PHASE lll HYPNOTIZABILITY ASSESSMENT
The assessment of hypnotizability is phase III of patient preparation. Standard measures may be used, although increasingly these are limited to research settings. The most common measurement instruments are: The Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scales for Adults and Children, The Hypnotic Induction Profile, the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Forms A, B, and C, and the Children's Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. Other research instruments include the Stanford Profile Scales of Hypnotic Susceptibility, the Barber Suggestibility Scale, the Creative Imagination Scale, the Wexler-Alman Indirect Susceptibility Scale and the Waterloo Stanford Group C Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility.
It is important to note that the client who is low hypnotizable on a standard measure may in fact achieve great benefit from learning hypnotic skills. Issues of ability and susceptibility, while extensively studied in the laboratory, pale in significance in the clinical setting next to the client's expectations and motivation.
Nonstandard measures of hypnotizability may also be used to assess a client's responsiveness. Many clinicians use a simple induction procedure for this purpose. Usually, it is one they have used with many other clients, so that they have gathered data for comparative purposes. These same inductions can be used as part of the building of positive expectations, to set up success experiences and to establish motivation.
Post a comment