Sample records for autosuggestion

  1. The role of autosuggestion in geriatric patients' quality of life: a study on psycho-neuro-endocrine-immunology pathway.

    PubMed

    Sari, Nina Kemala; Setiati, Siti; Taher, Akmal; Wiwie, Martina; Djauzi, Samsuridjal; Pandelaki, Jacub; Purba, Jan Sudir; Sadikin, Mohamad

    2017-10-01

    There has been no study conducted about the effect of autosuggestion on quality of life for geriatric patients. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of autosuggestion for geriatric patients' quality of life and its impact on psycho-neuro-endocrine-immune pathway. Sixty geriatric patients aged ≥60 years in a ward were randomly assigned to either receive autosuggestion or not. Autosuggestion was recorded in a tape to be heard daily for 30 days. Both groups received the standard medical therapy. Primary outcome was quality of life by COOP chart. Secondary outcomes were serum cortisol level, interleukin-2, interleukin-6, interferon-γ, and N-acetylaspartate/creatine ratio in limbic/paralimbic system by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The study was single blinded due to the nature of the intervention studied. Out of 60 subjects, 51 finished the study. The autosuggestion group reported better scores than the control one for quality of life, COOP chart 1.95 vs. 2.22 (95% CI, p = 0.02). There were increments of serum cortisol (p = 0.03) and interleukin-6 in the autosuggestion group (p = 0.04). Interleukin-2, interferon-γ, and N-acetylaspartate/creatine ratio in prefrontal cortex showed a tendency to increase in the autosuggestion groups. Autosuggestion is associated with improvement of geriatrics' quality of life, serum cortisol level, and adaptive immunity. There is a better trend for neuroplasticity in prefrontal cortex in the autosuggestion group.

  2. The suggestible brain: posthypnotic effects on value-based decision-making

    PubMed Central

    Stelzel, Christine; Krutiak, Harald; Magrabi, Amadeus; Steimke, Rosa; Paschke, Lena M.; Kathmann, Norbert; Walter, Henrik

    2014-01-01

    Hypnosis can affect perception, motor function and memory. However, so far no study using neuroimaging has investigated whether hypnosis can influence reward processing and decision-making. Here, we assessed whether posthypnotic suggestions can diminish the attractiveness of unhealthy food and whether this is more effective than diminishing attractiveness by one’s own effort via autosuggestion. In total, 16 participants were hypnotized and 16 others were instructed to associate a color cue (blue or green) with disgust regarding specific snacks (sweet or salty). Afterwards, participants bid for snack items shown on an either blue or green background during functional magnetic resonance imaging measurement. Both hypnosis and autosuggestion successfully devalued snacks. This was indicated by participants’ decision-making, their self-report and by decreased blood oxygen level-dependent signal in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a region known to represent value. Different vmPFC subregions coded for cue and snack type. The cue had significantly stronger effects on vmPFC after hypnosis than after autosuggestion, indicating that hypnosis was more effective in genuinely reducing value. Supporting previous findings, the precuneus was involved in the hypnotic effects by encoding whether a snack was sweet or salty during hypnotic cue presentation. Our results demonstrate that posthypnotic suggestions can influence valuation and decision-making. PMID:23887809

  3. Theories of Suggestion.

    PubMed

    Brown, W

    1928-02-01

    The word "suggestion" has been used in educational, scientific and medical literature in slightly different senses. In psychological medicine the use of suggestion has developed out of the earlier use of hypnotic influence.Charcot defined hypnosis as an artificial hysteria, Bernheim as an artificially increased suggestibility. The two definitions need to be combined to give an adequate account of hypnosis. Moreover, due allowance should be made for the factors of dissociation and of rapport in hypnotic phenomena.The relationships between dissociation, suggestibility, and hypnotizability.Theories of suggestion propounded by Pierre Janet, Freud, McDougall, Pawlow and others. Ernest Jones's theory of the nature of auto-suggestion. Janet explains suggestion in terms of ideo-motor action in which the suggested idea, because of the inactivity of competing ideas, produces its maximum effect. Freud explains rapport in terms of the sex instinct "inhibited in its aim" (transference) and brings in his distinction of "ego" and "ego-ideal" (or "super-ego") to supplement the theory. Jones explains auto-suggestion in terms of narcissism. McDougall explains hypnotic suggestion in terms of the instinct of self-abasement. But different instincts may supply the driving power to produce suggestion-effects in different circumstances. Such instincts as those of self-preservation (fear) and gregariousness may play their part. Auto-suggestion as a therapeutic factor is badly named. It supplements, but does not supplant the will, and makes complete volition possible.

