by Haim Shadmi
In a genetic study conducted at the Herzog Geriatric and Psychiatric Hospital in Jerusalem, the gene responsible for the ability to enter hypnosis was discovered. This was announced yesterday from the hospital.
As part of the study, 109 mentally healthy women and men were examined, who had never been hypnotized in their lives. The subjects were given a special hypnosis test that allows to assess the degree of their hypnosis. At the same time, DNA samples were taken from the subjects and from the genetic material of the subjects a specific gene was isolated, which affects the creation of an enzyme related to the breakdown of one of the neurotransmitters in the brain, which previous studies indicated is related to the processes of directing attention by the brain, and is also known to be related to neuropsychiatric disorders and for attention disorders.
Herzog Hospital said yesterday that the results of the study revealed that there is a connection between the gene and the ability to enter hypnosis. The research proved that the greater the amount of the enzyme produced, the smaller the degree of hypnosis, and vice versa.
The research was led by Dr. Pesach Lichtenberg, director of the psychiatry department, and Professor Richard Ebstein, head of the research department at the hospital. There is a dispute between scientists and psychiatrists as to whether the ability to enter hypnosis exists in every person to an equal degree and can be learned, or whether it is a genetic trait, which is dictated in each person by a specific gene.
Haim Shadmi
{Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 13/2/2001}
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