This 2004 Discover article highlights David Spiegal, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University and second-generation hypnotist, who is well-known for conducting extensive studies of hypnosis in the operating room. According to Spiegal, hypnosis can make an operation shorter, less painful, and less dependent on drugs. Doctors skeptical of hypnotherapy suggest that hypnosis is simply a matter of suggestibility and relaxation. While Spiegal admits that suggestion alone is a powerful tool, he also believes that hypnosis magnifies its effects. 

In his hypnosis study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2000, Spiegal and Stephen Kosselyn, a professor of psychology at Harvard, conducted research to show how the brain is able to distinguish between imagination and perception. Kosselyn believes that hypnosis allows the body to tap into hidden reserves. He compares its effect to that of breaking a world record in sports. He states, "For years and years, no one could run a mile under four minutes, yet only six weeks after the record was finally broken in 1954, it was broken again by another runner. Nowadays 40-year-olds can do it." In the same way, Kosselyn believes that hypnosis can shift the "assumed norm."

For the article in its entirety, follow this link:

http://discovermagazine.com/2004/nov/hypnosis-works