Soul Loss and Addiction
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.

There are many different understandings about the nature of addiction. In working with addiction, it can be helpful to apply the diagnostic and restorative methods provided by shamanism and Depth Hypnosis to help resolve addictive issues permanently.

Depth Hypnosis is an innovative model that combines shamanism, hypnotherapy, transpersonal psychology and Buddhism to effect change in a wide variety of imbalances. Depth Hypnosis takes the wisdom of the most ancient psychologies on the planet, shamanism, and applies it to a modern therapeutic context.

In shamanism, it is understood that imbalance is created by three possible conditions. These conditions are power loss, soul loss and energetic interference.

Power loss and soul loss both occur in reaction to trauma. The types of trauma, which create soul loss, can also create power loss. Trauma ranging from a car accident to emotional, physical or sexual abuse to negative internal self-talk can create a state of soul or power loss. Soul loss is characterized by a loss of energy on a physical level, a lack of interest in life on emotional or spiritual level and a lack of focus on a mental level. Power loss is often recognized by the struggle or a series of events, which appears to be bad luck that occurs in a person’s life as he tries to overcome the exhaustion or depletion created by power loss.

In Depth Hypnosis, addictions are viewed as a medication for the state of soul loss or power loss. Addicts are seen to either use the addiction to try and reproduce the state of soul loss in a controlled way or use the addiction to try and erase the state of soul loss.

When speaking of addiction, one can easily recognize an addiction as something, which has its own energy system and does not have a physical body. Addictions fulfill the main criteria of energetic interference in that they disrupt the flow of a person’s life energy. By engaging in addiction and trying to either recreate the energy patterns underlying traumatic events in a controlled way or erase those patterns, a person loses choice over how he uses his life energy.

In shamanic terms, the remedy for the above situation is simple: remove the energetic interference and restore the part of the soul or power that was lost. But not necessarily in that order. Often a person must be restored to his power or his soul before he has the power or energy required to face down the depletion the energetic interference is compounding.

In traditional settings, the shaman does this work for the individual. By moving into an altered state, the shaman uses his relationships with what in shamanism are called ‘helping spirits’ to find the piece of soul or power which is frozen outside of time. This part of the self is usually caught in the trauma which created the soul loss – and it is as if the event is occurring in present time. By releasing the part of the self that is frozen outside of time by entering into the event and with the help of his helping spirits, the shaman retrieves and returns the soul part or power, which has been lost.

Depth Hypnosis adapts this technique to create an environment where the person suffering the power loss or soul loss is assisted in retrieving the lost part himself. This is done through a variety of techniques, most of which are accomplished in an altered state. The Depth Hypnosis practitioner guides the client into an altered state where the person is able to perceive more about himself than he would normally be able to in a waking state. By following the path of the trauma through the effect it has on the body, the client is guided into entering the situation or circumstance where the trauma occurred and retrieving the lost part himself. The advantages of engaging the client in the process are numerous – not the least of which is that the person becomes empowered as an agent for his own healing and is not dependent on an outside source, such as the shaman.

Again, in traditional shamanic practice, it is the shaman, along with his helping spirits, who engages with the source of the energetic interference and moves it out of the person’s energetic sphere. And again, this practice is adapted in Depth Hypnosis to engage the client in understanding the source of the interference, its effect and the ways in which the individual is participating in creating and maintaining the energetic interference. And again, the advantages are the same.

By adapting the ancient methods of shamanism into the modern therapeutic context, addiction can be overcome permanently and relatively painlessly. By challenging the client to participate in his own healing at the roots of the dysfunction, addiction can be successfully and permanently alleviated.

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