Hypnosis & Strokes Research
In 2006, researchers from Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital conducted a clinical study of six chronic stroke subjects who were hypnotized. Measurements of motor function and brain activity were taken. After hypnosis, the six subjects exhibited qualitative improvement in motor function related to increased range of motion, increased grip strength, and reduced spasticity of the paretic upper limb. After hypnosis, the subjects also reported an improved outlook, increased motivation as well as decreased effort to perform motor tasks.[12.1]
References
12.1. Hypnosis for Rehabilitation After Stroke: Six Case Studies
Results: After hypnosis, the six chronic stroke subjects exhibited qualitative improvements in motor function related to increased range of motion, increased grip strength, and reduced spasticity of the paretic upper limb. Subjects also consistently reported after hypnosis an improved outlook, increased motivation, as well as greater awareness of and decreased effort to perform motor tasks with the paretic limb.
Notes: This was a clinical study of six chronic stroke subjects who were hypnotized. Measurements of motor function and brain activity were taken. The researchers’ hypothesis was that a hypnotic procedure would help overcome learned nonuse, which is thought to contribute to impaired motor function of the paretic upper limb in chronic stroke patients.
The hypnotic procedure involved selecting motor tasks that would challenge each subject, then (1) imagined practice of the challenging motor task revivified from prior to the stroke alternated with imagined practice in the present; (2) having the subjects imagine performing the task with eyes opened – alternating with eyes closed (imagined practice in the present alternated with imagined practice during active-alert hypnosis); and (3) active-alert imagined practice alternated with actual physical performance. Four sessions established a baseline motor function. Four sessions of the hypnotic procedure were then given. Finally, four follow-up sessions were conducted to track changes in motor function post-intervention. The hypnotic procedures were approximately one hour in duration and occurred with a frequency of once or twice per week.
Subject 1: Among other things, in hypnosis, this subject visualized entering his office and counting out money for the week’s payroll – a task that requires considerable dexterity. On the fourth hypnosis session, the subject said that he tied his own shoelaces for the first time since the stroke.
Subject 2: Among other things, in hypnosis, this subject visualized operating motorcycle controls and imagined relaxing while floating on the water of a favorite lake – to reduce the tensing up that inhibited movements. After a number of hypnosis sessions, the subject reported increased sensation in his hand. He also reported less effort to squeeze his hand.
Subject 3: Among other things, in hypnosis, this subject was given suggestions for increased awareness and connectivity with her limbs. She described that she could imagine wires in her arms to connect to her hand that were in a tangled up mess. Suggestions were given to color the wires one at a time and add labels indicating which wire went to which finger. The subject reported feeling increased awareness of her hand after this process.
Subject 4: Among other things, in hypnosis, this subject visualized playing his cello with fluid movement of the bow. In time, the subject felt his paretic limb extension was improving, and he was regaining the ability to pick up cans and form a precision grip.
Subject 5: Among other things, in hypnosis, this subject visualized dribbling a basketball. He reported that he could bounce a ball after the hypnosis session about 10 times when before he could only achieve 1 or 2 bounces. Improvements were observed in the range of motion of wrist rotation and finger extension.
Subject 6: Among other things, in hypnosis, this subject visualized a hand grip motor task. After hypnosis sessions, her performance on the task steadily improved. By the 3rd hypnosis session, it was also noticeably easier to remove the grip from her hand.
Each of the six subjects/case studies is individually described and detailed.
Contemp. Hypnosis 23(4): 173-180 (2006) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/ch.319
S. G. Diamond, R. Howe* **, Orin C. Davis**, Judith D. Schaechter**, and Robert D. Howe*
* Harvard University, Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA, USA
** Massachusetts General Hospital, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
