Assessing hypnotic responsiveness in a clinical setting: A multi-item clinical scale and its advantages over single-item scales

Abstract

Abstract The Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale: Adult (SHCS:Adult), a shortened form of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (Weitzenhoffer & E.R. Hilgard, 1962), is examined in accordance with 5 criteria listed for an adequate scale for clinical use. 2 single-item scales are also examined. The first of these is the induction score of the Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP) of H. Spiegel and D. Spiegel (1978), in which the eye-roll, found to be uncorrelated with standard measures of hypnotizability, has no weight. The second is a new Stanford Hypnotic Arm Levitation Induction and Test (SHALIT) of E.R. Hilgard, Crawford, and Wert (1979). Both HIP and SHALIT are very brief, requiring less than 10 minutes to administer. The SHALIT succeeds as well as HIP, but in no instance do the single-item scales perform as satisfactorily as the moderately longer SHCS:Adult.