Relations between Hypnotizability And Psychopathology Revisited

Abstract

Inspired by a first episode of schizophrenia following within a week of stage hypnosis, we examined relations between schizotypy and hypnotizability with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS), showing positive associations with 15 items mostly consisting of positive aspects of schizotypy. Here this was re-examined in two further samples. First, with the more cognitively loaded Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C, administered individually to Italian, female psychology students. In the second the HGSHS was administered to British medical student volunteers in stress reduction studies. In the first replication 12 correlations were disclosed, all with positive features of schizotypy, nine consisting of unreality experiences, with six items relating to psychic experiences. In the second replication of the 13 positive associations, seven were negative items belonging to the withdrawn syndrome, with six belonging to the social anxiety subscale, a non-specific feature of schizotypy. Across the series of studies, all but one item was interpreted as consistent with associations between hypnotizability and positive schizotypy and social anxiety. Though the items mostly varied from study to study, and despite sampling and scale differences, the outcome clearly merits large scale studies to investigate further the relation between hypnotic susceptibility and psychopathology.