Hypnosis Alters Brain Location of Perception Literally

Altering perception using hypnosis actually results in brain changes that literally reduce the pain perception instead of altering the response to pain. By simply changing the wording of ones hypnosis instruction from “You will feel a cool and tingling numbness more than pain” to “You will be aware of touch but the pain will not bother you” there is an alteration in the brain location of analgesia from the somatosensory cortex to the anterior cingulated gyrus. With hypnosis alteration of color perception there is a result of bi-directional change in blood flow in the protions of the visual cortex that process color. What happens, is that, blood flow in this region increases when color is imagined ranther than seen and blood flow in this region decreases when color is drained by the use of hypnosis imagination. It appears that there is an actual neurophysiologally going on and that leads to the reality that hypnosis is a powerful tool to alter the perception of anxiey, tension and pain.