Take the strange case of Marion Corns. Last week, it was reported that Mrs Corns, who is from Merseyside, allowed herself to be hypnotised after becoming obese. After trying the usual diets and exercise regimes with no success, she travelled to a clinic in Spain where she was put into an altered state of consciousness and then 'talked through', in step-by-step detail, the procedure for a drastic weight-loss operation. Mrs Corns did not actually go under the knife.But under hypnosis she was told she had been fitted with a gastric band - a device which constricts the stomach, dramatically reducing the amount that can be eaten. Although she was fully aware that no band had been fitted, something in her brain seemed to believe otherwise, and she lost four stone - exactly the sort of weight loss that could be expected if a band had been fitted.
So what on earth is going on? Can the mind be fooled to such an extent that it can 'fake' the effects of a major surgical procedure? And, if so, could it provide
the path to a whole new kind of medicine - one in which pills and scalpels can be replaced by the power of mental suggestion?
The strange case of Mrs Corns certainly looks like a clear victory for those who claim that 'alternative' treatments, into which category hypnosis is often lumped, are often as effective, or better, than conventional Western medicine. But can this really be the case?
For a long time, hypnotism has been dismissed by many as stageshow trickery. Yet what is often forgotten is that at the dawn of modern medicine, the technique promised a tremendous - and real - breakthrough as a form of anaesthesia.
Scottish doctor James Braid coined the term 'hypnotism' in 1841 after studying relaxation and meditation techniques used in Oriental medicine and Eastern religious practice. At the same time, another Scot, Dr James Esdaile, was performing 'miracles' in India using techniques akin to hypnotism to calm his patients during surgical procedures.
A physician employed by the East India Company, Dr Esdaile used the technique to perform, painlessly, hundreds of operations, including the removal of tumours, amputations and even emergency castrations.
This was a time when even simple operations were akin to torture and patients who did not die of septicaemia stood a good chance of succumbing to shock. Post-operative survival rates were usually less than 50 per cent. But, thanks to Esdaile's ability to relax patients and put them into hypnotic trances, his success rates were closer to 80per cent for some operations.
The world stood on the brink of a new era of pain-free surgery. But the 1840s was also the time when the first chemical anaesthetics were being pioneered. And the success of conventional drugs such as chloroform and ether made sure the quirkier technique of hypnotism was consigned to the footnotes of medical history. Today, hypnotism is undergoing something of a revival. It has become a respectable treatment for some forms of mental illness, including anxiety and depression.
Hypnotists have helped thousands of people lose weight and stop smoking, as well as helping to relieve the pain of cancer, wounds and burns. There is some clinical evidence that hypnosis can be used to treat seemingly 'physical' conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and the skin condition psoriasis.
Hypnotism doesn't work for everyone. But, then again, neither do many drugs.
You don't have to be hypnotised for your mind to play tricks on your body. Another well-known phenomenon of the mind's curious control over matter is the placebo effect.
This is where a patient is told they are undergoing a treatment, when, in fact, the treatment is a sham. For example, instead of taking an active painkiller, they may be given tablets containing only chalk. What is so extraordinary about the placebo effect is how powerful it is.
Significant numbers of people in severe pain reported immediate relief when given fake analgesics. In experiments, people become 'drunk' on placebo (non-alcoholic) drinks and jittery on placebo (decaffeinated) coffee. In one study, patients who'd had a tooth extracted and were in pain had salt water squirted into their mouths, being told it was a powerful anaesthetic. The effect was found to be as potent as a sizeable dose of morphine.
Placebos do not work for everyone - and the effect is non-existent in the very young and the senile - but they do demonstrate that the mind has an extraordinary capacity to control physical symptoms. (Daily Mail)