Psychobiology of Gene Expression: Neurosciences and Neurogenesis in Hypnosis and the Healing Arts, The

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Jan 2003  by Ewin, Dabney M

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The Psychobiology of Gene Expression: Neuroscience and Neurogenesis in Hypnosis and the Healing Arts. Ernest L. Rossi. New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2002). XVIII + 557 pages, $45.00 (Hardcover). Reviewed by: Dabney M. Ewin, M.D., New Orleans, LA.

There has been an explosion of information in the fields of cell biology and genetics during the Decade of the Brain (1990-1999), as reported by the American Psychological Association.An earlier explosion in the field of molecular physics brought us into the Atomic Age, and made us realize that all those little atoms and electrons we'd heard about could seriously affect our lives and safety. Now, as we enter the Decade of Behavior (2000-2009), so referenced by the APA, it is becoming apparent that the unraveling of the human genome may startle us into realizing that those genes and DNAs we've been hearing about can seriously affect our understanding of psychology, hypnosis, and all the healing arts. Our verbal intercourse could even change from "You don't have to be an atomic scientist to" to "You don't have to be a genetic genius to..."

"Gene expression" is the technical word for an idle gene that is activated into producing a particular protein. Some of these, in turn, generate new neurons and connections in our brains. Since a thought or emotion can cause gene expression, there is now a true psycho-biology awaiting our understanding. We have millions of genes that can toggle "on" or "off" when we find the right switches in our thoughts and feelings.

The first three paragraphs of the Preface summarize the message of Rossi's new book so well that they are reproduced here verbatim: Three fundamental discoveries of current neuroscience will forever change the way we understand human nature. The first is that novelty, enriching life experiences, and physical exercise can activate neurogenesis-new growth in the brain-throughout our entire lifetime. The second is that such experiences can turn on gene expression within minutes throughout the brain and body to guide growth, development, and healing in ways that could only be described as miraculous in the past. Like lightning and thunderclap, these two discoveries are so startling and unexpected that we hardly know what to make of them.

The third discovery follows as a natural implication of the first two. We now really know that "every recall is a reframe." That is, whenever we recall an important memory, nature opens up the possibility for us to reconstruct it on a molecular-genomic level within our brain. That is, we are constantly engaged in a process of creating and reconstructing the structure of our brain and body on all levels, from mind to gene. The profound implications of these three discoveries stretch our imagination. They suggest:

1. how we can use our consciousness to co-create ourselves;

2. new approaches to stress, psychotherapy, and the healing arts;

3. a new bridge between the arts, humanities, science, and spirit. (p. xv)

Rossi has set out to explicate the intimate relationship existing among the discoveries in genomics, neurology, and emotion which demonstrate that there are stem cells in the human brain, and that throughout our lives we can "grow" our brains and make new nerve cells. The older Mendelian genetics that explain how we inherit blue eyes and a few disorders like hemophilia, Down's syndrome, and sickle cell anemia also explain why we are 99.9 percent alike. Rossi tells us that the new genetics show that there are also at least three million small variations in our genes called single nucleotide polymorphisms that are expressed in our individuality, making a genetic bridge into the nature-nurture controversy. This also tells us that though a clone would be a physical twin, it would not be the same person.

The book is divided into two parts. Part I reviews details of the essential research with references as recent as 2001, and Part II proposes how we can utilize this basic science "to develop a new class of activity-dependent approaches for facilitating the creative replay of gene expression and neurogenesis in psychotherapy and the healing arts" (p. 257).

In Part I, Chapter 1 is an overview of housekeeping genes, early, intermediate, and late-activated genes. Chapter 2 investigates various behavioral states-emotional arousal, sleep, dreaming, vigilance, depression, and forms of behavioral state-related gene expression. Chapter 3 discusses activity-dependent gene expression and how human experience modulates gene expression and neurogenesis. Chapter 4 explores dreaming (which can be as vivid as real life experiences), and the creative replay that expresses the immediate early gene zif-268 that enhances neurogenesis. Chapter 5 addresses psychosocial genomics, and how therapeutic hypnosis, novel life experiences, the humanities, and placebo cause gene expression.

Part II is devoted to practical therapeutic methods of utilizing the fundamentals described in Part I. Chapter 6 leads us from the negative implications of Hans Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome to the positive psychology of its subtitle "How to enjoy creating a great day and night." Chapters 7 and 8 are a detailed analysis of a videotaped workshop demonstration with a patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. This tape is available from the ASCH video lending library at www.asch.net. Chapter 9 presents methods of activating a client/patient's own implicit processing heuristics, and Chapter 10 extends this perspective to explore novel approaches to activity-dependent creative work. A three page epilogue recapitulates all the important themes of the book.