The Stanford Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility is an oldie but a goodie.  However, Erickson's approach to hypnosis throws a monkey wrench into the concept of suggestibility and should be part of any discussion.   Hope this helps.

Thanks Kerry very helpful

The BSS was designed to be quick and easy to administer, taking between 10-12 minutes to complete, which is a definitely a pro (Barber & Wilson, 1978)

Thanks Katrina.

Having read up on a number of suggestibility scales, I have some thoughts on usability. Both the BSS and SCHS suggest the scales can be used with or without hypnotic induction yet my experience tells me that an induction could either heighten or lessen suggestibility of a participant.

Secondly from a safety point of view the SCHS particularly with the mosquito & regression test could prompt an abreaction. If conducted by a competent hypnotist this could be easily resolved, yet if encountered by someone who doesn't have the appropriate skill level it could lead to participants suffering distress.

HI Philip,

Great point, have you come across any literature that has clearly stated what constitutes as high, medium low hypnotizability on the BSS? I am looking for clearly stated interpretation of scores and can't seem to find it anywhere, thank you!

Hi Katrina, not as yet but will keep an eye out for you.

Do you think me being a hypnotist and performing the BSS to someone could influence the validity of results? Maybe that would be a good experiment, test some who know I'm  hypnotist, and some who don't know. There's an article (ill find the link) which looks as susceptibility when participants know its hypnosis v not knowing.

Philip,

You might want to look into the Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale (CURSS) developed by the late Nick Spanos, who worked with Ted Barber (creator of the Barber Suggestibility Scale). It is a measure of hypnotic responsiveness, has neither a regression nor mosquito suggestion, and can be administered individually or in groups. Taking about 35-40 minutes, however, it is longer than the BSS.

Hi, previous research on the Barber and CURSS scales made them look bit less valid in capturing the spectrum of hypnotic phenomena that the Stanford form C has demonstrated. There are also 25 year test retest reliability studies of the Stanford from C. I'd also high recommend Ron Pekala's PCI-HAP measure: http://www.quantifyingconsciousness.com/wp_dev/ Ron's measure may be especially good since it measures hypnotic experience as well as hypnotic ability. Gary Elkins has a great new measure as well which has good psychometric properties but is less obtrusive than the Stanford or Harvard measures and doesn't use as much awkward 1950ish language.

Finally, attend a meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis and you can take their research training workshop. Its taught by the top people in the field of hypnosis research and you can ask all sorts of questions. https://www.sceh.us/