The induction gets you into hypnosis. The deepener takes you further. If advanced methods such as the Esdaile state are the destination, deepeners are the road. Most are simple. One of them is slightly counter-intuitive, and it is the most powerful of the lot.
Fractionation: out and back in
Fractionation means bringing someone partly or fully out of hypnosis and then guiding them straight back in, several times over. Each return tends to be quicker and to feel deeper than the one before.
The idea is credited to the German neurologist Oskar Vogt around the turn of the 20th century. In Vogt’s original version, the hypnotist also asked the person, each time they surfaced, what they had experienced, and then fed those very sensations back in the next induction. Dave Elman later built a compressed form into his induction: “Open your eyes… and close them, going much deeper.”
Why would it work?
Hypnotists offer several explanations:
- Contrast. Surfacing makes you notice how relaxed you were, and you want to return.
- Practice. Entering hypnosis is a skill. Fractionation gives you several repetitions in a few minutes.
- Expectation. You are told each time will be deeper, and expectation is one of the strongest drivers of hypnotic response.
- Reduced effort. By the third or fourth time you have stopped monitoring yourself.
These are reasonable but largely untested. Fractionation is a well-established clinical technique that has had little formal research.
You have probably met a natural version. People who see a hypnotherapist for several sessions usually find each one easier and deeper than the last.
Other common deepeners
Counting down. “With each number from ten to one, you go deeper.” The simplest and most used.
The staircase or lift. You imagine descending, with each step or floor taking you further. Deep-state methods extend this into basements below the ground floor.
Progressive relaxation. Relaxing the body one area at a time. Slow, but gentle and reliable.
Breathing. “Each breath out takes you deeper.” This links depth to something that happens automatically.
The arm drop. The hypnotist lifts a relaxed arm and lets it fall, with the suggestion that you go deeper as it lands.
Deepening by compounding. Each response is used to build the next: “And as your arm grows heavier, your whole body relaxes more.”
Silence. A minute or two of quiet, with the suggestion that you keep drifting down by yourself.
Self-rated depth. The hypnotist asks you to name a number on a scale for how deep you are, then suggests you double it. The scale is imaginary, but it gives a sense of movement.
Using deepeners in self-hypnosis
You can apply all of this yourself:
- Take yourself into a relaxed state in the usual way.
- Count from one to three and open your eyes for a few seconds.
- Close them and count down from ten, telling yourself you are going twice as deep.
- Repeat two or three times.
Most people find the third round noticeably different from the first.
Does deeper always matter?
For most goals, no. Light to medium hypnosis is enough for relaxation, confidence and habit change. Deepeners are still worth using because they help you settle, reduce mental chatter, and strengthen your belief that something is happening, which itself improves response.
The bottom line
Deepening is mostly a matter of repetition, expectation and time. Fractionation is the neatest demonstration of that.
Next in the series: Ideomotor Signalling: Can Your Fingers Speak for Your Unconscious?
This article is for general information and is not medical advice.