Hypnotic suggestions of safety reduce neuronal signals of delay discounting

Abstract

Waiting for delayed rewards is important to reach long-term goals, yet most people prefer immediate rewards. This tendency is called delay discounting. Evidence shows that people are more willing to wait for delayed rewards when they believe that the delayed reward is certain. We hypothesized that feeling safe makes delayed outcomes subjectively more certain, which should in turn reduce neuronal signals of delay discounting. We hypnotized 24 highly suggestible participants and gave them a suggestion to feel safe. We then used EEG to measure their brain responses to immediate and delayed rewards while they played a delayed gratification game. As compared to a control condition without hypnosis, participants that were suggested to feel safe under hypnosis reported feeling significantly safer. Further, their reward-related brain activity differentiated less between immediate and delayed rewards. We conclude that feeling safe makes delayed outcomes subjectively more certain and therefore reduces neuronal signals of delay discounting.

Safety on demand: Post‐hypnotic suggestions of safety reduce neural signals of reward sensitivity with long‐term beneficial effects

“…Previous studies showed that hypnotic suggestibility as measured by the HGSHS is normally distributed in the general population (Riegel et al, 2021) with individuals of low and high suggestibility comprising around 10–15% of the general population, respectively (McConkey, 2008). In analog to previous studies from our lab (Schmidt, Hoffmann et al, 2020; Schmidt & Holroyd, 2021), we only included highly suggestible participants indicated by an HGSHS score of at least 8 ( M = 8.96, SD = 0.96, range = 8–11). For participation, participants obtained either 10 Euros or course credit.…”

“…In our lab, we developed an intervention using hypnosis to make participants feel safe. Our intervention effectively increased the subjective feeling of safety both in the EEG laboratory (Schmidt, Hoffmann, et al, 2020; Schmidt & Holroyd, 2021) and in highly stressful clinical settings such as the intensive care unit (Schmidt et al, 2021; Schmidt, Deffner, et al, 2020). In these studies, we suggested participants to feel safe using the mental image of a safe place.…”

“…As delineated above, this could have important implications for the treatment of a series of disorders. In our previous studies, participants experienced the feeling of safety while being in a hypnotic state Schmidt, Deffner, et al, 2020;Schmidt, Hoffmann, et al, 2020;Schmidt & Holroyd, 2021). However, for the intervention to be eligible for treatment, the safety suggestion needs to increase the feeling of safety above and beyond the existence of a hypnotic state.…”

Clinical Hypnosis & VR, Subconscious Restructuring- Brain Rewiring & the Entanglement with the 8 Pillars of Metacognition X 8 Layers of Consciousness X 8 Intelligences

“…People with low levels of self-control and high levels of impulsivity (i.e gambling disorders, ADHD) have difficulty in waiting for delayed rewards resulting in inability to reach long-term goals. Schmidt et al [42] hypnotized 24 participants and gave them a suggestion to feel safe, because the feeling of security may reduce the need for immediate reward. Then, they recorded the electroencephalogram to measure participants' brain responses to immediate and delayed rewards while they played a delayed gratification game.…”

Feeling Safe With Hypnosis: Eliciting Positive Feelings During a Special State of Consciousness

“…In a second paradigm, I investigated another phenomenon, the devaluation of future rewards, also called delay discounting ( Schmidt and Holroyd, 2021 ). You are probably familiar with the famous marshmallow task by Mischel et al (1988) .…”