Three studies at the University of Zurich demonstrate that hypnosis alters activity in the large-scale functional networks of the brain. It also affects the neurochemical milieu of specific brain areas.

Hypnosis has so far been something of a black box from the scientific perspective. Up to now, we have not had the data to prove whether hypnosis really is an extraordinary state of human consciousness, or simply in the subject’s imagination. Yet it remains a topic of fascination for many.

A well-known women’s magazine recently dedicated an entire dossier to hypnosis. And now and again we’ll hear of a remarkable hypnosis success story. For example, in 2018 at the Hirslanden Klinik St. Anna in Lucerne, a 45-year-old man had a metal plate removed from his lower arm under hypnosis only, without any anesthetic or pain relief. Much to the amazement of the surgical team, the man did not experience any significant pain either during or after the operation, as the Swiss public broadcaster SRF Puls health magazine program reported on 17 September of that year.