Role of histaminergic neurons in role of hypnotic modulation of visceral perception

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Jan 2008  by Wickramasekera, Ian II

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Watanabe S, Hattori T, Kanazawa M, Kano M, & Fukudo S. (2007). Role of histaminergic neurons in role of hypnotic modulation of visceral perception. Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 19(10), 831-838. The autiiors of this study report on some exciting new findings relating to the neural mechanisms underlying a broad array of hypnotic phenomena.

Many aspects of hypnosis seem to affect a person's visceral body sensations. One example of how hypnosis alters visceral body sensations can be readily seen in how hypnosis is frequently accompanied with physical sensations associated with relaxation that even many low hypnotizable subjects experience. A more dramatic example of how hypnosis can affect visceral sensations can be seen in how hypnotic analgesia can be attended with pleasant numbing sensations that appear to abolish or diminish painful sensations as strong as those produced by surgical operations. The authors hypothesized that histaminergic neurons in the human brain might be responsible for enacting the changes in visceral sensations that people experience during hypnotic analgesia. The authors decided to test their theory by administering a histamine antagonist (HI receptor: d-chlorpheniramine) intravenously in 12 healthy volunteers which would effectively block the histaminergic neurons from working. The authors then recorded the participants' event related potentials (a time and stimulus locked measure of electroencephalography EEG) to rectal delivered electrical stimuli designed to be painful. The subjects were all asked to use hypnosis to alter their visceral sensations by increasing, decreasing, and leaving neutral their body sensations of the electrical stimuli. This would allow the investigators a chance to see how the histamine antagonist might diminish, leave the same, or augment the subjects visceral sensations. The authors also wisely included a placebo control condition in which the subjects received an inert placebo and had the same experimental procedure was employed to investigate the possible placebo modulation of the visceral sensations during hypnosis. The authors reported that hypnosis did, in fact, diminish the participants experience of the painful stimuli during the hypnotic analgesia condition. These changes were also attended with significant decreases in the amplitude of the somatosensory event related potentials which were recorded from the participants. These were expected findings based upon previous research and so the most interesting finding was that there was a significant diminishment of the effects of hypnotic analgesia during the condition when a histaminergic antagonist was employed. The authors interpreted their findings to suggest that histaminergic neurons are involved with the modulation of visceral body sensations and that hypnotic suggestions are actualized through neural processes which utilize them. Address for reprints: S. Watanabe, Department of Behavioral Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.

Copyright American Society of Clinical Hypnosis Jan 2008
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved