Classical Rhetoric in Modern Therapy

Copyright © Donald Robertson, 2010-2012.  All rights reserved.

“Rhetoric” is the ancient name for what, to a large extent, we now call the art of “communication”, “persuasion”, etc.  However, the systematic study of rhetoric as a formal professional and academic discipline is over two thousand years old. It was one of the most important studies in ancient Graeco-Roman society, many hundreds of books were written about it, and it formed the basis of their children’s education system. However, the abuse of rhetoric by lawyers, politicians and gurus (the “Sophists”) led to condemnation from rational philosophers like Socrates who argued that truth should be prized above verbal manipulation.  This seems to have caused the word “rhetoric” to acquire negative connotations over the centuries, although Socrates and his followers felt that verbal prowess still had a valuable and legitimate place as the servant of philosophy rather than its master.  Indeed, classical rhetoric has always been closely connected to the “therapeutic” aims of Graeco-Roman philosophy, e.g., Marcus Aurelius employs rhetorical exercises as part of his meditations on Stoicism.  The article below makes some analogies between ancient rhetorical concepts and modern therapy strategies, particularly the wording of techniques and scripts in hypnotherapy.

Nor, after all, is this power of [hypnotic] suggestion, or persuasion, or concealed fascination, so remarkable or unaccountable as at first sight it appears to be. The secret of success with all sophistical [i.e., rhetorical] writers and orators is of a similar nature. They make repeated appeals to the feelings, as well as to the reason, until the minds of their readers or hearers get bewildered and withdrawn from the true bearings of the main points of the case and the assumed, and apparent sincerity and energy, of the writer, and still more so of the orator, who, to his other aids of words and arguments, adds that of his physical manifestations, to captivate and carry his entranced hearers along with him, through the power of sympathy and imitation, and fixed attention, at last irresistibly moulds them to his will. In support of this I might appeal to the personal feelings and experience of most people who have watched the effect upon a jury of a powerful and eloquent special pleader [in a court of law]; or observed the effect of an accomplished actor or actress on the stage, over an audience excited and entranced by the felicitous impersonation of fictitious dangers and difficulties, pains and perils, joy or sorrow, fear or courage, compassion, hatred, or revenge. – James Braid, 1852

Aristotle’s On Rhetoric

One of the classic texts of ancient rhetoric was Aristotle’s book on the subject, written in the 4^thCentury BC, in which he introduced the following tripartite schema for the analysis of rhetorical communication. These are the ingredients of any inter-personal communication and apply equally well to political oratory before an audience or to the inter-action between a hypnotherapist and an individual client.

1. Ethos(Character)

The character of the speaker, their reputation, prestige, appearance, and personality, e.g., the reputation or core qualities of the therapist (empathy, congruence, positive regard) identified by Rogers and Traux.

2. Logos(Speech)

The things said, their structure and format, the speech or arguments used to influence others, e.g., the techniques, metaphors, scripts, etc., of a therapist.

3. Pathos(Emotion)

The mental and emotional state of the audience, e.g., or the emotional state of the client or hypnotic “state”, etc.

Rhetorical Figures of Speech

Under the heading of “logos”, or verbal technique, classical rhetoric identifies a huge array of both verbal and non-verbal tactics and strategies used to create an effect upon the audience. Many of these will already be familiar from a variety of sources, as they are engrained in our culture. There are hundreds of relevant concepts, from which a small handful of those most relevant to therapeutic communication may serve as an illustration. Figures of speech are conventionally divided into “schemes” which create an effect by changing the structure of a phrase, or “tropes” which change the meaning of the words being used.

Rhetorical Schemes

Accumulation. A “summing up” which concludes by restating a preceding argument in a short and forceful manner. Note that this resembles the practice of repeating a short affirmation at the end of a lengthy hypnosis script. For example, a detailed description of confident behaviour in the workplace, describing its component behaviours and consequences, etc., might be reinforced by concluding with the suggestion, “You are now completely and utterly confident at work.”

