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The International Society for Hypnosis

ZSUZSANNA NAGY & ISTVÁN FARKAS

While at first glance hypnosis and meditation seem easily distinguishable by the presence of external guidance and suggestions from a hypnotist, considering self-hypnosis and guided meditation this task turns out to be much more complicated. Hypnosis and meditation have many similarities both culturally and practically. In this article our goal was to better understand the special connection between the two and the methodological difficulties they face in research.

Introduction

Both hypnosis and meditation show the connection between mind and body. This connection gained attention in modern medicine mostly during the previous century, with the growing evidence of the psychosomatic approach, that mental and physical wellbeing affect each other. Parallel to this, hypnosis and meditation gained gradually more and more acceptance in western medicine. After a brief summary of the cultural and historical background of hypnosis and meditation we will collect the possible factors that could facilitate the differentiation of these two processes. Then, we will reflect on some misgivings about efforts to compare or to contrast these two practices. Finally, we summarise what potential value there may be classifying the depth and characteristics of altered states considering different subjects.

Cultural and historical background

Hypnosis and meditation have many traits in common, both regarding their historical/cultural aspects and the practical ones. Both of them might be described as a form of altered state (Holroyd, 2003). The ancient rituals and methods from which the modern hypnosis and meditation originates were a way to reach an altered state of consciousness, which is strongly connected to the original context of meditation, that was religious-spiritual, and to the mystical and medical background of hypnosis. The earliest recorded historical rituals performed by shamans, healers, priests seem to have many elements in common with hypnosis, like focusing attention, and producing trance-like states, such as catalepsy, anaesthesia or hallucinations. In many ancient cultures, such as India, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mongolia, China, America, and Africa these trances were used both in healing rituals as well as considered as a connection to the world of the spirits, and used for prophecies, clairvoyance and medical diagnosis (Hammond 2013). The modern history of hypnosis started with the Austrian physician Frantz Anton Mesmer, more than a hundred years ago (Stewart, 2005), whose original theory was criticised by such respected scientists as Benjamin Franklin, Lavoisier, and Dr. Guillotine. After an investigation they concluded that imagination and suggestion could have curative results in hypnosis (Tinterow 1970), which lead to an increase research about hypnosis. Esdaile, a Scottish surgeon, was the first who reported performing numerous operations using hypnotic suggestions as the sole anaesthetic. He was convinced that hypnosis was effective in the reduction of inflammation and not only for pain relief (Hammond 2013). Charcot, a French neurologist, precipitated a discussion about whether hypnosis was a psychological or a physiological state, leading to a period of growth in research, in various fields, among country doctors, neurologists, physicians, and psychotherapists, who tried to discover the practical benefits of hypnosis. Similar to hypnosis, the meditation used in modern western medicine is also based on ancient sacral methods. Most contemplation techniques originated from the same theoretical principle, that God only speaks to the THE METHODOLOGY OF MEDITATION AND HYPNOSIS ZSUZSANNA NAGY & ISTVÁN FARKAS – 28 – 2019, Volume 43, No. 1 soul when the creature is silent (Weber 1916). Similar to the attention focus procedures in hypnosis, many kinds of meditation Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Sufi or Jewish stressed concentration and letting go of thoughts. The relationship to silence is quite different in India, where the yoga teachings are based upon controlled breathing, self-observation to the point of completely emptying consciousness, by gaining deliberate control over the inner motion of heart and lungs and finally, the meditative state. In that process the highest, the greatest possible form of consciousness sought by the practitioner is catalepsy (Weber, 1916).

Hypnosis

Hypnosis might be thought of as applying a method of strong concentration the result of which the subject disregards most stimuli from outside. This requires such an intense focus, that the individual becomes capable of controlling memory, awareness and bodily functions. To achieve a hypnotic state, a patient goes through the stages of intake, detachment and suggestibility. During the stage of intake, the patient goes through the absorption in an experience while neglecting peripheral information such as thoughts, motoric actions or emerging memories. This state results in a detached condition that boosts suggestibility. People in a hypnotic state respond to suggestions automatically (Qualls and Sheehan, 1981). Nowadays, hypnosis is a legitimate therapeutic tool, widely acknowledged as an alternative to analgesia and as a helpful tool in therapy.

