I just came across this excellent article in New York Magazine from last November about current research into the validity of hypnosis. Here is a link to the article and a few noteworthy quotes.
By Melissa Dahl
Hypnotism has been shown to be an effective
treatment for psychological problems, like phobias and eating disorders, but
the practice also helps people with physical problems, including pain — both
acute and chronic — and some gastrointestinal diseases.
With hypnosis, you capture people’s attention. … You
get people to turn to a more passive state of attention and to stop judging
everything. To just let it happen. And
when you do this, the amazing thing is that it’s as if you’re talking directly
to the part of the brain that’s monitoring the reactions.
The increasing interest in mindfulness meditation suggests
that mainstream acceptance of the mind-body connection is growing. Just last
month, NPR reported that placebo pills work even when people know they’re
taking a placebo. Those are real, biological changes underlying those
differences in your symptoms. It’s all in your mind. But that doesn’t mean it’s
not real.
