Since my
undergraduate work was in Genetics and Molecular biology, I have
enthusiastically followed the epigenetics research, how environmental
conditions can play a significant role in whether you will or will not get a
specific disease – it’s not all in the genes, but rather in the gene expression.
Interestingly,
the brain is no different. Gene expression is turned on by novelty and surprise,
thus, deep meditation or hypnosis (a state of altered brain wave patterns) can
stimulate neurogenesis and the building of new neural pathways, hence, insight.
I guarantee
you've experienced this yourselves. You’ve
spaced out for a few minutes, when all of a sudden a brilliant insight pops
into your mind – that ‘spaced out’ feeling you experienced was a trance or
hypnotic state. As a matter of fact, the
average person moves through natural neural rhythms of arousal to relaxation 12
times a day.
Mindfulness,
deep meditation or hypnosis is a method to quickly induce the brain circuitry
for plasticity. PET scans show thought
during deep relaxation, the left pre frontal lobe is activated and the right
pre frontal lobe activity decreases. The
left pre-frontal lobe is associated with positive feelings, while the right
with anger and anxiety.
Using this
knowledge, experiments have been conducted on patients with anxiety, depression
and OCD, all showing significant improvement when mindfulness techniques were
included in treatment.
I’m a
sucker when it comes to positive genetic changes in the brain, and love meditation
but don’t have the time for it, nor do most of my patients – thus, my keen
interested in hypnotherapy. Almost finished my 100 hours training, and can’t
wait to start making positive change with my patients.
Dr. D