Alliteration. Repeating a series of words that start with similar sounds, or lead with like letters. For example, “You are now growing powerful, peaceful, and poised.” This is sometimes considered euphonic, pleasant-sounding. It may also have a mnemonic effect, making slogans more memorable, e.g., “The three R’s: Reading, Writing, and ‘rithmetic.”

Anaphora. Repetition of the same, or similar, words at the beginning of successive clauses. This is sometimes used in hypnotic scripts. For example, “Sleep comes easily to you, sleep is something you enjoy, sleep is pleasant and comfortable.” See also Epistrophe.

Antithesis.The juxtaposition of contrasting or opposing concepts, e.g., “You are strong enough to make your point heard, and gentle enough to listen to the needs of others.” Erickson refers to a similar language pattern which he calls “apposition of opposites.” However, reference to antagonistic or conflicting ideas is presumed in most traditional “challenge suggestions” which appear to function by evoking mutually incompatible responses. For instance, “The more you try to bend your arm the more rigid it becomes”, a typical arm catalepsy suggestion, could be seen as employing a kind of rhetorical antithesis.

Assonance. The repetition of similar vowelsounds, e.g., “Heinz means beans.” This is more common in poetry than in prose, however.

Asyndeton. The omission of conjunctions between related clauses. For example, “You learn to speak out, contradict, attack” as opposed to “…speak out, contradict and attack.” “We came, we saw, we conquered” (Julius Caesar). Aristotle’s Rhetoric concludes, ‘I have done. You have heard me. The facts are before you. I ask for your judgement.’ Winston Churchill’s famous “We shall fight them on the beaches,” speech exploits this scheme at great length.  Asyndeton tends to create a more hurried effect, usually used to stimulate an energetic emotional reaction. This scheme can be used consistently throughout a script designed to suggest, e.g., energy and alertness. See polysyndeton.

Rhetorical Climax. The use of several successive words or phrases in ascending scale or importance. As the theme tune to the television show Friendsputs it, “It hasn’t been my day, my month, my week, or even my year.” The opposite, rhetorical “anti-climax”, where diminishing ideas are evoked, is perhaps less useful in therapy.  For instance, the goals of therapy can be affirmed rhetorically, “You’re going to learn to believe a little in yourself, to patiently acquire methods of helping yourself, to prepare to face your fears with my help, to face them first in small steps, to confront them repeatedly and with growing confidence, learning to depend upon yourself more and more as you approach the greatest challenges which face you, and finally to conquer them once and for all.”

Epistrophe. The repetition of the same, or similar, words at the end of successive clauses. This is also sometimes found in hypnotic scripts. For example, “You enjoy study, you embrace study, and you take pride in your ability to study.” See Anaphora.

Hendiadys. Which literally means “one through two.” (A bit like the “Buy one get one free” of rhetoric.) The use of two similar-meaning words or short phrases for rhetorical effect, usually two nouns instead of a single noun or adjective. For example, “You now grow relaxed and peaceful”, instead of “You now grow peacefully relaxed.” Further examples would include expressions like “null and void”, “heart and soul”, and “pushing and shoving.” The repetition of meaning is logically unnecessary (tautological) but adds rhetoricalforce to the idea.

Hendiatris. Like hendiadys, but meaning “one through three.” The use of three similar-meaning words or short phrases to express one common idea, such as “free, gratis, and without charge.” The ancients appreciated that threefold repetition often sounded appealing, e.g., Caesar’s famous veni, vidi, vici; “we came, we saw, we conquered.” Estate agents exclaim, “location, location, location”; politicians, “education, education, education”; sports coaches, “practice, practice, practice.” Hence, “You now grow calm, relaxed, and peaceful.”

Polysyndeton. The use of additional conjunctions for rhetorical effect. This is very common indeed in hypnotherapy scripts. For example, “Allow yourself to relax, and let go, and feel comfortable” as opposed to “…relax, let go, feel comfortable.” This slows down the rhythm of speech and usually creates a solemn or relaxing effect. See asyndeton.

