Abstract
Little research has been conducted on the assumed high hypnotizability of conversion patients and on their dissociative experiences. Moreover, a relation is described between trauma, dissociation, somatization, psychopathology and conversion disorder. One hundred and two patients with motor conversion symptoms were tested for hypnotizability, dissociative experiences, trauma, somatization, general level of psychopathology and physical impairment. Our sample did not have higher levels of hypnotizability but they reported more dissociative experiences than normals. The trauma subgroup had higher levels of hypnotizability and dissociative experiences, psychopathology, somatization, and physical impairment than the nonβtrauma subgroup. Uncorrected for general psychopathology, the trauma category βotherwiseβ predicted 9.6% of the variance in the hypnotizability scores. After correction, only an additional 4.2%. The trauma category βemotional abuseβ contributed 18.9% to the prediction of the variance in the dissociation scores. After correction for general psychopathology, which explained 67.3% of the variance, only the sum score of the trauma categories contributed an additional 3.3%. Copyright Β© 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.