A hypnotisability scale consists of a set of suggestions given to the subject in a standard way to test whether certain things occur which are said to prove whether hypnosis exists. For example, those wishing to be hypnotised are commonly asked to feel their outstretched hands pulling together, or they may be asked to cough each time they hear a pencil tapped on a table. They may then be asked to forget all they had heard until a signal is given to end the posthypnotic suggestion.
Creative imagination scale (CIS)
The creative imagination scale is a less formal method of assessing whether someone has a good, fair, medium or poor talent for hypnosis.
It was introduced in 1977 by American psychology researchers Dr T. X. Barber and Dr S.F. Wilson and consists of 10 exercises in which you would be asked to use your imagination to experience what is being described to you by the therapist. If you wish to measure your ability to use the imagery-based pain management approaches described in this book you can measure your score on the CIS.
Record the following 10 exercises on a cassette tape and replay them to yourself or have a friend read them, slowly and rhythmically. It is simply enough to close your eyes as you try to experience what is being described. To score yourself give yourself a score from 0 to 5 for each item. Score zero if you experience nothing at all, 1 if your experience is a little the same and 2 if your experience is about 50% as real as if it were actually happening. You would score
3 if the experience were much the same as described and 4 if your experience were almost the same as described. The maximum score is therefore 40 and if you score anything above 10 you probably have a capacity to use imagery-based approaches to stress and pain. Above 30 you have a very definite talent for imagery and you are potentially a very good hypnosis subject. Properly carried out, the exercise should take ajjout 25 minutes in all. 1. Arm heaviness
By letting your thoughts go along with these instructions, you can make your hand and arm feel heavy. Please close your eyes and put your left armAstraight out in front of you at shoulder height with the palm facing up. Now imagine that a very heavy dictionary is being placed on the palm of your left hand. Let yourself feel the heaviness. Your thoughts make it feel as if there’s a heavy dictionary on your hand. You create the feeling of heaviness on your hand by thinking of a very heavy dictionary. Now think of a second large heavy dictionary being placed on top of the first heavy dictionary. Notice how very heavy your arm is starting to feel as you push up on the dictionaries. Push up on the heavy dictionaries as you imagine their weight. Notice how your arm feels heavier and heavier as you push up against them. Now tell yourself that a third big, heavy dictionary is being piled on top of the other two heavy dictionaries on your hand. Your arm now feels very, very heavy. Let yourself feel as if there are three heavy dictionaries on the palm of your hand and your arm is getting heavier and heavier. Feel your arm getting heavier and heavier. Very heavy. (It is now approximately one minute and twenty seconds since the start of the image. )
Now, tell yourself that your hand and arm feel perfectly normal again and just let your arm come back down and relax.
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