How Does Hypnosis Work? What Brain Research Shows

Author: Andreas Balasis, LCSW-QS, CHP

Reviewer:  Dr. Mary Perleoni, LMHC ✓

To simplify it, the region of the brain that's responsible for threat detection quiets. The part of the brain that allows us to access memories, to make conscious choices, and to analyze becomes more strongly connected with the part of the brain that lets us feel.

And that same frontal part of the brain that allows us to analyze, to execute, to see patterns, to make conscious choices, it's not as strongly connected to the part of the brain that might be more doubtful. By weakening that connection, we can start to listen to what is more desirable and what is ultimately more functional.

What Happens in the Brain During Hypnosis?

I'm not a neuroscientist, so I want to be very clear about my scope of practice, but I think I have a decent enough understanding of it.

Basically, with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), you put someone in the scan, you engage in conversation with them, and the scan shows the flow of blood and oxygenation in different regions of the brain. And it shows different correlations between different regions of the brain depending on the content that's being engaged in between the person carrying out the scan or the researcher and the person that's being scanned.

So when someone who is highly hypnotizable is in a hypnotic state or it's being induced, there are three pretty distinct neurological changes that can be seen. This research was done by Dr. David Spiegel and his associates through Stanford University.

Change 1: Threat Detection Quiets

The first one is a decrease in activity in what's called the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. It's part of the salience network. So there's a decrease in activity in that part of the brain.

Basically, that part of the brain, if I were to clap really loud, or if you were to hear a loud bang somewhere, that's the part of the brain that's going to be like, well, I need to turn my attention to that. It also scans for inconsistencies or potential conflicts.

So if you're walking through a forest and you see a bunch of trees are toppled over and branches are broken, okay, maybe that's alerting us to a threat. So in a state of hypnosis, the activity in that region is decreased. So less scanning for threats, less reactivity to the things around us. And that's part of reduced peripheral awareness.

Change 2: A Stronger Mind-Body Connection

The second distinct change is an increase in connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, or the executive center of the brain, which is responsible for working memory, problem solving, and could also be involved in emotional regulation, the part that develops later in life. So there's an increase in connectivity between that part of the brain and what's known as the insula.

The insula is a region kind of in the middle of the brain, a gathering of tissue that is responsible for what's called interoception, or the ability to recognize what the body is experiencing. So really that's a long-winded way to say there is a strengthening of the mind-body connection.

In practical terms, we have more agency over what we're feeling and how we're feeling it and how we relate to it and the meaning that we create in association to what we're feeling in our bodies.

Change 3: More Room for Psychological Flexibility

The third one is a decrease in connectivity between that same prefrontal cortex, the executive control center, and what's known as the default mode network, specifically the posterior cingulate cortex, which is a key hub of that network.

The default mode network is fascinating to me because it's the part of the brain that turns on when there isn't a clear immediate task that needs to be handled. If you're just sitting around in your apartment at the end of the day, maybe you're pondering who you are, your past, your future, your decisions. Am I a good friend? Am I a good family member? Am I good at my job? Are people proud of me? Am I proud of myself? All these self-referential thoughts operate in the default mode network, which includes that posterior cingulate cortex.

So in a state of hypnosis, the third major change is decreasing connectivity between that front part of the brain and that back part of the brain. That's what allows someone to access what we would call a more psychologically flexible state. We're able to suspend preconceptions about who we believe we are or who we've been made to believe we are. And that's where we can start to integrate different perceptions of self and behavior.

That back part of the brain is the part that might tell us we're not good enough or we don't know what we're doing or this is too much for us to handle or over our heads. When that connection weakens, it decreases the opportunity for doubt to become something that we believe in or that we engage with as if it is truth.

Why Does Hypnotherapy Work When Understanding Alone Doesn't?

There are a lot of dynamics that influence self-belief, be that socially, be that familially, be that genetically, be that culturally, and expectations that have been almost implanted just by nature of being alive. So we're constantly processing information, and predominantly, these things happen unconsciously.

We're not taught when we first develop language what metacognition is, the ability to think about one's own thinking. We don't have an awareness of that. We might make it conscious and know, okay, I might do this because it reminds me, or it's automatically associated with connections to this figure in my past, or this person in my life, or this event that happened to me.

Even if we have a conscious awareness of the why, it can heighten people's frustration because they can end up saying, I'm aware of why this happens, but I still don't feel like I can change it. It's like my mind tells me one thing, but my body is reacting in a completely different way.

Hypnosis allows us to create associations that maybe we'd never had the opportunity to experience before. Or it might give us a mirror that allows us to see ourselves in a way that mirrors of old didn't allow us to see.

Does Hypnosis Rewire the Brain?

That would depend on the way the person coming in wants to understand it. If anything, I think it's more like diluting old patterns.

We only have a certain amount of experiences with a thing, and it becomes a feedback loop. I'll use fear, specific phobias, for example. Deathly afraid of flying. Every time I've actually gotten on a plane, not speaking for myself, but how people will describe it, there is a severe negative anticipation beforehand, an intense physical experience, rumination, questioning, trying to play out the scenarios, an internal fight over the probability versus the possibility of the worst-case scenarios.

We get on the flight, god-awful experience. And then we get off the plane and we say, I'm never doing that again. And then there might be opportunities where we can go on a nice trip, we could fly somewhere, and we avoid those opportunities. So now our construct is purely discomfort, fear, and essentially, I hate this. I can't do this.

When we add beliefs, when we integrate different physical sensations, when we create new associations between the idea of sitting on a flight and being able to feel like you might feel when you're in your peaceful place, it's diluting the very simplistic stimuli: dread, fear, physical discomfort response. We're adding more options. We give ourselves more decision nodes on the branch.

Frequently Asked Questions About How Hypnosis Works

Is hypnosis the same as mindfulness or meditation?

If mindfulness is casting a floodlight to illuminate the entirety of a field, hypnosis is a spotlight. So we really want to hone in on a particular area. But in order to be able to do so, we've got to specify what that area is.

Why do some people respond to hypnosis more than others?

There's a genetic component that's been explored and is actively being explored as to how these parts of the brain might work in people who are highly and not so highly hypnotizable.

Meet Andreas Balasis

My name is Andreas Balasis. I'm a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Florida, a qualified supervisor, and a certified hypnosis practitioner through the International Hypnosis Association.

I've seen the effectiveness working with clients. I've seen the effectiveness in my own life, even before I knew what I was doing.

If a pattern still feels stuck even though you understand where it comes from, reach out to IBWHC to set up a conversation with Andreas.