Hypnotic Language Patterns - Unspecified Verbs

 

 

 

Verbs can range from being very specific to very unspecific.

 

Unspecified verbs are frequently used in hypnotic induction and suggestion.

 

She touched him (touch is not very specific)

 

She kissed him (a more specific kind of touch involving at least one pair of lips)

 

She French kissed him (even more specific)

 

The less specific you are with the verbs you use then the more the patient has to interpret what you say and apply it to their own immediate experience. The patient is forced to supply the meaning in order to understand the sentence.

 

Examples of relatively unspecified verbs are: wonder, think, sense, know, experience, understand, remember, aware, change, solve.

 

The sentence "I think this is true" is less specified than "I feel this is true." In the latter sentence, we are informed as to how the person thinks.

 

If I say "I want you to learn," I am using a very unspecific, since I'm not explaining how I want you to learn, or what specifically I want you to learn about what.