Hypnotic trance and theory of mind an evolutionary point of view
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- 1. TRANCE AND THEORY OF MIND:AN EVOLUTIONARY POINT OF
VIEW
Ambrogio Pennati *, MD, psychiatrist, private practice, Milano,
Italy pennati.ambrogio.md@fastwebnet.it
Giampiero Mosconi , MD, psychologist, private practice, Milano,
Italy giampieromosconi@virgilio.it
Italian Medical Association for the Study of Hypnosis (AMISI,
www.amisi.it),
President and * VicePresident of AMISI
- 2. EvolutionaryPsychology and Psychotherapy
Evolutionarypsychologyseemstobe a euristically fertile approachto
life sciences, suchas medicine, psychology, economics, sociology.
Althoughthereisnot (and wehopethatwillneverbe)
anevolutionarypsychotherapy,
suchpointofviewcouldoffernewperspectives in psychotherapy, as some
experiences in jungian and freudianpsychoanalisys,
cognitive-behaviortherapy, systemictherapysuggest.
- 3. EvolutionaryPsychology and Hypnosis
As a matter of fact, onlypioneeristic, short and merely speculative
papersabout the relationshipbetweenevolutionarypsychology and
hypnosis are available. Wethinkthat the evolutionaryperspective in
the study of hypnoticphenomenacould generate newresearch and
newconceptualizations in ourfield. Wethinkthat at the
coreofEricksonian work thereisanimplicitevolutionary way
ofthinking, notfullyblossomedbecauseof the zeitgeist in
whichheoperated.
- 4. A paradigmaticshift
Evolutionarypsycvhologysuggeststhat a shiftfrom the Standard Social
Science Model (and itscorollaryofhuman mind asblankslate) to the
NaturalisticModelcouldbeuseful in bypassingmostof the
conceptualconundrumsofpsychotherapy.
In our case thisshiftcould bypass the state or process
issueofhypnosis.
The evolutionaryapproachidentify the abilitytodevelop trance
experienceasoneof the mostimportantadaptativemodule in the in the
brainfor the individual, the group and the specie.
- 5. Definitionof Trance
Weoperativelydefine the trance asanAltered State ofConsciousness
(ASoC) in which the followingphenomena can consensuallyoccur in a
statisticallysignificantpercentages:
Dissociationbetween executive and monitoringfunctionof the
Self
High frequencyofideodinamicbehaviors
Verbal and/or motor inhibition
Extremefocusingofattention, internal or external
Facilitationofautoreferentialthinking
Mnesicalterations
Changes in quality and quantityof the timeexperience
Changes in quality and quantityofperceptualexperience
- 6. The AdaptativeValueof Trance
Social value: increasedgroupidentity, dischargeamong the
groupofpeersofotherwiseunacceptablefeelings, self-trascendence,
facilitationofmeme-relatedcomplexes,
facilitationofmimeticlearning
Individualvalue: self trascendence, modulationofpain, modulationof
immune system, modulationofautonomicresponse,
increasedefficiencyoffight or flight response,
increasedefficiencyofmatingstrategies, increased chance
ofactivationofinternalhealingmodules (seebelow)
Biologicalvalue: increasedprobabilityofselectionof the fittest gene
or memebyreshufflingofgenetic and memetic pool (ritual and/or
orgiastic trance)
- 7. The EvolutionaryValueofRapport
The mirrorneuronssystemsseemsto play a determinantrole in the
abilitytodevelopempathicrelationshipsamonghumans. Suchrelationships
are essentialfor the survivalstruggle and reproductive success of
the individual and the group, gene (kin) or memerelated.
Empathiclearningmaybeactivatedwithoutawareness (procedural), and
thereforeitcouldbe more efficient and resilientthan the
declarativelearning, whichreliesuponlinguistic and
eideticstructuresof information.
WecoulddefineAlteredStates of Consciousness (AsoC) inductors the
multifacetedproceduresthat Homo Sapiens utilizedtoachieve trance
states. Suchinductorsrelyupon the empathicrapport.
- 8. Theory of Mind: a Definition
Theory of Mind isgenarallydefinedas the specific cognitive
abilitytomakeinferencesaboutmentalstates beliefs, willings, drives,
etc - of ourselves and of others.
Suchabilityallowsustounderstandathatmentalstatescouldbe the cause
of behaviors of the others, and thatthereforesuchbehaviors can
bepredicted,can be
- 9. ToM: AdaptativeValue
The mainhypotesisabout the development of the
abilitytohaveToMisthatsuchabilityisassociatedto the
incrementalcomplexity of humanrelationships, strictltyrelatedto the
increasingnumber of people constituive the primalgroups of homo
sapiens. The primaryaimistounmaskcheater and
strengthenintragroupcohoperation.
Suchability, detectedalso in big apes, takesplace in the man at the
age of 4 ys, as the linguistic competence.
