LINKAGES Meditation Health and Stress

154
Chapter 4 Consciousness
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Normal waking pain
Intensity of pain reported
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10
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Pain
indicated by
automatic key
pressing (the
“hidden observer”)
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Morgan, & MacDonald, 1975). They were told that they would feel no pain, but they
were asked to press a key with their other hand if “any part of them” felt pain. As shown
in Figure 4.7, these participants said they felt almost no pain, but their key pressing
told a different story. Hilgard concluded that a “hidden observer” was reporting on pain
that was reaching the person but that had been separated, or dissociated, from conscious awareness (Hilgard, 1977).
Much remains to be learned about the nature of hypnosis. However, traditional distinctions between state and role theories have become less important as researchers
focus on larger questions, such as why people are susceptible to hypnosis and what roles
biological, social, and cognitive factors may play in it (e.g., Lynn & Kirsch, 2006; Raz,
Fan, & Posner, 2005).
Applications of Hypnosis
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Pain indicated
by verbal report
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5
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25
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45
Seconds in ice water
FIGURE
4.7
Reports of Pain in Hypnosis
This graph compares the intensity of pain
reported by three groups of participants
while one of their hands was immersed in
ice water. The orange line represents nonhypnotized participants. The blue line represents hypnotized participants who were
told they would feel no pain. The purple
line shows the reports of hypnotized participants who were told they would feel
no pain but were asked to press a key if
“any part of them” felt pain. The key
pressing by this “hidden observer” suggests that under hypnosis, the experience
of pain was dissociated from conscious
awareness (Hilgard, 1977).
LINKAGES
Does meditation relieve
stress? (a link to Health, Stress,
and Coping)
Whatever hypnosis is, it has proven useful, especially in relation to pain (Patterson &
Jensen, 2003). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of hypnotized pain patients
show altered activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region associated with the
emotional component of pain (Faymonville et al., 2000; Mohr et al., 2005). Hypnosis
seems to be the only anesthetic some people need to block the pain of dental work,
childbirth, burns, and surgery (Patterson, 2004; Van Sickel, 1992). For others, hypnosis
relieves chronic pain from arthritis, nerve damage, migraine headaches, and cancer
(Stewart, 2005). Hypnotic suggestion can also help eliminate diarrhea (Tan et al., 2005),
reduce nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy (Redd, 1984), limit surgical bleeding (Gerschman, Reade, & Burrows, 1980), and speed postoperative recovery (Astin,
2004).
Other applications of hypnosis are more controversial, especially the use of hypnosis to aid memory. For example, hypnotic age regression is sometimes used in an
attempt to help people recover lost memories. However, the memories of past events
reported by age-regressed individuals are not as accurate as those of nonhypnotized
individuals (Lynn, Myers, & Malinoski, 1997). Similarly, it is doubtful that hypnosis can
help witnesses to recall the details of a crime. In fact, their positive expectations about
the value of hypnosis may lead them to unintentionally distort or reconstruct memories of what they saw and heard (Garry & Loftus, 1994; Weekes et al., 1992; Wells &
Olson, 2003). Being hypnotized may also make witnesses more confident about their
reports, even if those reports are inaccurate.
M
LINKAGES
editation provides a set of techniques intended to create an altered
Meditation, Health, and Stress
state of consciousness characterized by inner peace and tranquility (Shapiro &
Walsh, 1984; Walsh & Shapiro, 2006). Techniques to achieve a meditative state differ,
depending on belief and philosophy (e.g., Eastern meditation, Sufism, yoga, or prayer).
However, in the most common meditation methods, attention is focused on just one
thing until the meditator stops thinking about anything else and experiences nothing but “pure awareness” (Benson, 1975). In this way, the individual becomes more
fully aware of the present moment rather than being caught up in the past or the
future.
To organize their attention, meditators may focus on the sound or tempo of their
breathing or slowly repeat a soothing word or phrase, called a mantra. During a typical meditation session, breathing, heart rate, muscle tension, blood pressure, and oxygen consumption decrease, whereas in the brain blood flow to the thalamus and frontal
lobes increases (Cahn & Polich, 2006; Newberg et al., 2001; Wallace & Benson, 1972).
During most forms of meditation, EEG activity is similar to that seen in a relaxed, eyesclosed, waking state (see Figure 4.3). Meditation also increases the brain’s level of