Gene Expression, Neurogenesis, and Healing: Psychosocial Genomics of Therapeutic Hypnosis
American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 2003 DOI: 10.1080/00029157.2003.10403526 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Neuroplasticity |
| Citations | 16 |
| Key points | Proposes that novelty, environmental enrichment, and exercise—conditions that optimize gene expression and neurogenesis—could integrate the theory, research, and practice of therapeutic hypnosis, and that suggestion could be timed to neurobiological processes ranging from minutes to months. |
Abstract
The historical lineage of therapeutic hypnosis in James Braid's "psychophysiology", Pierre Janet's "physiological modification", and Milton Erickson's "neuro-psycho-physiology" is extended to include current neuroscience research on activity-dependent gene expression, neurogenesis, and stem cells in memory, learning, behavior change, and healing. Three conditions that optimize gene expression and neurogenesis--novelty, environmental enrichment, and exercise--could integrate fundamentals of the theory, research, and practice of therapeutic hypnosis. Continuing research on immediate-early, activity-dependent, behavior state-related, and clock gene expression could enhance our understanding of how relaxation, sleep, dreaming, consciousness, arousal, stress and trauma are modulated by therapeutic hypnosis. It is speculated that therapeutic and post-hypnotic suggestion could be focused more precisely with the time parameters of gene expression and neurogenesis that range from minutes and hours for synthesizing new synapses to weeks and months for the generation and maturation of new, functioning neurons in the adult brain.
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