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

A systems biology approach to studying Tai Chi, physiological complexity and healthy aging...



Full title: A systems biology approach to studying Tai Chi, physiological complexity and healthy aging: Design and rationale of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Aging is typically associated with progressive multi-system impairment that leads to decreased physical and cognitive function and reduced adaptability to stress. Due to its capacity to characterize complex dynamics within and between physiological systems, the emerging field of complex systems biology and its array of quantitative tools show great promise for improving our understanding of aging, monitoring senescence, and providing biomarkers for evaluating novel interventions, including promising mind-body exercises, that treat age-related disease and promote healthy aging.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: An ongoing, two-arm randomized clinical trial is evaluating the potential of Tai Chi mind-body exercise to attenuate age-related loss of complexity. A total of 60 Tai Chi-naïve healthy older adults (aged 50-79) are being randomized to either six months of Tai Chi training (n=30), or to a waitlist control receiving unaltered usual medical care (n=30). Our primary outcomes are complexity-based measures of heart rate, standing postural sway and gait stride interval dynamics assessed at 3 and 6months. Multiscale entropy and detrended fluctuation analysis are used as entropy- and fractal-based measures of complexity, respectively. Secondary outcomes include measures of physical and psychological function and tests of physiological adaptability also assessed at 3 and 6months.

DISCUSSION: Results of this study may lead to novel biomarkers that help us monitor and understand the physiological processes of aging and explore the potential benefits of Tai Chi and related mind-body exercises for healthy aging.

Contemp Clin Trials. 2013 Jan;34(1):21-34. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2012.09.006. Epub 2012 Sep 29. Wayne PM, Manor B, Novak V, Costa MD, Hausdorff JM, Goldberger AL, Ahn AC, Yeh GY, Peng CK, Lough M, Davis RB, Quilty MT, Lipsitz LA. Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: pwayne@partners.org.

The influence of genetic factors on brain plasticity and recovery after neural injury.



PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The fields of clinical genetics and pharmacogenetics are rapidly expanding. Genetic factors have numerous associations with injury and with treatment effects in the setting of neural plasticity and recovery.

RECENT FINDINGS: Evidence is reviewed that established genetic variants, as well as some more recently described variants, are related to outcome after neural injury and in some cases are useful for predicting clinical course. In many cases, the interaction of genetics with clinical factors such as experience and therapy may be important. As an extension of this, genetic factors have been associated with differential response to a number of forms of therapy, including pharmacological, brain stimulation, psychotherapy, and meditation. Genetic variation might also have a significant effect on plasticity and recovery through key covariates such as depression or stress. A key point is that genetic associations might be most accurately identified when studied in relation to distinct forms of a disorder rather than in relation to broad clinical syndromes.

SUMMARY: Understanding genetic variation gives clinicians a biological signal that could be used to predict who is most likely to recover from neural injury, to choose the optimal treatment for a patient, or to supplement rehabilitation therapy.

Curr Opin Neurol. 2012 Dec;25(6):682-8. doi: 10.1097/WCO.0b013e32835a360a. Pearson-Fuhrhop KM, Burke E, Cramer SC. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology bDepartment of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, Orange, California, USA.

Cardiovascular effects of music by entraining cardiovascular autonomic rhythms music therapy...



Full title: Cardiovascular effects of music by entraining cardiovascular autonomic rhythms music therapy update: tailored to each person, or does one size fit all?

Music goes back a very long way in human experience. Music therapy is now used in many disparate areas-from coronary care units to rehabilitation after a stroke. But its widespread adoption has a poor scientific evidence base, founded more on enthusiasm than on proper evaluation in any controlled way. This has led to a lack of clarity about whether any particular type of music is superior, or whether different types of music should be tailored to differing individuals. We therefore conducted a series of controlled studies in which we examined the effects of different styles of music-from raga to jazz-presented in random order to normal young subjects (both musically trained or not). We found that contrary to many beliefs the effect of a style of music was similar in all subjects, whatever their individual music taste. We also found that this effect appeared to operate at a sub-conscious level through the autonomic nervous system. Furthermore, musical or verbal phrases of a 10 s duration (which coincided with the normal circulatory 'Mayer' waves) induced bigger excursions in blood pressure and heart rate (reciprocal of pulse interval) and so triggered more vagal slowing and feelings of calm. These findings need to now be tested in the clinical setting since, if confirmed, this would greatly simplify the practical use of this promising tool.

Neth Heart J. 2012 Dec 6. Sleight P. Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, peter.sleight@attglobal.net.

Potential Synergism between Hypnosis and Acupuncture-Is the Whole More Than the Sum of Its Parts?



Both hypnosis and acupuncture have gained credibility over the years in their effectiveness for treating various health conditions. Currently, each of these treatments is administered in distinct settings and separate times. That is, even if patients receive both treatments as part of a multidimensional therapeutic program, they would typically receive them separately rather than simultaneously at the same session. This separation however might be undesirable since, at least theoretically, hypnosis and acupuncture could potentially augment each other if administered concomitantly. In this article we outline the rationale for this hypothesis and discuss the potential ramifications of its implementation.

Bnai Zion Medical Center, Internal Medicine Division Haifa, Israel, University of Arizona, Program in Integrative Medicine Arizona, USA and The Recanati Center for Medicine and Research and the Section for Integrative Medicine, Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson Campus) and the Tel-Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine Israel.

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