10/08/2025
Your thoughts immediately get reflected in your brain and body, so do all your visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory perceptions. Your brain and body are wired to maintain homeostasis and to preserve any previously learned habits. Your cells and organs immediately respond to your thoughts and perceptions by releasing neuropeptides, which are picked up by cell membranes receptors throughout your body and yours cells’ production of a variety of radiations is felt throughout your body and your biofield.
A hypnotherapist’s suggestions can activate and piggyback on these natural processes by using specific suggestions that produce stressors to which the subject’s mind and body must react. (General Adaptation Syndrome) The subject’s homeostasis adapts and should produce the desired changes. Note that the Behaviorism School of psychology also addressed this. (BF Skinner)
Some Studies below
Neuroplasticity and Thought Patterns
Reference: Schwartz, J.M., & Begley, S. (2002). The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. HarperCollins.
Summary:
Schwartz’s work with patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) demonstrated that consciously changing thought patterns (through mindful awareness and cognitive reframing) led to measurable physical changes in brain activity on PET scans. This is direct evidence that self-directed thought, including inner dialogue, rewires neural circuits.
2. Self-Talk and Cognitive Restructuring
Reference: Ochsner, K.N., & Gross, J.J. (2005). The cognitive control of emotion. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(5), 242–249.
Summary:
This paper shows that when people reappraise situations (essentially talking to themselves differently about emotional experiences), there is a reduction in amygdala activation and increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, indicating that inner dialogue changes emotional circuitry and connectivity over time.
3. Inner Speech and Brain Activation
Reference: Morin, A. (2009). Inner speech and conscious self-regulation. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 16(4), 97–118.
Summary:
Morin reviewed evidence that inner speech activates many of the same brain regions as actual speech (Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, etc.) and plays a major role in self-awareness and self-regulation, suggesting that your inner voice is a real, active neural process that influences behavior and brain structure.
4. Positive Self-Talk and Brain Plasticity
Reference: Davidson, R.J., & McEwen, B.S. (2012). Social influences on neuroplasticity: Stress and interventions to promote well-being. Nature Neuroscience, 15(5), 689–695.
Summary:
This study explains that positive mental training, including mindfulness and self-directed thought, can enhance resilience and alter neural pathways associated with emotion and stress response, again showing that what you say to yourself can reshape your brain.
5. Repetition and Neural Pathways
Reference: Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain That Changes Itself. Viking Penguin.
Summary:
Doidge presents numerous case studies of people who changed brain structure and function through repeated mental focus, internal dialogue, and intentional practice, providing accessible explanations of how inner thoughts can sculpt the brain’s wiring.