  4. Theories of Suggestion

    PubMed Central

    Brown, William

    1928-01-01

    The word “suggestion” has been used in educational, scientific and medical literature in slightly different senses. In psychological medicine the use of suggestion has developed out of the earlier use of hypnotic influence. Charcot defined hypnosis as an artificial hysteria, Bernheim as an artificially increased suggestibility. The two definitions need to be combined to give an adequate account of hypnosis. Moreover, due allowance should be made for the factors of dissociation and of rapport in hypnotic phenomena. The relationships between dissociation, suggestibility, and hypnotizability. Theories of suggestion propounded by Pierre Janet, Freud, McDougall, Pawlow and others. Ernest Jones's theory of the nature of auto-suggestion. Janet explains suggestion in terms of ideo-motor action in which the suggested idea, because of the inactivity of competing ideas, produces its maximum effect. Freud explains rapport in terms of the sex instinct “inhibited in its aim” (transference) and brings in his distinction of “ego” and “ego-ideal” (or “super-ego”) to supplement the theory. Jones explains auto-suggestion in terms of narcissism. McDougall explains hypnotic suggestion in terms of the instinct of self-abasement. But different instincts may supply the driving power to produce suggestion-effects in different circumstances. Such instincts as those of self-preservation (fear) and gregariousness may play their part. Auto-suggestion as a therapeutic factor is badly named. It supplements, but does not supplant the will, and makes complete volition possible. PMID:19986306

  5. Suggestion in Education: The Historical Path of Suggestopedia.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lindeman, Mary L.

    Although techniques of autosuggestion in personal development have a long history in some Eastern cultures, suggestibility as a character trait first came into focus in the West with the "animal magnetism" of Franz Mesmer. The uncovering of the nature and phenomena of hypnosis resulted in a steady and enduring interest in this state of…

  6. Root Doctors as Providers of Primary Care

    PubMed Central

    Stitt, Van J.

    1983-01-01

    Physicians in primary care recognize that as many as 65 percent of the patients seen in their offices are there for psychological reasons. In any southern town with a moderate population of blacks, there are at least two “root doctors.” These root doctors have mastered the power of autosuggestion and are treating these patients with various forms of medication and psychological counseling. This paper updates the practicing physician on root doctors who practice primary care. PMID:6887277

  7. Autogenic training alters cerebral activation patterns in fMRI.

    PubMed

    Schlamann, Marc; Naglatzki, Ryan; de Greiff, Armin; Forsting, Michael; Gizewski, Elke R

    2010-10-01

    Cerebral activation patterns during the first three auto-suggestive phases of autogenic training (AT) were investigated in relation to perceived experiences. Nineteen volunteers trained in AT and 19 controls were studied with fMRI during the first steps of autogenic training. FMRI revealed activation of the left postcentral areas during AT in those with experience in AT, which also correlated with the level of AT experience. Activation of prefrontal and insular cortex was significantly higher in the group with experience in AT while insular activation was correlated with number years of simple relaxation exercises. Specific activation in subjects experienced in AT may represent a training effect. Furthermore, the correlation of insular activation suggests that these subjects are different from untrained subjects in emotional processing or self-awareness.

  8. [Therapy and suggestion].

    PubMed

    Barrucand, D; Paille, F

    1986-12-01

    Therapy and suggestion are closely related. That is clear for the ancient time: primitive medicine gives a good place to the Word. In plant, animal or mineral remedies, the suggestion is clearly preponderant. Towards the end of the 19th century, the "Ecole de Nancy" sets up a real theory of the suggestion, and Bernheim, its leader, bases hypnosis, then psychotherapy on this concept. Thereafter Coué will bring up the "conscious autosuggestion". Today, despite the progress of scientific medicine, the part of suggestion is still very important in medical therapy (with or without drugs), or in chirurgical therapy; this part is also very important in psychotherapies, whatever has been said in this field. This has to be known and used consciously in the doctor-patient relation, which is always essential in the therapeutic effectiveness.

  9. [Perioperative use of medical hypnosis. Therapy options for anaesthetists and surgeons].

