Hypnotizability of psychiatric inpatients according to two different scales.

Abstract

Data on the hypnotizability of 113 psychiatric inpatients and 58 normal control subjects were compared. The patients' mean score on the Hypnotic Induction Profile was significantly lower than that of the control subjects, but on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C, these patients and control subjects did not differ significantly. On both scales rank-ordered scores of different diagnostic groups of the patients supported the theory that hypnotizability varies according to type of psychopathology. Some results, such as the hypnotizability of the schizophrenic patients, depended on which scale was used. This finding may explain the conflicting literature on the hypnotic potential of schizophrenic patients.