Better Health & Living: Article: Entranced

Issue: August 2007

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Entranced

by Susan Flagg Godbey

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Like most boomers, my impressions of hypnotism were formed by old movies and TV shows, in which subjects were put under a spell to walk to the edge of rooftops or cluck like chickens in front of dinner guests. I thought it was nonsense—the realm of charlatans—until my 9th grade geometry teacher gave us a demonstration of its power by hypnotizing the smartest guy in class.

My skepticism was so great that I wondered if Mr. Cohen and Wayne Derkac were in cahoots, despite the fact that this silliness would have been out of character for Wayne, a serious-minded student. Surely, I thought, the sham would be revealed and used to illustrate some point. But before he concluded, Mr. Cohen asked us to confirm that the glass he was about to give Wayne was filled with vinegar. Telling him it was his favorite drink, Mr. Cohen asked him to take a swig—but not swallow. I became a believer when, at the instant he was released from his trance, Wayne sprayed out that mouthful of vinegar—and nonchalantly asked when the hypnotism was going to begin.

Granted, this memory has stayed with me because I seldom had this kind of fun in a class ordinarily devoted to figuring out the faces of a polyhedron. But my dormant fascination with hypnosis reemerged full blown, when I read this issue’s feature, “You’re Not Getting Sleepy, You’re Getting Better.” Research has shown that hypnotherapy can successfully treat a host of medical conditions, although experts concede that modern medicine still can’t explain how it works. In one study, scientists tracked changes in brainwave activity that suggested the hypnotic trance may keep pain signals from reaching the brain. Or, in the words of one Harvard professor studying the subject, “Hypnosis takes the hurt out of pain.”

For me, who to this day would much rather find a misplaced modifier than the square root of anything, the puzzle of how hypnosis does what it does remains every bit as intriguing as it was that afternoon in high school. Scientists who share that fascination are now exploring the phenomenon (discussed and debated for at least two centuries) using tools like MRI scans in an attempt to unlock the mysteries of how the mind and body communicate.

I love brain research, and I’m sure scientists could explain why mine loves the musical quality of the word parallelogram and finds hypotenuse hilarious. But I’d really like to know how, once upon a time, I was able to focus enough to earn a passing grade in geometry (with considerable help from Mr. Cohen).

‘Til next time,

Susan Flagg Godbey