In previous posts, we talked about the reality of hypnosis, the myths about hypnosis, and the usefulness of hypnosis in medical conditions. However, there is a very old question about hypnosis: Can everyone be hypnotized? Who can benefit from hypnosis?
Some experts believe that anybody can be hypnotized provided that they want to be, although the hypnotic depth is not the same in everyone. But not everyone agrees. Many experts have the idea that people are not the same regarding their hypnotic talents. In other words, some groups of people cannot be hypnotized. These researchers show that this difference in hypnotizability has a neurological basis and does not link to any personality or psychological trait.
The concept of hypnotizability
We are different in the capacity called “hypnotizability.” Hypnotizability is the ability to experience different types of suggestions during hypnosis. These suggestions usually consist of changes in perceptions, emotions, behaviours and thoughts. To measure hypnotizability, experts have devised some scales like The Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (SHSS), the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS) and the Hypnosis Induction Profile (HIP). These scales, while very valuable, are used mostly in research settings. Many expert clinical hypnotherapists believe that using most of these scales in routine clinical settings is neither possible nor useful. These scales are usually time-consuming, and there is not necessarily a correlation between a high susceptibility scale and clinical outcome.
Ernest Hilgard ( who developed the SHSS with André Muller Weitzenhoffer), in his book “Hypnotic Susceptibility,” has shown that about 20% of the population fall within the lower scale of susceptibility and roughly the same number of people show a high degree of hypnotizability. These figures come from applying the SHSS.
David Spiegel, the distinguished psychiatrist and hypnotherapist, says that about 25% of his clients cannot be hypnotized.
At a practical level, we know that the majority of people in society seem to be able to approach moderate levels of hypnosis. A minority are not very hypnotizable and, on the other extreme, another minority has the potential to reach profound levels of trance.
Is hypnotizability related to personality?
Hypnotizability is a trait. It means that it is inherited. It has NO association with personality, conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion and sex. It is more related to imaginative Ability, the power of attention and absorption and readiness for abstract thinking.
John Kappas, a famous hypnotherapist, believes that there are two distinct types of hypnotizability and digestibility: physical and emotional. The emotional suggestible people do not go as deep as physical ones, but they can benefit from hypnotherapy if proper language and techniques are applied to them.
Some conditions, like hypno-surgery, require deep hypnosis, and even all hypnotizable people can not reach that depth. But, the good news is that for most conditions, that depth of hypnosis is not necessary. Most of the people who can be hypnotized will get benefit from it at any level and depth of hypnosis.
So, can everyone be hypnotized? The answer is probably no. But, most people can be hypnotized to some level and all these people can benfit from this powerful and harmless technique.
