Hypnotherapy for phobias
You may be surprised to hear that hypnotherapy can help you deal with a wide range of conditions from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to childbirth, from sleep problems to coping with change, from stress related skin conditions to anxiety, low mood and confidence building. Over the last couple of years I have seen an increased number of clients with needle phobia and have been able to support them in getting their Covid vaccination. The use of hypnotherapy for treating phobias and specific fears is probably more widely known but it is not always understood just how this works.
What is a phobia and how does it come about?
The dictionary definition of a phobia is ‘an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.’ This could be of an experience such as flying or going to the dentist, or it could be of a particular object, living or inanimate, such as birds, spiders or buttons.
It is natural for us to be nervous about new situations or things we haven’t come across before. This is part of our body’s fight and flight mechanism; our red alert system that keeps us safe. If we came across a tiger outside our front door we wouldn’t have time to think before adrenalin and cortisol flooded our bodies, increasing our heart rate, giving us energy to run. We all need this response. However if we have a bad experience driving our car, a dog bites us, or we see an adult reacting badly to a situation when we are young, our brain can highlight this as a potential problem. Normally our brain works through our memories every night, processing the events of the day through our rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and filing memories away appropriately. However if the event has been particularly traumatic, perhaps because we are already under stress in our lives, a phobia can develop. Instead of being appropriately filed away into a part of our brain where we have control over the memory, the phobia has been caught up in the red alert, primitive part of the brain which is then unable to process it logically. If you have a phobia you can often recognise that your response is not rational and you can probably remember the situation when it started.
Hypnotherapy for phobias
Hypnosis has many benefits but a particularly significant one is that it mimics REM sleep. For instance a client may have developed a fear of flying after a turbulent flight. They may have experienced this on previous flights and been able to cope but, due to a combination of life stresses, found this occasion much more difficult to deal with and subsequently worried about it to the point of developing a phobia. During hypnosis I will help them see the memory as an observer. It is important to stress that the client is not in the memory but watching themselves on a screen from a safe and comfortable place. I support the client to rewind and fast forward the memory on the screen. This process helps replicate the experience of REM, moving the memory away from the red alert system of the brain to the intellectual brain. It is helping to take the heat out of the memory to file it away appropriately.
Following this hypnotherapy session, I then plan a reframe for the client’s next hypnotherapy appointment. Before the session I will have taken lots of detail of the next occasion a client will face their fear. I will then write this into a personalised visualisation which the client listens to in trance so they can imagine themselves in the situation dealing with the fear in the best possible way. Reframes can be very powerful, not just for phobias but for dealing with other situations people are worried about such as public speaking, driving tests, examinations or interviews. They can help us visualise being the best version of ourselves and give us confidence when we face a situation for real. Our brains actually don’t know the difference between imagination and reality (think of how our hearts can race when watching a horror film or how your mouth begins to salivate if you imagine biting into a lemon) so a reframe is a great way to give a client a positive and visual picture of themselves facing their fears.
I experienced hypnotherapy as a teenager to help me cope with a fear of leaving home. My hypnotherapist reframed my concerns about going on holiday, without my family, to help me imagine myself on the beach, feeling confident, feeling happy, and feeling in control. To this day I have a mental picture of myself on a beach at that time…. but I don’t know whether this was the real Greek beach or the imaginary one. So I know just how incredible this technique can be. Hypnotherapy treatment for a phobia generally takes just three full sessions and, as I and my clients can attest, it can be life changing.
Testimonials from clients with phobias
“I spent each year worrying about coming across frogs and toads when out walking or in the garden. This was a fear I had from childhood and had plagued me all my life. We had very relaxing hypnotherapy sessions, although I did worry at the start but I soon settled into the routine, although I wasn’t sure it would work. The relaxation tape was very helpful. Afterwards I found when I came across a toad in my garden I did not over react as usual and managed to move it out of the way. Maybe a small thing to others but a major step to me. Thank you.”
“Since childhood I have suffered from debilitating trypanophobia (fear of needles). As an adult this has resulted me in avoiding inoculations and any medical procedures where I was fearful that needles might be used. The need to get Covid vaccinations has made needles unavoidable. I realised that I would be unable to get my vaccination unless I first addressed my fear. I discovered Elizabeth, and her expertise working with sufferers of trypanophobia via Google. From the outset she was friendly, professional and sympathetic. Over the course of three sessions she helped me address my fear and build strategies for managing it..…I was able to get my vaccination and to do so in a calm, focused and peaceful state of mind. Elizabeth helped me no end in making this process feel as normal as going to the shops or post office, free of any apprehension.”
Online hypnotherapy for clients with phobias
Although I am now seeing clients face to face from Hayfield I continue to offer an online service. I have found this a very successful way of working. Clients are able to relax in their home environment which helps them feel safe and comfortable for the therapy work.
Hypnosis works well over Zoom and is safe. (For more information about how hypnotherapy works online please click here.)
Please get in touch to make an appointment.