Can Everyone Be Hypnotized? What the Evidence Shows

“Everyone can be hypnotized” is one of the most common claims in hypnosis marketing. The research evidence directly contradicts it.

What the data show

Hypnotizability, as measured by standardized scales, follows a roughly normal distribution [1]:

• About 10–15% of the population are highly hypnotizable — they respond readily to a wide range of suggestions, including more challenging ones like hallucinations and amnesia
• About 60–75% are moderately hypnotizable — they respond to easier suggestions like arm levitation and eye closure but not to more difficult items
• About 10–15% are low in hypnotizability — they respond minimally or not at all, even to easy suggestions

This distribution has been replicated across cultures, age groups and settings. It is one of the most robust findings in hypnosis research.

Stability over time

Hypnotizability is remarkably stable. A landmark study retested participants after 25 years and found a test-retest correlation of 0.71 [2]. This is comparable to the stability of major personality traits over the same period.

This stability has important implications:

• Practice does not reliably increase hypnotizability. While some studies have shown modest increases with specific training [4], the gains are small and their clinical significance is unclear.
• Rapport with the hypnotist does not fundamentally change hypnotizability. A good therapeutic relationship may help someone relax and engage, but it does not move someone from the low range to the high range.
• Motivation matters less than people expect. Being highly motivated to be hypnotized does not overcome low trait hypnotizability.

For more detail on how these scales work, see What Is Hypnotizability?.

What “low hypnotizability” means

A person who scores low on hypnotizability scales is not being resistant or uncooperative. They are simply not responding to the specific types of suggestion that define the hypnotic domain. They can still:

• Relax during a hypnosis session
• Focus attention on the hypnotist’s words
• Imagine suggested scenarios
• Benefit from the non-hypnotic components of a session, such as therapeutic attention and relaxation

What they typically cannot do is experience the subjective alterations that characterize hypnotic responding: the sense that their arm is rising by itself, that they cannot open their eyes, or that a suggested image seems real.

Does hypnotizability predict clinical outcomes?

This is the critical question. If hypnotizability does not predict who benefits from clinical hypnosis, then the distribution matters less. The evidence is mixed:

Application	Does hypnotizability predict outcome?
Laboratory pain	Yes — consistently
Chronic pain	Inconsistently
Surgical anxiety	Limited data
IBS	Not clearly
Hot flashes	Not adequately tested
Smoking cessation	Not clearly

The pattern suggests that hypnotizability matters more for applications where the proposed mechanism is direct suggestion, and less where hypnosis is bundled with other therapeutic elements.

Why the marketing claim persists

The claim that “everyone can be hypnotized” persists for several reasons:

• Commercial incentive. Telling potential clients they might not respond is bad for business.
• Broadened definitions. If “hypnosis” is redefined to include relaxation and focused attention, then most people can experience something. But this empties the term of its distinctive meaning.
• Clinical experience. Therapists see patients improve in sessions labeled “hypnosis” even when hypnotizability is moderate, because the sessions include many non-hypnotic elements.

None of these reasons makes the claim accurate.

What this means in practice

Not everyone can be hypnotized in the research sense of the term. About one in seven people will respond minimally to hypnotic suggestion regardless of the skill of the practitioner, their own motivation or the number of sessions. People considering clinical hypnosis should know this, and practitioners should be honest about it. A person who does not respond to hypnotic suggestion is not failing; they are in the normal range of human variation.

For how hypnotizability is measured, see The Stanford and Harvard Hypnotizability Scales.

When to see a clinician first. If you are seeking hypnosis for a medical or psychological condition, discuss it with your doctor or therapist first. If you find that you do not respond to hypnotic suggestion, this does not mean your condition is untreatable — it means a different approach may be more appropriate. Evidence-based treatments exist for most conditions where hypnosis is offered.