HYPNOTIZABILITY AND SOMATIC COMPLAINTS: A Gender-Specific Phenomenon

Abstract: The relationship between hypnotizability and somatic illness was measured in 45 college students. Several weeks after completing the Waterloo-Stanford Group C Scale (WSGC), partic-ipants filled out a somatic-complaint checklist and measures of psychopathology. Results indicated a positive correlation between hypnotizability and somatic illness, and the relationship was stronger for female participants. In contrast to the quadratic model proposed by Wickramasekera, the current data demonstrated a linear rela-tionship between hypnotizability and somatic complaint. Further analyses showed that somatic complaints were associated with hallucination and imagery items, corresponding to the perceptual-cognitive factor identified in Woody, Barnier, and McConkey’s (2005) factor analysis of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C. The results call into question some claims that high hypnotizability is an adaptive and healthy trait. Manuscript submitted March 22, 2006; final revision received July 15, 2006