Arousal Effects of Electrical Deep Brain Stimulation in Hypnosis

Abstract

In an earlier study, DeBenedittis and Sironi (1986) demonstrated that during depth EEC studies, electrophysiological correlates of hypnotic behavior emphasize the role of the limbic system in mediating the trance experience. In the case of a young man who was affected by medically resistant temporal lobe epilepsy and who was a potential candidate for surgical treatment, diagnostic depth EEG in hypnotic and non-hypnotic conditions offered a unique opportunity to stimulate limbic structures. This permitted an evaluation of the subjective and behavioral responses, as well as of the electrophysiological correlates. During hypnosis, repeated stimulations of the left and the right amygdala produced arousal from the hypnotic state each time, whereas the stimulation of other cerebral structures (e.g., temporal neocortex, Ammon's horn) or pseudostimulations were ineffective on the hypnotic state. These data represent the first experimental, controlled evidence of the amygdala's effects on the arousal from the hypnotic state in man, thus suggesting that hypnotic behavior is mediated, at least in part, by a dynamic balance of antagonizing effects of discrete limbic structures – the amygdala and the hippocampus.