Hypnotic Susceptibility is Positively Related to a Subset of Schizotypy Items

Abstract

A multidimensional measure of schizotypal personality, the Personality Syndrome Questionnaire (PSQ) was completed by 83 undergraduate medical students. It was predicted that perceptual and cognitive reality distortions would be positively associated with hypnotic susceptibility. Fifteen of 84 items showed the predicted association. When combined into a preliminary scale, a correlation of 0.43 was found for the total scale score and susceptibility. Cronbach's alpha for this scale was acceptable at 0.77. These preliminary results are potentially vulnerable to type I error. Replication on a larger sample and factorial analysis of the proposed scales structure are required and underway. Copyright © 2001 British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis.