Hypnosis is a promising tool in the management of various conditions, such as anxiety and chronic pain. Preliminary studies have shown that hypnosis can directly affect the cardiovascular system, as it increases parasympathetic activation and reduces sympathetic activity. However, the literature related to the effects of hypnosis on cardiovascular health is scarce, mainly due to misconceptions about hypnosis among researchers and medical professionals. This opinion paper examines the role that hypnosis may play in cardiovascular health, highlighting the physiological mechanisms behind it. The evidence suggests that hypnosis has both direct (e.g., changes in the activity of the autonomic nervous system) and indirect (e.g., changes in healthy behaviours) effects on the cardiovascular system; however, further studies are needed to properly define its mechanisms of action and its applicability in improving cardiovascular health. Thus, this opinion paper advocates the adoption of the term "hypno-cardiac physiology" to identify a new research area that gathers experts from neuroscience and cardiovascular science with the joint aim of seeking further understanding of the effects of hypnosis on the cardiovascular system. The adoption of a dedicated term to identify the study of the cardiovascular response to hypnosis will encourage its implementation in cardiovascular health interventions, promoting awareness of its effects among the public and the healthcare community, and promoting the formation of dedicated multidisciplinary research groups and dedicated educational training for healthcare professional interested in its applications. Please cite this article as: Leo DG, Keller SS, Proietti R. Hypno-cardiac physiology: Aiming for an organised study of the physiological effects of hypnosis on the cardiovascular system. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(5):457-461.
Humans ; Autonomic Nervous System/physiology* ; Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena ; Cardiovascular System/physiopathology* ; Hypnosis

This is a report to share the experience of managing a patient planned for surgical wound procedure under anaesthesia with medical hypnosis as a tool for sedation and pain relief with a wrist block to supplement the analgesic effect. This was a patient who presented with severe preoperative anxiety and pain concerning her surgical procedure. She developed an allergy to some analgesia from her first surgical procedure. Adequate motivational interviewing techniques with the patient enabled issues about her anxiety to be explored and helped to ease the patient's anxiety. The surgical procedure was successfully done with hypnosis and regional anaesthesia. The patient's response towards pain and anxiety was documented based on Numerical Reporting Scale. The patient's wound care in the ward and clinic proved to be less painful and more comfortable for the patient with her self-hypnosis skill. Empowering the patient with medical hypnosis during the procedure is an option that should be explored.
Hypnosis

This case series involving two patients highlights clinical hypnosis as an effective adjunct in anaesthesia for cataract surgery. The first patient was a 55-year old lady, with the American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) classification 2, who was scheduled for cataract surgery for her left eye. The second patient was a 34-year old man, ASA 2, with an underlying retroviral disease, hypertension and a prolapsed intervertebral disc with spinal stenosis of the 3rd to 7th cervical vertebrae, and he was scheduled for cataract surgery in his right eye. These patients were anxious and they responded positively to the proposal of utilising clinical hypnosis as a mode of sedation (hypnosedation) for surgery. Hypnotic induction was achieved with an ideo-dynamic induction, which was described as a non-ritualistic method of hypnosis. Both reported that they experienced profound relaxation during the procedure and were able to respond to the surgical team during the surgery.
Hypnosis, Anesthetic