    PubMed

    Hermes, D; Trübger, D; Hakim, S G; Sieg, P

    2004-04-01

    Surgical treatment of patients under local anaesthesia is quite commonly restricted by limited compliance from the patient. An alternative to treatment under pharmacological sedation or general anaesthesia could be the application of medical hypnosis. With this method, both suggestive and autosuggestive procedures are used for anxiolysis, relaxation, sedation and analgesia of the patient. During a 1-year period of first clinical application, a total of 207 surgical procedures on a non-selected collective of 174 patients were carried out under combined local anaesthesia and medical hypnosis. Medical hypnosis proved to be a standardisable and reliable method by which remarkable improvements in treatment conditions for both patient and surgeons were achievable. Medical hypnosis is not considered to be a substitute for conscious sedation or general anaesthesia but a therapeutic option equally interesting for anaesthesists and surgeons.

  10. Autogenic training reduces anxiety after coronary angioplasty: a randomized clinical trial.

    PubMed

    Kanji, N; White, A R; Ernst, E

    2004-03-01

    Autogenic training (AT) is a method of autosuggestion with some potential for reducing anxiety. This study tests whether AT lowers anxiety levels experienced by patients undergoing coronary angioplasty. Fifty-nine patients were randomly assigned to receive regular AT or no such therapy as an adjunct to standard care for 5 months. The primary outcome measure was State Anxiety at 2 months. Qualitative information was generated by face-to-face interviews. State Anxiety showed a significant intergroup difference both at 2 and 5 months. This finding was corroborated by secondary outcome measures, for example, quality of life, and by qualitative information about patients' experiences. The results do not allow us to determine whether the observed effects are specific to AT or of a nonspecific nature. Our results suggest that AT may have a role in reducing anxiety of patients undergoing coronary angioplasty.

  11. [Emotional stress psychotherapy].

    PubMed

    Rozhnov, V E

    1989-01-01

    The concept of emotional stress psychotherapy (ESP) is based on the theoretical understanding of mental process as a system of cross-potentiating synergism of consciousness and the unconscious. Therefore, one can regard this kind of treatment as an appeal to the spiritual components of personality arousing its need of self-perfectioning. Owing to this, ESP turns the demands and higher interests creating a personality dominant to oppose the illness with ensuing depression and apathy. In a sense, this method is a qualitative contrast to S. Freud's psychoanalysis digging in the dark compartments of the soul. As a result of treatment of thousands of neurotic patients and those with psychosomatic disorders and alcoholism, the following techniques of ESP were elaborated: rational, shaped as a socratic dialogue; hypnosuggestive comprising individual or collective hypnosis, extremely loaded with emotions; autosuggestive like mental self-regulation and autogenic training filled with specific emotions.

  12. [The role of imagination in modern medicine].

    PubMed

    Schott, Heinz

    2004-06-01

    In Renaissance and early modern times, the concept of imagination (Latin imaginatio) was essential for the (natural) philosophical explanation of magic processes, especially in the anthropology of Paracelsus. He assumed that imagination was a natural vital power including cosmic, mental, phychical, and physical dimensions. The Paracelsians criticized traditional humor pathology ignoring their theory of' 'natural magic'. On the other hand, they were criticized by their adversaries as charlatans practicing 'black magic'. About 1800, in between enlightenment and romanticism, the healing concept of, animal magnetism' (Mesmerism) evoked an analogous debate, whether, magnetic' phenomena originated from a real (physical) power (so-called, fluidum') or were just due to fantasy or imagination (German Einbildungskraft). At the end of the 19th century, the French internist Hippolyte Bernheim created-against the background of medical hypnosis (hypnotism') as a consequence of Mesmerism - his theory of suggestion and autosuggestion: a new paradigm of psychological respectively psychosomatic medicine, which became the basis for the concept of, placebo' in modern biomedicine. From now on, all the effects of, alternative medicine' could easily be explained by the, placebo-effect', more or less founded - at least unconsciously - on fraud.

