Rossi AM, Bordin D, Giacomello M, Facco E. Department of Medicine, University of Padua, Padova, Italy. edoardo.casiglia@unipd.it

PURPOSE: Pain is one of the most common, burdensome, and feared symptoms experienced by patients with cancer. American Pain Society standards for pain management in cancer recommend both pharmacologic and psychosocial approaches. To obtain a current, stable, and comprehensive estimate of the effect of psychosocial interventions on pain-an important clinical topic-we conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies among adult patients with cancer published between 1966 and 2010.
METHODS: Three pairs of raters independently reviewed 1,681 abstracts, with a systematic process for reconciling disagreement, yielding 42 papers, of which 37 had sufficient data for meta-analysis. Studies were assessed for quality using a modified seven-item Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) coding scheme. Pain severity and interference were primary outcome measures.
RESULTS: Study participants (N = 4,199) were primarily women (66%) and white (72%). The weighted averaged effect size across studies for pain severity (38 comparisons) was 0.34 (95% CI, 0.23 to 0.46; P < .001), and the effect size for pain interference (four comparisons) was 0.40 (95% CI, 0.21 to 0.60; P < .001). Studies that monitored whether treatment was delivered as intended had larger effects than those that did not (P = .04).
CONCLUSION: Psychosocial interventions had medium-size effects on both pain severity and interference. These robust findings support the systematic implementation of quality-controlled psychosocial interventions as part of a multimodal approach to the management of pain in patients with cancer.

Comprehensive Cancer Center, ColumbiaUniversity, New York, NY, USA. J Clin Oncol. 2012 Feb 10;30(5):539-47. Sheinfeld Gorin S, Krebs P, Badr H, Janke EA, Jim HS, Spring B, Mohr DC, Berendsen MA, Jacobsen PB.

A large number of studies have provided evidence for the efficacy of psychological and other non-pharmacological interventions in the treatment of chronic pain. While these methods are increasingly used to treat pain, remarkably few studies focused on the exploration of their neural correlates. The aim of this article was to review the findings from neuroimaging studies that evaluated the neural response to distraction-based techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), clinical hypnosis, mental imagery, physical therapy/exercise, biofeedback, and mirror therapy. To date, the results from studies that used neuroimaging to evaluate these methods have not been conclusive and the experimental methods have been suboptimal for assessing clinical pain. Still, several different psychological and non-pharmacological treatment modalities were associated with increased pain-related activations of executive cognitive brain regions, such as the ventral- and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. There was also evidence for decreased pain-related activations in afferent pain regions and limbic structures. If future studies will address the technical and methodological challenges of today's experiments, neuroimaging might have the potential of segregating the neural mechanisms of different treatment interventions and elucidate predictive and mediating factors for successful treatment outcomes. Evaluations of treatment-related brain changes (functional and structural) might also allow for sub-grouping of patients and help to develop individualized treatments.

Neurosci Lett. 2012 Mar 14. Jensen KB, Berna C, Loggia ML, Wasan AD, Edwards RR, Gollub RL. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School (HMS), Boston, MA, USA; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Boston, MA, USA.

Asha Clinton is the developer of Seemorg Matrix Work. A former Princeton professor, she has been in full-time private practice for 26 years, offering individual psychotherapy, consultation, and couple work. Institute trained in Jungian analytical psychology, expressive analysis, self psychology, and object relations, she has also studied the Buddhist, Hindu, and Sufi traditions. Dr. Clinton has so far developed ten 3-day Seemorg Seminars, and has published manuals for each of them. She has been training therapists in Seemorg matrix Work throughout the United States and Canada since 1999. She has been teaching Seemorg in Spanish in Central America since 2002. She is known for her clarity and insight as a presenter and consultant and for her skillfulness in treating trauma, abuse, physical illness and spiritual impasse.