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of hypnosis on pain and fear in the healthy acupuncture subjects. METHODS: A total of 52 healthy subjects were randomized into an observation group and a control group, 26 cases in each one. In the observation group, the subjects received the first-time acupuncture under hypnosis. After wakened up and 30 min later, the subjects received the second-time acupuncture under clear consciousness condition. In the control group, the subjects received the first-time acupuncture under clear consciousness condition, 30 min later, received the second-time acupuncture under hypnosis. Likert scale was adopted to investigate the relaxation, pain sensation and the willingness in the subjects at the normal condition before acupuncture, after the first-time and the second-time acupuncture of the two groups separately. Using Boeran electronic blood pressure monitor, the pulse and blood pressure were measured in the subjects at the normal condition and after the first-time acupuncture of the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with the normal condition, the relaxation degree was increased, the pain sensation decreased and the willingness enhanced after acupuncture either after hypnosis or after wakened-up in the observation group (<0.001). The difference was not significant in each index between acupuncture after hypnosis and acupuncture after wakened-up in the observation group (>0.05). In the control group, compared with the normal condition, after the first-time acupuncture (acupuncture in clear consciousness), the relaxation degree was decreased, pain was alleviated and the willingness was increased when acupuncture was exerted once again (<0.001, <0.05); compared with the normal condition, after the second-time acupuncture (acupuncture after hypnosis), pain was alleviated and the willingness increased (<0.001), but the difference in relaxation was not significant (>0.05); compared with the first-time acupuncture, the relaxation degree was increased, pain alleviated and willingness enhanced after the second-time acupuncture (acupuncture after hypnosis) (<0.05, <0.001). Compared with the control group after the first-time acupuncture (acupuncture in clear consciousness), the relaxation degree and willingness were increased and the pain sensation was reduced in the observation group during acupuncture either after hypnosis or after wakened-up (<0.001). Compared with the control group the second-time acupuncture (during acupuncture after hypnosis), the relaxation degree was increased and pain sensation reduced in the observation group during acupuncture either after hypnosis or after wakened-up (<0.01, <0.001), but the difference was not significant in willingness (>0.05). In the control group, compared with the normal condition, the pulse was faster, both the diastolic pressure and systolic pressure were increased after the first-time acupuncture (<0.05, <0.01). In the observation group, compared with the normal condition, the pulse was getting slow and blood pressure was reduced after the first-time (acupuncture under hypnosis, <0.01). Compared with the first-time acupuncture in the control group, pulse was getting slow and blood pressure was reduced in the observation group after acupuncture under hypnosis (<0.001). CONCLUSION During acupuncture, with hypnosis combined, the fear alleviates, pain reduces and the willingness of acupuncture increases in the subjects.
Acupuncture Therapy ; Fear ; Humans ; Hypnosis ; Pain ; Pain Management

Anesthetic agent propofol needs to be administered at an appropriate rate to prevent hypotension and postoperative adverse reactions. To comprehend more suitable anesthetic drug rate during surgery is a crucial aspect. The main objective of this proposal is to design robust automated control system that work effi ciently in most of the patients with smooth BIS and minimum variations of propofol during surgery to avoid adverse post reactions and instability of anesthetic parameters. And also, to design advanced computer control system that improves the health of patient with short recovery time and less clinical expenditures. Unlike existing research work, this system administrates propofol as a hypnotic drug to regulate BIS, with fast bolus infusion in induction phase and slow continuous infusion in maintenance phase of anesthesia. The novelty of the paper lies in possibility to simplify the drug sensitivity-based adaption with infusion delay approach to achieve closedloop control of hypnosis during surgery. Proposed work uses a brain concentration as a feedback signal in place of the BIS signal. Regression model based estimated sensitivity parameters are used for adaption to avoid BIS signal based frequent adaption procedure and large off set error. Adaptive smith predictor with lead–lag fi lter approach is applied on 22 diff erent patients' model identifi ed by actual clinical data. The actual BIS and propofol infusion signals recorded during clinical trials were used to estimate patient's sensitivity parameters EC50 and λ. Simulation results indicate that patient's drug sensitivity parameters based adaptive strategy facilitates optimal controller performance in most of the patients. Results are obtained with proposed scheme having less settling time, BIS oscillations and small off set error leads to adequate depth of anesthesia. A comparison with manual control mode and previously reported system shows that proposed system achieves reduction in the total variations of the propofol dose. Proposed adaptive scheme provides better performance with less oscillation in spite of computation delay, surgical stimulations and patient variability. Proposed scheme also provides improvement in robustness and may be suitable for clinical practices.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, Intravenous ; Automation ; Brain ; Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Hypnosis ; Hypotension ; Propofol

No abstract available.
Hypnosis ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Previous studies have shown that spinosin was implicated in the modulation of sedation and hypnosis, while its effects on learning and memory deficits were rarely reported. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of spinosin on the improvement of cognitive impairment in model mice with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) induced by Aβ1–42 and determine the underlying mechanism. Spontaneous locomotion assessment and Morris water maze test were performed to investigate the impact of spinosin on behavioral activities, and the pathological changes were assayed by biochemical analyses and histological assay. After 7 days of intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of spinosin (100 µg/kg/day), the cognitive impairment of mice induced by Aβ1–42 was significantly attenuated. Moreover, spinosin treatment effectively decreased the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and Aβ1–42 accumulation in hippocampus. Aβ1–42 induced alterations in the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), as well as inflammatory response in brain were also reversed by spinosin treatment. These results indicated that the ameliorating effect of spinosin on cognitive impairment might be mediated through the regulation of oxidative stress, inflammatory process, apoptotic program and neurotrophic factor expression, suggesting that spinosin might be beneficial to treat learning and memory deficits in patients with AD via multi-targets.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Animals ; B-Lymphocytes ; Brain ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; Cognition Disorders ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Hypnosis ; Learning* ; Locomotion ; Malondialdehyde ; Memory Disorders ; Memory* ; Mice* ; Neuroprotection ; Neuroprotective Agents* ; Oxidative Stress ; Water

