In the September 27, 2004 issue of Newsweek, Dr. David Spiegel, professor and associate chair of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a leading expert on the practice of hypnosis says “One of the interesting ironies about hypnosis is that old fantasy that it takes away control. It’s actually a way of enhancing people’s control, or teaching them how to control aspects of their body’s function and sensation.”
The article cites recent studies using positron emission tomography (PET) which allows researchers to look at what goes on in the brain during hypnosis. In one study, hypnotized people were shown a black and white pattern and asked to see color. The PET scans showed that “regions of the brain normally activated during color perception were activated.” Spiegel says, “If you think you are seeing color, you actually see it, and your brain acts as though it is seeing it.”
The mind does not know the difference between sensory images in reality and sensory images in our imagination. Hypnosis can help you take control and alter how you perceive and process reality.