PAIN TREATMENT: HYPNOTISABILITY
There is also some discussion as to what the terms ‘hypnotisability’ or ‘hypnotic susceptibility’ or ‘depth of hypnosis’ mean. People wish to know whether they can or cannot be hypnotised. In trying to answer these questions there are no good associations of hypnotisability with personality. It is not necessary for a good subject to be weak-willed, gullible or hysterical. Women are no more hypnotisable than men.
It has also been noted that the more intelligent, the more extroverted and the more strong-willed the subject, the more effective their hypnosis will be. Poorer subjects may have limited intelligence or a severe mental illness. Generally speaking, people who have difficulty concentrating on one idea are difficult to hypnotise.
Hypnotisability is usually measured by the depth achieved under a standard condition of induction. That is, the more susceptible subjects become more hypnotised than the less hypnotisable. Hypnotic ability is fundamental (that is, something you are born with) and enduring, being at its peak at the age of 8 to 12 years. It then levels out and gradually decreases with age. There is a normal distribution within the general population. Twenty per cent are deep-trance subjects and may see things which are not there. Sometimes they may carry on a conversation with someone not really present after they have been given the hypnotic suggestion to carry out such an activity. They may be age-regressed (taken back to an earlier time in their life to relive certain experiences ).
About 20 per cent of the tested population are non-hypnotisable or are, at best, light-trance subjects. Within the remaining 60 per cent of the population, we find the normal distribution curve. Thus, 80 per cent of the population may be hypnotised to varying degrees. There are wide differences in the way individuals respond to the same induction procedure — the method by which hypnosis is produced. Some people respond to virtually all suggestions given while others are not affected at all. The bulk of the population show varying degrees of response. Some highly hypnotisable people may not even have to be formally hypnotised. It has been found that the skill of entering hypnosis depends to a large extent on the subject as well as the skill of the hypnotist. Despite the profound physical changes which may occur in hypnosis, no specific changes solely due to hypnosis have been found. Nor is it necessary for subjects to be relaxed. In one study, Professor E. Hilgard, psychiatrist and hypnotist from the United States, found that responsive subjects could often be hypnotised while riding on an exercise bicycle rather than lying or sitting totally relaxed. It is important to stress that the essence of hypnosis, like the essence of pain, is to be found in the person’s own experience.
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