Hypnosis demystified: what Zurich research measures

June 8, 2026OMNI Hypnosis International

Picture this. A patient has a metal plate removed from his forearm. No general anesthesia. No painkillers. Only hypnosis. That is exactly what happened in 2018 at Hirslanden Klinik St. Anna in Lucerne, Switzerland, as documented by the Swiss public TV program “Puls.” The patient felt no significant pain during or after the operation. The surgical team was visibly stunned. And researchers at the University of Zurich started to ask what really happens in the brain in moments like this.

Seven years later, that question has answers. And on June 20 and 21, 2026, the international hypnosis community met in Winterthur, Switzerland, to talk about exactly that.

What hypnosis actually is

Many people still picture hypnosis as a stage performer making volunteers cluck like chickens. Or as something mystical, esoteric, and hard to pin down. Both miss the point. Hypnosis is neither a secret nor a stage trick. It is a natural state in which the conscious and the subconscious mind work together differently than in everyday life.

Hypnosis has nothing to do with sleep, either. Quite the opposite. A hypnotized person is not drifting off. They are highly focused, deeply relaxed, and clearly awake at the same time. That was the headline the University of Zurich chose in February 2025 when it reported on its research: deeply relaxed and at the same time focused.

What the University of Zurich measured

Three studies. One shared design. One goal: not only to experience hypnosis, but to measure it. The neuroscientists Philipp Stämpfli, Nuno Prates de Matos, and Mike Brügger, together with their team at the MR Center of the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich and the Department of Psychology at the University of Zurich, were the first to study two distinct hypnotic depths with a multimodal approach.

The fMRI study (de Matos et al., 2023, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience) shows measurable changes in functional brain networks during two distinct hypnotic states. The EEG study (Niedernhuber et al., 2024, Cortex), a collaboration between Cambridge and the University of Zurich, identifies an interhemispheric frontoparietal network that supports hypnotic states. And the MRS study (de Matos et al., 2024, Scientific Reports) provides the first evidence of neurochemical changes during hypnosis: in deep hypnosis, the concentration of myo-inositol in the parieto-occipital region rises significantly.

The sober conclusion, in the researchers’ own words: hypnosis really does change something in the brain. Hypnotic effects are not made up or acted out. And there is more than one depth of hypnosis. Both points had been debated in academic circles for decades. Now the data is on the table.

Three patterns that show up in clinical practice

People who walk into a hypnotherapy practice rarely come because of neurochemistry. They come with a specific concern. Three patterns show up especially often.

First, pain and anxiety. The Geneva University Hospitals use hypnosis alongside conventional care: in burn units, in dentistry, and in procedures with children. Studies such as Montgomery et al. (2007) show that hypnosis significantly reduced anxiety and pain in breast surgery patients.

Second, psychosomatic complaints. Irritable bowel, migraine, insomnia, chronic tension. Conditions in which body and mind are clearly talking to each other and no one is listening. Alongside medical care, hypnosis opens a way into the subconscious, where many of these patterns begin.

Third, experiences from the past that still block you. Test anxiety, fear of failure, the sense of standing next to your own life. The core OMNI principle is “Regress to Cause and fix it.” Go back to the root, resolve it, integrate it. Not numbing the symptom, but resolving the cause.

What makes the OMNI method different

OMNI has deep roots. Dave Elman, one of the most influential hypnosis teachers of the 20th century, took hypnosis off the stage and brought it into medicine and therapy. His student Gerald F. Kein founded the OMNI Hypnosis Training Center in DeLand, Florida, in 1979. Since 2015, the company has been Swiss-owned. Hansruedi Wipf, President of OMNI Hypnosis International, came from the automotive industry and brought with him a word rarely heard in this field before: process. That same year, he had the OMNI training certified to ISO 9001, making OMNI the first hypnosis school to be ISO 9001 certified.

Hansruedi likes to talk about the “democratization of hypnosis.” He does not mean that everyone should be allowed to do everything. He means that the knowledge should be accessible, without mysticism, without esotericism, and with clear standards. Adrian Brüngger, CEO of OMNI Hypnosis International and an EHF Master Coach, used to be a skeptic himself. Today he coaches elite athletes with the same tools. Both share the same stance: results before methodological folklore.

This stance is exactly what students learn in OMNI hypnotherapy training: physicians, dentists, nurses, coaches, psychologists, and career changers. The program is designed to fit alongside a working career, and you can take it online, in a hybrid format, or live. Graduates who want to go further find their next step in OMNI Prime Mentoring.

What you can do now

If you have a concern that hypnotherapy might help with, look for a Certified OMNI Hypnotherapist near you, or write to us and ask.

If you want to learn hypnosis yourself, because you want to add a serious tool to your professional practice, because the topic keeps coming back to you, or because you want to support change honestly, OMNI hypnotherapy training is the direct path. At the International Hypnosis Congress at the AXA Arena in Winterthur on June 20 and 21, 2026, many of the people who do this work every day came together.

Bottom line

Hypnosis is not sleep. It is not a stage trick, and it is not esoteric. It is measurable, it is learnable, and it can help where symptoms have their cause in the subconscious. Hypnosis is not a miracle, but with hypnosis, miracles become possible. If you want to know more, start with the OMNI training paths.