Healing and Hypnotherapy Volume 5, Issue -2, 1 August 2020 | Page 9

Or psychological complexity: “Rex’s emotional issues run deep.” (And
therefore will require prolonged and expensive therapy!)
Or profundity: “Man, that episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians was
really deep!” (Okay, pseudo-profundity!)
But I’ll tell you who also likes to use the ‘deep’ metaphor.
So who else likes using the metaphor ‘deep’?
Hypnotherapists. I use metaphor all the time. And, whether you realise it or
not, so do you! Every word we speak is a representation of some parallel
reality, not the thing itself. And our use of the word ‘deep’ to refer to hypnotic
depth is the perfect example.
So what do hypnotherapists mean by a ‘deep trance’ or indeed ‘hypnotic
deepeners’?
We use the word ‘deep’ to describe a state with a greater degree of
perceptual abstraction, and ‘light’ for a lesser degree of dissociation (though if
we wanted to use a proper counterpoint we should probably use the word
‘shallow’.)
Recently during a teleconference Q&A, someone asked me:
I’m a newly qualified hypnotherapist. During our training and in my reading,
there is a lot of emphasis on inductions, deepening, etc., which you don’t
seem to bother with in any formal style (which I like). Any comment on this for
me please. Thanks.
Here’s what I replied. (I’m sorry about the Hitler reference! But as we who use
hypnosis know, dramatic examples can focus the attention more
energetically.)
My thoughts on hypnotic deepeners
Hi, and thanks for your question.
Well, I could say I don’t use formal hypnotic deepeners for the same reason
that Adolf Hitler didn’t when he hypnotised the masses during the Nuremberg
rallies. He didn’t need to use formal hypnotic deepeners, because he knew
how to do it... naturalistically. (Hypnosis can be used for ill as well as good of
course.)