Meditation

Inspired by a later, Buddhist form of meditation, Mindfulness, so called in western meditation, excluded the ascetic, religious and magical features compared to meditation’s original form. In the state of mindfulness, the control of the senses, comes through practicing the habit of simply noticing sensory perceptions, but not allowing them to stimulate the mind into thought chains of reactions (Davison & Goleman 1977). Self-healing often means in this context, techniques in which the aim is to overcome the distress, sorrow, pain and sadness caused by living a material life. The attitude is analytic, and the goal is to cease suffering through stopping behaviours and habits that appear to be defensive (Loizzo, 2004). We call this intervention between mind and body meditation, but this term can refer to a variety of practices. While it is nearly impossible to perfectly classify the different types of meditation (Sedlmeier, et. al., 2012), a frequently used classification of different meditation forms is based on the type of attention. This approach distinguishes focused attention or concentration techniques, which are characterized by the concentration on a given internal or external object, and open monitoring or awareness techniques, which can be best described as an uncontrolled observation of reality in the stream of experience (Davidson & Goleman, 1977, Lutz, Slagter, Dunne, & Davidson, 2008.)

Are suggestions really the distinguishing feature?

One of the seemingly easiest ways to find the difference between hypnosis and meditation would be to separate them by the presence of a hypnotist, who gives suggestions in the one, and no hypnotist in the other. But what should we consider as a suggestion? It is common that novice meditators need the help of a master, to guide them (Facco, 2017). Some argue that the hypnotist in the process of hypnosis has a completely different role than a teacher to practitioners in the process of meditation. However, while the interaction may differ from one another, the trust and resonance could still be very likely one of the most important factors in the success of both processes (Grant, 2012). The definition gets even less clear, if we consider self-hypnosis. What one scientist considers as self-hypnosis, might be described as meditation by another (Halsband, Mueller, Hinterberger & Strickner, 2009). Yapko, (2011), the clinical psychologist in his book describes how hypnotic suggestions may operate in a mindfulness context, arguing that meditation is a form of hypnosis. – 29 – 2019, Volume 43, No. 1 If we try to take spontaneous hypnosis, —– the alteration in human awareness, like daydreaming, or the maximization of focal awareness during intense concentration on a task – into account, we find that not even the modern definition of hypnosis succeeds in recognizing it (Barabasz & Barabasz, 2015). Weitzenhoffer (2000) describes suggestions as a form of communication, that results in an automatic response. This definition of suggestion does not require a hypnotic state and makes it possible to understand, that a suggestion is not necessarily intended, and even if there is an intention, it does not necessarily result in an automatic response, therefore it might not be considered a suggestion. The difficulty in trying to separate hypnosis and meditation using this definition is present, because the responses might be non-observable, as it is in the case of covert responses. Even in the case of observable reactions, it is hard to decide whether they are automatic or voluntary. Because of the reasons above, in many cases it is problematic to decide whether any suggestions are present. This makes it almost impossible to clearly distinguish hypnosis and meditation based solely on the presence of suggestions in cases like guided meditation.

Physiological approach

Observing the activity of different brain areas in hypnosis and meditation might seem to be an objective way to distinguish them. Halsband, Mueller, Hinterberger & Strickner (2009) found some brain plasticity changes that can be clearly differentiated from the neurophysiological changes observed during meditation. It is important to note however, that other studies have shown that depending on the type of meditation and the individuals experience in meditation we might find very different physiological changes as well (Facco, 2017). Given that different meditation techniques or the same techniques but for different individuals show very different physiological changes further research is needed to decide whether this approach is applicable. In addition to the differences, there are also some strong similarities between the physiological changes during hypnosis and the different types of meditation. For example, the blood flow in the anterior cingulate cortex is increased both in open monitoring meditation, focused attention meditation and in hypnosis (Facco, 2017). Interestingly this area of the brain was shown to be a part of pain processing (Devinsky, Morrell, Vogt, 1995), memory (Vogt, Finch & Olson, 1992), and mental and emotional regulation (Bush, Luu & Posner, 2000), whose functions are also strongly connected to hypnosis and meditation. Both hypnosis and concentrative meditation result in inhibitory patterns, particularly in the midline and frontal cortical areas associated with executive function and cognitive control (Holroyd 2003).

