Hypnosis and Neuroscience: Neuroplasticity - How brains make changes in hypnosis with Dave Gilbert PhD in Auckland NZ.

Hypnotherapist have long been explaining to clients that in hypnosis the subconscious mind becomes more receptive and responsive.  This is how people can often make positive changes more easily using hypnosis than they would by just having a conversation.  Changes include things like giving up smoking or drinking, letting go of habits such as nail biting or overcoming phobias such as the fear of flying. 

I tell clients that brains seem to know how to make positive changes and we have often said that one day scientists will tell us what goes on in the brain when these kind of changes take place in hypnosis.  It is exciting to report that neuroscientists are now beginning to provide this understanding. 

The ever popular neuroscientist Dr Andrew Huberman of the Stanford School of Medicine explains in one of his many Huberman Lab podcasts that hypnosis is a unique state in which you are calm and relaxed but at the same time have high degree of focus.  This accelerates neuroplasticity - the term neuroscientists use to describe the way in which brains make changes. 

According to Dr Huberman  “neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change and adapt in response to stimuli over time. On a cellular level, it involves modifying existing synapses, building new connections between neurons, and generating entirely new neurons and neural networks through a process rightly called neurogenesis.”

It is great that hypnosis and hypnotherapy are being validated more and more by the scientific and medical professions.  I look forward to learning more about brain function in hypnosis and how people can make powerful positive changes using hypnotherapy.