Rhetorical Tautology and Synonymy. Tautology refers to the repetition of an idea in different words for rhetorical emphasis. Saying the same thing in a different way. This is frequently the case in hypnosis scripts where a similar is repeated many times, using different phrases to reinforce the same underlying ideas. Sometimes this can be by implication, e.g., “A male bachelor without a wife.”  Synonymy is similar to tautology but more specifically involves the deliberate use of individual words which mean the same thing.  Hypnotherapy scripts are full of synonyms, so much that hypnotists can often make good use of a simple thesaurus in designing their scripts, by including as many variations on the same concept as possible.

Verbification & Reification. The technique of changing a noun into a verb, sometimes called “verbification” or “verbing”, is mainly attributed to Korzybski’s General Semantics in modern therapy. Sometimes it can lead to strange neologisms, as in “Verbing weirds language”.  Albert Ellis made extensive use of verbification in his early writings on Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), coining such terms as “awfulising” and “catastrophising”.  Korzybksi famously argued that the verb “to be” was responsible for confusion and deadening of language. For example, “I am tense” can be replaced with “I am tensing my body.” Doing so encourages the speaker to be more specific and also to adopt responsibility for their current activity, which can lead to changing behaviour. The opposite process, “reification”, occurs when a process or activity is treated as if it were a substance (a “thing”), usually by referring to it by means of a noun. The familiar notion of doing something “unconsciously”, is transformed into the notion that it is done “by the unconscious” by introducing the noun and thereby reifying the concept, something which humanistic and behavioural therapists roundly criticised Freud for doing.

Rhetorical Tropes

Allegory.A short story that serves to illustrate a central message, i.e., the stories told by Erickson, or the ancient fables of Aesop.

Aphorism.A concise sentence, maxim, or statement that powerfully sums up an idea, e.g., “Hypnosis helps those who help themselves”, “All hypnosis is self-hypnosis”, etc.

Apophasis. Meaning “saying no”, apophasis is the ancient term for the rhetorical trope which evokes an idea by superficially denying it, e.g., “I don’t want you to become obsessed with using this self-hypnosis technique”, “Nobody’s suggesting it was your fault”, “Don’t think of an elephant”, etc. In a televised political debate in 1984, Ronald Reagan said he would never look to take political advantage of his opponent’s youth and inexperience, thereby indirectly but effectively undermining his credibility. This concept is central to the practice of hypnotic suggestion and presupposed by the common rules of suggestion, i.e., that suggestions should generally be phrased in the positive.

Euphemism. Using a more palatable phrase for one that might offence. Euphemisms are commonplace in marketing, e.g., high calorie drinks, which are potentially very unhealthy because of the large quantities of refined sugar in them, are simply relabelled “high energy” – a more positive-sounding way of saying the same thing.  In hypnotherapy, e.g., we might refer to “that unpleasant feeling” instead of “pain” to refer to it without evokingthe sensation. A therapist might refer to “those old emotions fading away” to avoid saying, “you’re not panicking and crying like a baby anymore.” In smoking cessation we might refer to “that old habit” to avoid conjuring up the images associated with more explicit and evocative phrases like “smoking cigarettes.”

Hyperbole. The use of exaggeration (“hype”) to emphasise a point, e.g., “You feel as if the whole world is applauding you”, “Your legs feel like they weigh a ton.” Hyperbole is also commonly used in hypnotic suggestion. It’s opposite, Litotes, deliberate understatement, is less common in hypnotherapy, except in the form of euphemism.

Irony.The use of a word or phrase in a paradoxical manner made significant precisely through the conflict with its normal meaning. The term specifically derives from Socrates’ professed ignorance. Assuming that he “knew only that he knew nothing”, was (ironically) the basis of his legendary wisdom. Picasso, e.g., said “Art is a form of lying in order to tell the truth.” Irony is common in therapy, e.g., clients’ attempts to achieve things often (ironically) result in the opposite. Ironically, trying not to think about something tends to make you think about it even more.  Trying too hard to make people love you, ironically, can drive them away. Trying to fall asleep, ironically, can keep you awake. Believing that you can’t be hypnotised, ironically, is itself a form of negative self-hypnosis.