Neurologic symptoms that develop unconsciously and are incompatible with known pathophysiologic mechanisms or anatomic pathways belong to Conversion Disorder (CD). CD diagnosis is based on the clinical history and the exclusion of physical disorders causing significant distress or social and occupational impairment. In a subgroup of CD, called functional weakness (FW), symptoms affecting limbs may be persistent, thus causing a permanent or transient loss of limb function. Physiotherapy, pharmacotherapy, hypnotherapy and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) have been proposed as treatment strategies for FW-CD. Herein, we report a 30 year-old male, presenting with lower limb functional paraparesis, having obtained positive, objectively, and stable effects from a prolonged r-TMS protocol associated to a multidisciplinary approach, including psychological and sexuological counseling, and monitored by gait analysis. We postulate that our rTMS protocol, combined with a multidisciplinary approach may be the proper treatment strategy to improve FW-CD.
Brain* ; Conversion Disorder ; Counseling ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Extremities ; Gait ; Humans ; Hypnosis ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Paraparesis* ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

BACKGROUND: Hypnosis monitors analyze small-amplitude electrical signals transmitted from the brain that could be exposed to the electromagnetic field that occurs around the body during electrocautery (ECT). We investigated the influence of ECT on hypnosis monitoring during anesthesia. METHODS: We simultaneously monitored BIS and uCON during 50 gynecologic oncology surgeries. During the episodes of ECT, we compared the absolute difference (a-Diff) between the baseline index and the most deviated index after ECT over either 30–60 s (ECT30–60) or more than 60 s (ECT > 60) between the monitors. We also investigated the bias and the limits of agreement between the monitors. RESULTS: Between the two monitors, the a-Diff of ECT30–60 was 1.4 ± 1.1 for the BIS, which was significantly greater than 0.6 ± 0.9 for the uCON (P = 0.003), and the a-Diff of ECT > 60 was 16.5 ± 8.2 for the BIS, which was also significantly greater than 1.4 ± 1.3 for uCON (P < 0.001). The intra-monitor index differences showed that the BIS during ECT > 60 was significantly greater than that during ECT30–60 (P < 0.001), but the uCON showed no significant difference between ECT30–60 and ECT > 60 (P = 0.056). The estimated bias between the monitors was 6.3 ± 9.8 and 95% limits agreement was –12.3 to 25.0. CONCLUSIONS: Prolonged ECT intervention might lead to spurious estimations of quantitative EEG indexes. Therefore, hypnosis should be clinically assessed in combination with scrutinized judgment of relevant clinical symptoms and signs for hypnosis.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General* ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Brain ; Electrocoagulation ; Electroencephalography ; Electromagnetic Fields ; Hypnosis* ; Judgment ; Magnets*

BACKGROUND: Droperidol (DHB) reportedly reduces the dose of propofol needed to achieve hypnosis when anesthesia is induced and decreases the bispectral index (BIS) in propofol-sedated patients during spinal anesthesia. We reported previously that supplemental DHB decreased the BIS after the administration of sevoflurane and remifentanil. This study investigated the effect of DHB on desflurane (DES) consumption in a clinical setting. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, randomized double-blinded study of 35 women with American Society of Anesthesiologist physical status I or II who underwent a mastectomy. Either DHB (20 µg/kg) or a saline placebo was administered to patients 30 min after the induction of anesthesia. A blinded anesthesiologist maintained a BIS value of 50 during anesthesia by modulating inhaled DES concentrations that changed 0.5% at 2.5 min intervals and maintained analgesia via the constant administration of remifentanil by referring to vital signs. The primary endpoint was the effect of DHB on DES consumption. The secondary endpoints included blood circulatory parameters, the time from the end of surgery to extubation, and discharge time between the groups. RESULTS: The characteristics of the patients did not differ between the groups. The DHB group used a mean of 27.2 ± 6.0 ml of DES compared with 41.4 ± 9.5 ml by the placebo group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A small dose of DHB reduced the DES concentration needed to maintain a BIS of 50. Our results show that DHB reduced the consumption of DES without adverse effects.
Analgesia ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesia, Spinal ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Droperidol* ; Female ; Humans ; Hypnosis ; Mastectomy ; Propofol ; Prospective Studies ; Vital Signs