Welcome to the Uberman Lab podcast where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.

I'm Andrew Uberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.

Today my guest is Dr. David Spiegel.

Dr. Spiegel is the associate chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.

He is also the director of the Stanford Center on Stress and Health.

Dr. Spiegel is both a researcher and a clinician, meaning he runs a laboratory that studies the brain and the body and neural mechanisms of how the brain and body interact, and he sees patients as a psychiatrist at Stanford.

His work is incredibly unique in that it bridges mind and body, but it also has a particular focus on the clinical applications of hypnosis.

As you learn today, hypnosis is a unique brain state in which neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to change in response to experience may be heightened.

And indeed, the use of clinical hypnosis by Dr. Spiegel and colleagues has been shown to improve symptoms of stress, chronic anxiety, chronic pain, and various other illnesses, including many psychiatric illnesses, and even outcomes in cancer.

Today we discuss hypnosis in the context of what's called self hypnosis to distinguish it from stage hypnosis.

Many of you are probably familiar with stage hypnosis, which is really about a hypnotist getting a person to do things that they would not otherwise do.

In contrast, clinical hypnosis, and the use of hypnosis for the treatment of various ailments of mind and body, is vastly different.

It involves getting people to change their brain state, and to use that brain state as a portal to make adjustments in their brain and body, and other aspects of their biology and psychology that benefit them.

And it's been shown over and over again in studies by Dr. Spiegel and colleagues that those changes can occur extremely quickly.

Now, not everybody can be hypnotized as readily as the next. And so today we also discuss a simple test developed by Dr. Spiegel that can help you determine whether or not you have a high medium or low degree of what we call hypnotized ability.

Dr. Spiegel is truly an expert in this area. He has published over 480 journal articles, 170 book chapters on hypnosis, and on things like psychosocial oncology, which is the interaction of mind and body in the treatment of cancer and cancer outcomes, on stress physiology, trauma, and other aspects of psychotherapy.

He's published 13 books. So he's truly the world expert in hypnosis and clinical applications of hypnosis for mind and body.

I'm certain that in listening to today's episode, you're going to learn a tremendous amount about how the brain and body interact, about various treatments for all sorts of common ailments of mind and body, and you are going to get access to tools in particular a tool that was developed by Dr. Spiegel, which is the Reverie app, R-E-V-E-R-I.

The Reverie app is currently only available for Apple, but will soon also be available for Android. It does carry a nominal cost, but there is a seven day free trial if you'd like to try it. We're providing a link in the show notes.

The Reverie app is special in that it is based on clinical studies and research done in the Spiegel lab at Stanford.

Unlike a lot of hypnosis apps out there and resources for hypnosis, it was developed with clinical treatments in mind. Today we also discuss the use of breath work, and I'm very fortunate that my research lab at Stanford has been collaborating very closely with Dr. Spiegel in testing and developing specific breath work protocols to adjust mind and body for things like anxiety, improving mood, and improving sleep.

Based on his incredible and unique expertise and the clarity with which Dr. Spiegel communicates information, I anticipate that you will really enjoy today's episode and that it'll come away from it with a lot of actionable tools.

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