Metaphor. Metaphors are specifically verbal combinations of one concept with another which gain meaning by the comparison, e.g., “He had the heart of a lion”, “The speaker was shot down in flames.” Confusion is caused when metaphors are taken too literally by people who misunderstand them, e.g., the notion of “trance” is arguably a metaphor in hypnotherapy, used to describe normal disorientation, selective awareness, or imaginal absorption.  People, however, take it in a more literal sense and assume that it refers to some sort of unnatural state such as the unconsciousness or automatism of a zombie. Hence, some modern hypnotherapists prefer to speak of a “trance-like feeling”, “feeling as if you’re in a trance”, turning the metaphor into an explicit simile.

Metonymy.Use of a word to refer to something associated with it, or of which it is one part. Lacan defined metonymy as “part for whole.” For instance, “the press” symbolises the media by association with the printing press, “the crown” symbolises the monarchy by association, “top brass” symbolises the military command.

Simile.Similes are like metaphors but made explicit by the use of a phrase such as “as if”, “as though”, or “like” which verbally indicates a comparison, “It was as if he had the heart of a lion.”

Neologism.The invention of a new word to create a new concept and add emphasis to it, e.g., therapists often turn nouns into verbs such as “You are catastrophising things” instead of “This is a catastrophe.”

Onomatopoeia. Words which sound like the thing they describe, e.g., “the buzz of the fly”, “the crack of the whip”, “the pop of the cork”, etc. The Greeks called foreigners “barbarians” (barbaroi) because they thought they sounded like they were just saying “bar, bar…”, the Greek equivalent of “blah, blah…” Not much used in hypnotherapy.

Oxymoron.A real or apparent contradiction in terms, the opposite of a tautology, e.g., “He was a likeable rogue”, or “It was a square circle”, “The midday Sun at midnight”, etc. Not much used in hypnotherapy.

Paradox. “Paradox” means contrary to (popular) opinion. Plato’s views were described as paradoxical because they seemed to turn received wisdom on its head. Paradoxes feature in therapy because human nature is paradoxical and many popular assumptions are based on misconceptions. For example, “paradoxical therapy” or “symptom prescription” revolves around the idea that deliberately engaging in a behaviour may make it lesslikely to continue as a habit in the future.

Paradoxes have rhetorical effect because they are surprising and therefore capture attention and stick in the memory. The most important paradoxes for the purposes of therapy are “apparent” but not “real.” For example, it may seem paradoxical that people can learn to reduce pain by first learning how to intensify it, but there is probably an explanation for this.

Personification (Prosopopoeia).Attributing inhuman things with human qualities. Sometimes called “the pathetic fallacy” in logic, or “anthropomorphism” in psychology and anthropology. For example, “The land was thirsty for rain”, “The book was staring back at him”, “The universe has got it in for me.”

Rhetorical Question (Erotema).The practice of posing a question in order to presuppose or imply a conclusion, e.g., “Do you really want to make yourself the whore of Big Tobacco by smoking yourself into an early grave?”

Synaesthesia.The use of words normally descriptive of one sense to describe another, e.g., “This wine tastes like an autumn breeze with an aftertaste that’s like warming your toes by an open fire”, “His voice sounded warm”, “The kitten looks sweet.”

Truism. An obvious, self-evident statement used for rhetorical effect, e.g., “Pain hurts!”, “Stupid people do stupid things”, “Some you win; some you lose.”

Logical Fallacies in Rhetoric

The study of logical fallacies is another important area in rhetoric, closely resembling the disputation of thinking errors in cognitive therapy.  However, it lies beyond the scope of this brief article.

Further Reading

Corbett, E.J. (1990). Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford: OUP.