ABSTRACT
Neurological diseases are the expression of organic and/or dysfunctional disorders affecting the central nervous system, the peripheral nervous system, or the autonomic nervous system. Hypnosis has a significant, albeit underestimated, role in neurological disorders and neurorehabilitation. Despite the considerable potential of the medium, hypnosis in neurology and neurorehabilitation is unfortunately underused in clinical practice, probably due to the erroneous belief that central and/or peripheral nervous pathologies have lessened sensitivity to cognitive (top down) modulations (such as hypnosis). Consequently, the clinical indications are currently limited, though in progressive expansion. The main clinical applications of hypnosis in neurology concern the following areas: (a) pain (e.g., headaches, neuropathic pain); (b) movement disorders (e.g., spasmodic torticollis, psychogenic tremors, Parkinson's disease, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome); (c) multiple sclerosis; (d) psychogenic non-epileptic seizures; (e) Raynaud syndrome; and (f) neurorehabilitation.
In expert hands, hypnosis is a method with proven efficacy in selected cases, highly safe and substantially free of side effects. Neurorehabilitation represents a fascinating but almost unexplored field of application of hypnosis. The specific literature is encouraging.