  13. FlyAtlas: database of gene expression in the tissues of Drosophila melanogaster.

    PubMed

    Robinson, Scott W; Herzyk, Pawel; Dow, Julian A T; Leader, David P

    2013-01-01

    The FlyAtlas resource contains data on the expression of the genes of Drosophila melanogaster in different tissues (currently 25-17 adult and 8 larval) obtained by hybridization of messenger RNA to Affymetrix Drosophila Genome 2 microarrays. The microarray probe sets cover 13,250 Drosophila genes, detecting 12,533 in an unambiguous manner. The data underlying the original web application (http://flyatlas.org) have been restructured into a relational database and a Java servlet written to provide a new web interface, FlyAtlas 2 (http://flyatlas.gla.ac.uk/), which allows several additional queries. Users can retrieve data for individual genes or for groups of genes belonging to the same or related ontological categories. Assistance in selecting valid search terms is provided by an Ajax 'autosuggest' facility that polls the database as the user types. Searches can also focus on particular tissues, and data can be retrieved for the most highly expressed genes, for genes of a particular category with above-average expression or for genes with the greatest difference in expression between the larval and adult stages. A novel facility allows the database to be queried with a specific gene to find other genes with a similar pattern of expression across the different tissues.

  14. [The berserks--what was wrong with them?].

    PubMed

    Høyersten, Jon Geir

    2004-12-16

    The terms berserk and going berserk reflect the violent and ferocious warriors and ruthless murderers of Scandinavia and Northern Europe, active from before the Viking age until the advent of Christianity. The main source on the phenomenon is the Old Norse literature, mainly the Icelandic sagas with their sober descriptive accounts of the berserks and their behaviour. The berserks are frequently depicted as having had antisocial character traits; often as bullies who evince, by way of autosuggestion, an enormous and uncontrollable rage, slaughtering and killing. They felt no pain and hardly took in the environment they lived in. The fits were followed by exhaustion or sleep. Although the phenomenon waned completely by the advent of Christianity, it can hardly be discarded as just myth or folklore. Most likely it could be explained as a kind of dissociative reaction. The widespread idea of toadstool as causative agent is at best debatable. The conceptions of pre-Christian heathenism about the human mind are of importance to the understanding of suggestibility and capacity for trance reaction. The condition is considered a culture-bound syndrome. Comparisons are drawn to lycanthropy (werewolf madness), frequently considered an identical phenomenon. Clinically (i.e. historically) it was mainly something different, namely psychotic conditions.

  15. Lucid dreaming: a state of consciousness with features of both waking and non-lucid dreaming.

    PubMed

    Voss, Ursula; Holzmann, Romain; Tuin, Inka; Hobson, J Allan

    2009-09-01

    The goal of the study was to seek physiological correlates of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is a dissociated state with aspects of waking and dreaming combined in a way so as to suggest a specific alteration in brain physiology for which we now present preliminary but intriguing evidence. We show that the unusual combination of hallucinatory dream activity and wake-like reflective awareness and agentive control experienced in lucid dreams is paralleled by significant changes in electrophysiology. 19-channel EEG was recorded on up to 5 nights for each participant. Lucid episodes occurred as a result of pre-sleep autosuggestion. Sleep laboratory of the Neurological Clinic, Frankfurt University. Six student volunteers who had been trained to become lucid and to signal lucidity through a pattern of horizontal eye movements. Results show lucid dreaming to have REM-like power in frequency bands delta and theta, and higher-than-REM activity in the gamma band, the between-states-difference peaking around 40 Hz. Power in the 40 Hz band is strongest in the frontal and frontolateral region. Overall coherence levels are similar in waking and lucid dreaming and significantly higher than in REM sleep, throughout the entire frequency spectrum analyzed. Regarding specific frequency bands, waking is characterized by high coherence in alpha, and lucid dreaming by increased delta and theta band coherence. In lucid dreaming, coherence is largest in frontolateral and frontal areas. Our data show that lucid dreaming constitutes a hybrid state of consciousness with definable and measurable differences from waking and from REM sleep, particularly in frontal areas.