For more information, please visit: www.seemorg.com

A convergent line of neuroscientific evidence suggests that meditation alters the functional and structural plasticity of distributed neural processes underlying attention and emotion. The purpose of this study was to examine the brain structural differences between a well-matched sample of long-term meditators and controls. We employed whole-brain cortical thickness analysis based on magnetic resonance imaging, and diffusion tensor imaging to quantify white matter integrity in the brains of 46 experienced meditators compared with 46 matched meditation-naïve volunteers. Meditators, compared with controls, showed significantly greater cortical thickness in the anterior regions of the brain, located in frontal and temporal areas, including the medial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal cortex, temporal pole and the middle and interior temporal cortices. Significantly thinner cortical thickness was found in the posterior regions of the brain, located in the parietal and occipital areas, including the postcentral cortex, inferior parietal cortex, middle occipital cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, in the region adjacent to the medial prefrontal cortex, both higher fractional anisotropy values and greater cortical thickness were observed. Our findings suggest that long-term meditators have structural differences in both gray and white matter.

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2012 Jun 8. Kang DH, Jo HJ, Jung WH, Kim SH, Jung YH, Choi CH, Lee US, An SC, Jang JH, Kwon JS. Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 101 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-744, Republic of Korea. kwonjs@snu.ac.kr.

A convergent line of neuroscientific evidence suggests that meditation alters the functional and structural plasticity of distributed neural processes underlying attention and emotion. The purpose of this study was to examine the brain structural differences between a well-matched sample of long-term meditators and controls. We employed whole-brain cortical thickness analysis based on magnetic resonance imaging, and diffusion tensor imaging to quantify white matter integrity in the brains of 46 experienced meditators compared with 46 matched meditation-naïve volunteers. Meditators, compared with controls, showed significantly greater cortical thickness in the anterior regions of the brain, located in frontal and temporal areas, including the medial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal cortex, temporal pole and the middle and interior temporal cortices. Significantly thinner cortical thickness was found in the posterior regions of the brain, located in the parietal and occipital areas, including the postcentral cortex, inferior parietal cortex, middle occipital cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, in the region adjacent to the medial prefrontal cortex, both higher fractional anisotropy values and greater cortical thickness were observed. Our findings suggest that long-term meditators have structural differences in both gray and white matter.

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2012 Jun 8. Kang DH, Jo HJ, Jung WH, Kim SH, Jung YH, Choi CH, Lee US, An SC, Jang JH, Kwon JS. Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 101 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-744, Republic of Korea. kwonjs@snu.ac.kr.

Human learning and memory depend on multiple cognitive systems related to dissociable brain structures. These systems interact not only in cooperative but also sometimes competitive ways in optimizing performance. Previous studies showed that manipulations reducing the engagement of frontal lobe-mediated explicit attentional processes could lead to improved performance in striatum-related procedural learning. In our study, hypnosis was used as a tool to reduce the competition between these 2 systems. We compared learning in hypnosis and in the alert state and found that hypnosis boosted striatum-dependent sequence learning. Since frontal lobe-dependent processes are primarily affected by hypnosis, this finding could be attributed to the disruption of the explicit attentional processes. Our result sheds light not only on the competitive nature of brain systems in cognitive processes but also could have important implications for training and rehabilitation programs, especially for developing new methods to improve human learning and memory performance.

Cereb Cortex. 2012 Mar 29. Nemeth D, Janacsek K, Polner B, Kovacs ZA.Institute of Psychology.

The term "memory wars" has been used by some to characterize the intense debate that emerged in the 1990s regarding the veracity of recovered memories of child sexual abuse. Both sides in this debate have been motivated by scientific and ethical concerns. Recent years have witnessed a burgeoning of relevant behavioral and neuroimaging evidence that when taken together, points the way toward reconciliation. All of the contributors to this volume acknowledge that true recoveries characterize a substantive proportion of recovery experiences and that suggestive therapeutic techniques may promote false memories. Disagreements continue to exist on the cognitive and motivational processes that can lead to true recoveries and the extent to which false recovered memories occur.

Nebr Symp Motiv. 2012;58:1-13. Belli RF. University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA. bbelli2@unl.edu