Neurobiological Mechanisms of Hypnosis: A Neurocognitive Framework for Clinical Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis has historically been met with scepticism; however, advances in cognitive neuroscience and clinical research increasingly indicate that hypnotic processes involve identifiable neurobiological mechanisms and regulatory dynamics within large-scale brain networks. The accumulating evidence now warrants a clearer scientific account of the mechanisms underlying hypnosis. Aim: To synthesise contemporary evidence on neural, neurophysiological, autonomic, and cognitive mechanisms underlying hypnosis and evaluate their implications for positioning hypnotherapy within mainstream scientific frameworks. Method : A narrative review of 23 peer- reviewed publications (1995-2025) was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, TRIP, and Google Scholar. Eligible studies examined neuroimaging findings, electrophysiological correlates, functional connectivity patterns, autonomic modulation, and clinical outcomes associated with hypnosis and hypnotherapy. Conclusion : This study concludes that, convergent evidence indicates that hypnosis involves modulation of executive control networks, particularly the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), altered connectivity between executive and sensory systems, and changes in neural oscillatory activity. Neuroimaging and autonomic findings further demonstrate modulation of pain, affective processing, and stress-related physiological responses, alongside emerging evidence of trait-related differences in intrinsic brain network organisation associated with hypnotisability. Together, these findings suggest that hypnosis functions as a neurocognitive regulatory process in which shifts in attentional organisation modulate the integration of sensory, cognitive, and affective information across distributed brain networks. This supports the conceptualisation of hypnosis as a mechanism-informed neurocognitive process consistent with contemporary neuroscience and highlights the potential for integrating hypnotherapy within neurobiological and cognitive-behavioural models of clinical practice.