We are treating people with words, so the dictionary and thesaurus are our pharmacopoeias. What we say, what we omit, and how we say it matters very much. Even without hypnosis, this is ancient knowledge. George Baglivi (1704), a prominent seventeenth century Italian physician wrote: “I can scarce express what influence the physician’s words have upon the patient’s life, and how much they sway the fancy; for a physician who has his tongue well hung, and is master of the art of persuading, fastens … such a virtue upon his remedies and raises the faith and hope of the patient … that sometimes he masters difficult diseases with the silliest remedies (emphasis mine).” (Duct tape for warts? If you can influence the patient to believe it, it works!) What we call placebo in the waking state is much enhanced in hypnosis.