Transcultural Factors in Hypnotizability Scales: Limits and Prospects

Postural effects of interoceptive imagery as a function of hypnotizability

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of pleasant and unpleasant interoceptive imagery on postural control in participants with different hypnotizability, interoceptive sensibility and ability of imagery. Forty-one healthy individuals classified as high (highs), medium (mediums) and low hypnotizables (lows) according to the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, form A (SHSS, A) were characterized for Interoceptive Sensitivity (IS) through the Multisensory Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) and for organic mental imagery (ORG) through Betts' questionnaire. The experimental session included baseline closed eyes conditions preceding tasks of pleasant (P) and unpleasant imagery (U) and a neutral cognitive task (NT) while standing on a stabilometric platform. Subjective reports of vividness and pleasantness/unpleasantness of mental images were collected. Postural variables, ECG and pneumogram were acquired. Highs exhibited greater vividness of imagery than mediums/lows and larger Area of the Centre of Pressure (CoP), while mediums and lows decreased it during all tasks with respect to baseline conditions. Significant differences moderated by IS and ORG were found between highs and lows in the CoP Area. In all groups significant task related differences in the CoP Area were moderated only by IS. Cardiovascular variables were similar in the three groups, but differed among tasks and were influenced by IS and ORG. Our findings extend earlier observations on the role of hypnotisability in the postural correlates of sensorimotor imagery to interoceptive imagery, support the hypothesis that interoceptive sensibility moderates postural control and cardiorespiratory variables during interoceptive imagery, and confirm earlier reports of the absence of hypnotisability-related modulation of cardiorespiratory variables during emotional tasks.

Therapeutic Use of the Elkins Hypnotizability Scale: A Feasibility Study

Hypnotizability assessment can inform hypnotic interventions, and studies on brief hypnotic inductions suggest that it may also confer therapeutic benefits. However, hypnotizability is rarely assessed in clinical practice due to limitations of current measures. The Elkins Hypnotizability Scale (EHS) improved upon such limitations and has been shown to be a very reliable and valid hypnotizability measure. This is the first study to examine the feasibility of the EHS as a therapeutic measure. Fifty-five participants were administered the EHS and randomized to two weeks of self-hypnosis with or without a recording. Results indicated that relaxation increased immediately after EHS administration, and relaxation and psychological distress improved after two weeks of self-hypnosis with the EHS induction. These results suggest that the EHS may be considered as a therapeutic measure and an avenue to introduce self-hypnosis in clinical practice with or without audio recordings.

Color preferences in participants with high or low hypnotic susceptibility

PURPOSE

Color preferences vary among normal individuals and psychiatric patients, and this might be related to their different levels of hypnotic susceptibility. We hypothesized that individuals with higher hypnotic susceptibility prefer more arousing colors such as red.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Out of 440 participants, we selected 70 with higher (HIGH) and 66 with lower (LOW) hypnotic susceptibilities, and asked them to undergo the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSSC) test, then to order their preferences of 11 colors.

RESULTS

The HIGH group preferred red more and scored higher on the total SHSSC. The preference order of black was negatively predicted by the SHSSC Taste hallucination but positively by Arm rigidity, and the preference of yellow was positively predicted by Posthypnotic amnesia and Taste hallucination in the HIGH group.

CONCLUSION

The red preference and the SHSSC associations with black and yellow preferences in participants with high hypnotic susceptibility help to clarify the individual difference of color preference and provide research hints for behavioral studies in normal individuals and psychiatric patients.

Relationship between hypnosis and personality trait in participants with high or low hypnotic susceptibility

BACKGROUND

The relationship between normal personality and hypnotic susceptibility is important for understanding mental processing and mental disorders, but it is less consistent in normal people or in patients with a psychiatric disorder. We have hypothesized that the correlation exists but varies in individuals with different levels of hypnotizability.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

We invited 72 individuals with high (HIGH group) and 47 individuals with low (LOW group) hypnotic susceptibilities to undertake tests of NEO-PI-R and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSSC).

RESULTS

The HIGH group scored significantly higher than the LOW group did on openness to experience and its facet openness to feelings. In the LOW group, SHSSC total was positively predicted by openness to ideas; age regression was positively predicted by openness to experience and negatively predicted by extraversion; anosmia to ammonia was negatively predicted by agreeableness; and negative visual hallucination was positively predicted by openness to experience. In the HIGH group, hallucinated voice was positively predicted by openness to experience and negatively predicted by agreeableness, and posthypnotic amnesia was positively predicted by extraversion and negatively predicted by openness to experience.

CONCLUSION

The associations between normal personality traits and hypnotic susceptibility items were weak and different in the two groups, which imply that managing mental or somatoform disorders might be through adjusting hypnotizability and mobilizing personality functions.