- 10. ToM and NeuralSystems
Widelydistributedneural System (reviewSiegal & Varley,
2002)
2) Narrowlydistributedneural System (review Gallagher & Frith,
2003)
3)Neural System differientatedby the tipology of
requestedmeta-rapresentation (itself vs others(reviewAbu-Akel,
2003)
4) Neural System representative of the evolutionarysteps
(reviewSaxe, Carey & Kanwisher, 2004)
- 11. ToM and NeuralSystems
Twobrainareasseemstobeactivated:
Superiortemporalsulcus (STS) and bothtemporallobes;
theiractivationplays a supportiveindirectrole in the
abilitytomentalize
(STS) seemstobeengaged in processing of
esplicitbehavioralinformations, suchas the perception of
intentionalbehaviors
temporallobesseemto play a key role in the processing of personal
and episodicmnesic data, which are involved in the
ToMactivity
- 12. ToM and NeuralSystems
Moreover, AnteriorCingulateCingulus (ACC) isdeeplyinvolved in the
abilityToM il giro cingolato anteriore (ACC); ACCisstrictlyrelated
in the regulaton of motor activitymarousal and cognition
Recentneurophysiological data suggestthat the
abilitytomakeinference on the mental state of the others and
toempathizewiththemislinkedto a decrease in activity of the cortex
of anteriorcingulus; hypnoticinductionseemsto generate the
sameeffect.
- 13. Trance, Rapport, Hypnosis
Fromanhistoricpointofviewhypnosiscouldbedefinedas the processof the
complex, bidirectional, fluctuactinginteractionsbetween
ASoCinductorsrecognizedby the western
scientificcomunityasempiricallyvalidated and useful in medicine and
psychology , accordingto the scientificparadigmof the zeitgeist,
and
The trance
statesobtainedfollowingsuchinductionprocedures
- 14. Trance, Rapport, Hypnosis
- 15. Hypnosis and Psychotherapy
Psychotherapycouldbeoperationallydefinedaseverymodalityofhelping
people in copingwith stress, emotionalproblems, relationalproblems,
or problematichabits; suchmodalities share the factofbeingall
treatment based on talkingotanother people and
doingsomethingtogether (RCPychiatrists).
Hypnosiscouldbetherapeuticbecauseboth the induction procedure in s
(modeling, emotionaltuning, procedurallearning, based on rapport,
ofnewbehavioral or cognitive adaptativestrategies) and hypnotic
trance (emotionalreleaseofotherwiseunacceptablefeelings, activation
on internalhealingmodules, self-trascendence).
- 16.
Hypnosisassynergicisticempowermentofinnerhealingresources
Hypnosiscouldbeinterpretedas the
potentiallymostpowerfuldevicetoactivateinnerhealingresourcesthanksto
Interpersonal powerofrapport
Intrapersonalpowerof trance
thatsynergicallyactivatedinternalhealermodules.
- 17. Hypnosis and EthiopatogeneticalModelsofIllnesses
The
majorityofpsychotherapeuticapproachestriedtodevelopetiopathogeneticalmodelsofdisorderscoherentwiththeirpostulates,
butallthesemodelslackofstatistical and scientificvalidation.
Hypnosistoosearchedfor a coherentmodel (neodissociative theory),
butalso in this case empiricalvalidationisinsufficient or
absent.
Metaanalysises show thatthereis no evidence (ie, directlylinkedto
the model) of the superiorityof a theoreticalmodelamong the others,
and thataspecificvariables are the key factors in the
efficacyofpsychotherapies.
Therefore, everytheoreticalapproachtopsychotherapyseemstobemerely
speculative.
- 18. Recentempirical data
Data fromclinicalfieldsuggestthatempatethicalsharingofmemes
(beliefs, values, social rituals, ideasabout the cause of the
illness) with the clients can enhance the
responsetodifferenttreatments.
Sincethere are no evidencesofsuperiorityof a
modelofpsychotherapyamong the otherswe can suppose that building a
memeticrapportempatheticallybasedis the best operative option in
psychotherapy.
- 19. The Ericksonian way
Nowadayswe can think at Milton Ericksons work as a pionieristic,
revolutionary way ofthinking and workingbased on implicit,
intuitive evolutionaryapproachtoclinicalactivity.
Suchapproachisrooted in shamanictraditions and overtlyproposedby ME
in his look and style. ME optimizedhisskillswithanthropological and
psychiatricstudies, lookingfor social and biologicalbasisof trance
induction and trance states.
- 20. Hypnosis in Psychotherapy and
HypnosisasPsychotherapy
- 21. Hypnosis in Psychotherapy and HypnosisasPsychotherapy
Hypnosis in psychotherapycouldenhance the
effectivenessofdifferentapproachesthroughelicitationofrapportmodules;
itisbased on empathiccommunicationskills
Hypnosisaspsychotherapycouldenhanceself-trascendence and
innerhealermodulesthroughactivationof trance states
- 22. Placebo, Hypnosis, InternalHealer
As internalhealer we can identify the biochemical and
neurophysiologicalmodulesof placebo:
increasedopioid and dopaminergicactivity
reduction in anteriorcingulatecortexactivity
modulationof immune system
modulationof social neuroendocrine pathways
- 23. HypnoticPsychotherapy
Hypnoticpsychotherapy can bedefinedas the
structuralblendbetweenhypnosis in psychotherapy and
hypnosisaspsychotherapy. Itisbased on
Rapport
Trance
Theoryof Mind consciousactivation
In the contextof the aspecificfactorsthatconstitute the
goodclinicalsetting.