Üsküdar Üniversitesi Traditional and Complementary Medicine Application and Research Center (GETİPMER) and Üsküdar Üniversitesi Continuous Education Research and Application Center (ÜSEM) jointly organized the “Clinical Hypnosis Talks” program, and Prof. Dr. Dilek Özcengiz was the guest. In the program held via Zoom, Özcengiz provided information on the topic of “Hypnotic Brain.”
“When hypnosis is mentioned, a pendulum always comes to mind”
Özcengiz, touching upon the topic of hypnosis, said; “Whenever we talk about hypnosis, we encounter many different obstacles. One of them is the pendulum. When hypnosis is mentioned, a pendulum always comes to mind. Swinging watches and vortex photos have been shown. People look at this vortex and enter hypnosis. For many years, hypnosis has always been imposed on people's minds as magic, sorcery, something extraordinary. However, in recent years, with the advancement of imaging techniques and the easier recording of certain electro-electrical activities, it has moved into completely different areas. With the effect of these studies, the scientific evidence for hypnosis has also advanced incredibly.”
“The brain is not the mind!”
Özcengiz, mentioning that the changes brought about by hypnosis can be monitored, said; “Consciousness and sense of self, attention and spontaneous concepts, concentration, intense attention and problem-solving, higher functions, higher cortical functions, emotional evaluations and anxiety... We can measure these. If we can measure these, it means they cause changes in certain areas of the brain. Neuroscientists say, ‘The brain is not the mind!’ Something happens in the brain, but the same thing does not happen in the mind, or events in the brain affect not only the mind but also other parts of the organism outside the mind.”
“Blood flow to the brain increases attention”
Özcengiz, touching upon what happens in the brain during hypnosis, stated; “During hypnosis, brain blood flow increases. If brain blood flow increases, I'm not entirely sure if the increased perfusion in that area significantly affects normal life. Blood flow to the brain increases attention. What good is it if a patient has a pathology? If the patient has ischemia, increased brain blood flow will be very seriously beneficial. If brain blood flow increases, another issue arises here. We need to ask if we can apply hypnosis so easily if there is a mass or edema in that area of the brain in any way.”
“Where addiction is formed, hypnotic activity is at play”
Özcengiz, elaborating on where hypnosis is present, stated; “Children play computer games. We know how dangerous these games are. They have a very serious hypnotic effect. For example, we can give the Blue Whale game. These are games that lead children to suicide. In video games, especially with likes, in-game wins, and games that seriously attract children enough to be addictive, there is a problem. In fact, this is also present in other addictive things. We can count all kinds of addictions within this. Substance addictions, computer addiction, gambling, many addictions will be the same. Where addiction is formed, hypnotic activity is at play. With these messages and suggestions, perhaps certain things that will lay the foundation for an extremely dystopian world in the future may be happening.”