  16. Lucid Dreaming: A State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming

    PubMed Central

    Voss, Ursula; Holzmann, Romain; Tuin, Inka; Hobson, J. Allan

    2009-01-01

    Study Objectives: The goal of the study was to seek physiological correlates of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is a dissociated state with aspects of waking and dreaming combined in a way so as to suggest a specific alteration in brain physiology for which we now present preliminary but intriguing evidence. We show that the unusual combination of hallucinatory dream activity and wake-like reflective awareness and agentive control experienced in lucid dreams is paralleled by significant changes in electrophysiology. Design: 19-channel EEG was recorded on up to 5 nights for each participant. Lucid episodes occurred as a result of pre-sleep autosuggestion. Setting: Sleep laboratory of the Neurological Clinic, Frankfurt University. Participants: Six student volunteers who had been trained to become lucid and to signal lucidity through a pattern of horizontal eye movements. Measurements and Results: Results show lucid dreaming to have REM-like power in frequency bands δ and θ, and higher-than-REM activity in the γ band, the between-states-difference peaking around 40 Hz. Power in the 40 Hz band is strongest in the frontal and frontolateral region. Overall coherence levels are similar in waking and lucid dreaming and significantly higher than in REM sleep, throughout the entire frequency spectrum analyzed. Regarding specific frequency bands, waking is characterized by high coherence in α, and lucid dreaming by increased δ and θ band coherence. In lucid dreaming, coherence is largest in frontolateral and frontal areas. Conclusions: Our data show that lucid dreaming constitutes a hybrid state of consciousness with definable and measurable differences from waking and from REM sleep, particularly in frontal areas. Citation: Voss U; Holzmann R; Tuin I; Hobson A. Lucid dreaming: a state of consciousness with features of both waking and non-lucid dreaming. SLEEP 2009;32(9):1191-1200. PMID:19750924

  17. Eagle-i: Making Invisible Resources, Visible

    PubMed Central

    Haendel, M.; Wilson, M.; Torniai, C.; Segerdell, E.; Shaffer, C.; Frost, R.; Bourges, D.; Brownstein, J.; McInnerney, K.

    2010-01-01

    RP-134 The eagle-i Consortium – Dartmouth College, Harvard Medical School, Jackson State University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Montana State University, Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), the University of Alaska, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Puerto Rico – aims to make invisible resources for scientific research visible by developing a searchable network of resource repositories at research institutions nationwide. Now in early development, it is hoped that the system will scale beyond the consortium at the end of the two-year pilot. Data Model & Ontology: The eagle-i ontology development team at the OHSU Library is generating the data model and ontologies necessary for resource indexing and querying. Our indexing system will enable cores and research labs to represent resources within a defined vocabulary, leading to more effective searches and better linkage between data types. This effort is being guided by active discussions within the ontology community (http://RRontology.tk) bringing together relevant preexisting ontologies in a logical framework. The goal of these discussions is to provide context for interoperability and domain-wide standards for resource types used throughout biomedical research. Research community feedback is welcomed. Architecture Development, led by a team at Harvard, includes four main components: tools for data collection, management and curation; an institutional resource repository; a federated network; and a central search application. Each participating institution will populate and manage their repository locally, using data collection and curation tools. To help improve search performance, data tools will support the semi-automatic annotation of resources. A central search application will use a federated protocol to broadcast queries to all repositories and display aggregated results. The search application will leverage the eagle-i ontologies to help guide users to valid queries via auto-suggestions

  18. Mind-body interventions during pregnancy for preventing or treating women's anxiety.

    PubMed

    Marc, Isabelle; Toureche, Narimane; Ernst, Edzard; Hodnett, Ellen D; Blanchet, Claudine; Dodin, Sylvie; Njoya, Merlin M

    2011-07-06

    Anxiety during pregnancy is a common problem. Anxiety and stress could have consequences on the course of the pregnancy and the later development of the child. Anxiety responds well to treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy and/or medication. Non-pharmacological interventions such as mind-body interventions, known to decrease anxiety in several clinical situations, might be offered for treating and preventing anxiety during pregnancy. To assess the benefits of mind-body interventions during pregnancy in preventing or treating women's anxiety and in influencing perinatal outcomes. We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (30 November 2010), MEDLINE (1950 to 30 November 2010), EMBASE (1974 to 30 November 2010), the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) (1 December 2010), ClinicalTrials.gov (December 2010) and Current Controlled Trials (1 December 2010), searched the reference lists of selected studies and contacted professionals and authors in the field. Randomized controlled trials, involving pregnant women of any age at any time from conception to one month after birth, comparing mind-body interventions with a control group. Mind-body interventions include: autogenic training, biofeedback, hypnotherapy, imagery, meditation, prayer, auto-suggestion, tai-chi and yoga. Control group includes: standard care, other pharmacological or non-pharmacological interventions, other types of mind-body interventions or no treatment at all. Three review authors independently assessed trials for inclusion all assessed risk of bias for each included study. We extracted data independently using an agreed form and checked it for accuracy. We included eight trials (556 participants), evaluating hypnotherapy (one trial), imagery (five trials), autogenic training (one trial) and yoga (one trial). Due to the small number of studies per intervention and to the diversity of outcome measurements, we performed no meta