Other possible distinctions

The scientific literature on comparison or contrast of hypnosis and meditation offers several other possible factors, such as motivation, expectancy, goals, or practising the skill (hypnosis patients rarely spend years developing their hypnotisability as do meditators), that would have to be considered to make a statement about the two phenomena (Holroyd, 2003).

ASC (Altered state of consciousness)

The subjective experience during meditation and hypnosis can often be perceived as similar to each other, and very different from the everyday experiences of the mind. Because of that, both the hypnotic and meditative states are often considered as altered states of consciousness. An altered state of consciousness may be defined as: “a qualitative alteration in the overall pattern of mental functioning such that the experiencer feels his or her consciousness is radically different from the ‘normal’ way of functions “ (Tart, 1972 as cited in Pekala and Cardeña, 2000, p.95) – 30 – 2019, Volume 43, No. 1 New studies aim to bring neurophysiological methods and phenomenological reports together, because the “first person” experience, which is a central element of an ASC, is not itself objectively and reliably measurable. In meditation the two main types, – open monitoring and focused attention, – have different preliminary and advanced stages of altered states of consciousness, but at the end of the process they become less distinguishable from one another (Goleman, 1996). In studies of mindfulness practices there is also a clear attempt to separate different states. During hypnosis, when we try to observe the inner experience, a considerable amount of information is lost about it, because researchers stop at the point of identifying the hypnotisability of the participants. Some even argue that we do not know what actually happens in hypnosis when qualitative shifts occur as one goes deeper (Holroyd 2003). A study of Hinterberg et al. (2011) found that selecting relevant measures is key if our goal is to describe the different stages of meditation and hypnosis.

Conclusion

According to Holroyd (2003), people seeking hypnosis are usually interested in a specific outcome, such as symptom removal, while meditators are more interested in long term goals, generally connected to selfimprovement. Using this approach hypnosis and meditation could be told apart based on the goals of the individual. This alone however, would be a highly subjective way of deciding whether something is hypnosis or meditation, but if we take the physiological differences of the two into account as well, that could lead to a better understanding of these two concepts. Grant and Rainville (2005) proposed to interpret hypnosis as a version of meditation because both phenomena showed many similar brain functions. However, later these same researchers warned that not having clearly defined constructs for comparison can lead to further misconceptions. Understanding the exact mechanism behind the differences of the two is still an open question. A useful direction for research could be to bring together meditation and hypnosis, making comparisons within subjects and to conduct longitudinal design studies (Grant 2012). Perhaps the most sophisticated way to do this would be to study trained “career meditators” with regard to their hypnotisability. The aim would be to have some consensus about how to separate the different stages, or processes occurring when somebody is meditating or is in a hypnotic state. Creating a more intimate relationship between hypnosis and meditation could help to overcome the methodological impediments in a field of a cross disciplinary collaboration.

Zsuzsanna Nagy

BA Student in Psychology ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary She is a toy inventor with a masters degree in history and journalism. She never planned to ‘play’ while working, but her kids were the inspiration to innovate products that develop spatial and cognitive skills. Currently she enjoys the challenge of exploring the possibilities of human consciousness.

István Farkas

BA Student in Psychology ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary His interests are quite diverse. He started university studying physics, and is currently working on his bachelor thesis. Last year he has published an article in health-sociology, and is currently interested in hypnotherapy, fairytale therapy and existential therapy, among many other fields of psychology.

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