Phobias Hypnotherapy

1. Initial Consultation and Assessment:
   A qualified hypnotherapist will begin with a thorough consultation to understand your history with your condition, its triggers, and its impact on your life. This includes exploring past experiences, current stressors, and your overall emotional well-being.
   This assessment helps the therapist tailor a personalized treatment plan specifically designed to address your individual needs and challenges.
2. Relaxation and Induction:
   Hypnotherapy sessions typically begin with relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing exercises or guided imagery, to help you enter a state of deep relaxation and focus.
   The therapist then guides you into a hypnotic trance, which is not a state of sleep but rather a heightened state of suggestibility and focus. You remain fully aware and in control throughout the process.
3. Suggestive Techniques:
   Once in a hypnotic state, the therapist uses various suggestive techniques to address the root causes of your condition. This might involve:
   Identifying and reframing negative thought patterns: The therapist helps you identify the automatic negative thoughts and beliefs that contribute to your condition and replace them with more positive and rational ones.
   Developing coping mechanisms: Hypnotherapy can help you develop effective coping mechanisms to manage triggers and reduce impulsive reactions. This could involve visualization techniques, self-soothing strategies, or affirmations.
   Accessing and processing past trauma: If past trauma or negative experiences contribute to your condition, hypnotherapy can help you access and process these memories in a safe and supportive environment.
   Strengthening self-esteem and self-compassion: Hypnotherapy can help improve self-esteem and self-compassion, which are crucial for managing your condition effectively. This involves positive affirmations and visualizations to enhance self-worth.
4. Post-Hypnotic Suggestions:
   The therapist may provide post-hypnotic suggestions, which are positive suggestions designed to reinforce the changes made during the session and support your ongoing condition management efforts. These suggestions are embedded in your subconscious mind to help you manage your condition effectively in everyday situations.
5. Integration and Follow-up:
   After the session, you'll gradually return to your normal waking state. The therapist will guide you through this process and discuss any insights or experiences you had during the session.
   Follow-up sessions are crucial to reinforce the changes made and address any challenges that may arise. The therapist will monitor your progress and make adjustments to the treatment plan as needed.

Example 1- Phobias Hypnotherapy: 

Showing a person how to release that tense grip and need for control in those fearful situations goes a long, long way to curing a phobia, this in-depth diligent understanding that I offer along with hypnotherapy/NLP can help enormously.

A phobia is defined as an irrational fear of an object or an aversion to something.

In my opinion it is not so much a fear of the external object but more of the feeling that arises within the persons nervous system which has been created by an irrational belief in the thought processing.

i.e., if we take the emotion out of the thought or the object all we are then left with is a thought or an object.  Who then need be bluffed by a thought!

I think it relevant to define the word rational, which in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy means self-helping.  It follows that irrational can be classified as non-self-helping.

Much needless time can be wasted in the therapeutic session of finding the “root cause” of the problem in the hope that insight will resolve the phobia.  Rarely does this happen as the person has by now built-up sufficient memory and dislike of the object and the feeling associated with it. The memory which seems to come unbidden and out of the blue is brought back through our senses: sight sound, taste, smell and feeling. The feeling is the prime mover in the persons discomfort, this anxiety has been created by the original non-self-helping (irrational belief. The sufferer then usually produces another irrational belief such as I should not have this feeling! Thereby consolidating the memory and original belief.

Ironically the memory when it arises is most vulnerable to change at the very time that we dislike, so by fighting or demanding the memory/feeling should not, must not be there reinforces it.  In short, every time the doorbell rings the dog barks, I shout at the dog, and he barks louder the next time the doorbell rings!

The original irrational belief will probably be along the lines of I must control this thing that gave me a fright and if not, it is awful!  Trying too hard to control the uncontrollable!

With social settings the stakes are exceptionally high as the person does not want to look foolish in front of others.  We as humans are essentially prey animals so we avoid or fight things we dislike and become fearful of looking foolish.  Self-esteem contaminating self-worth.  Our human entity is now being defined by what others think.

A cognitive disputing technique is to ask that if it is really important what others think, then if I think you are a crocodile does that make you one?!

The way forward for solving this nasty vicious cycle is knowledge and understanding of this, then followed up with a program of action.

I encourage my clients to see themselves as a scientist and that the world is their laboratory and go into situations to practice flexing the rational self-helping muscle.  Not testing as that is pass or fail and that is conditional.

Moving demands that I must not look foolish, I must keep the conversation going, I must not have a confrontation etc and reduce this “PhD” of self-criticism into a “diploma” or preference and if not “too bad” attitude.

I encourage the person in to using the same amount of energy into bigging themselves up as they are to putting themselves down.

I ask clients that if there was a plank of wood a foot wide lying on the floor, and I offered you a £1000 to walk across it without losing your balance what would you say?  No problem is the reply. “What if” there was a pit of snakes under the plank I ask?  That’s different is the reply.  All that has really changed is that you have moved your attention from the plank of wood to the pit of snakes, that proves nothing except you can move your attention!

When you enter a social setting, tell yourself that it is a splendid opportunity to focus on the plank of wood and not the pit of snakes and to express yourself with good body language, good voice tonality, good eye contact and your memory easily recalls what it is you wish to say.

As Oscar Wilde said:

Enjoy being you as because everyone else is taken!

Phobias Hypnotherapy can help you:

• Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy from my Chilvern Cottage practice in Edinburgh

The consultation and first session which is inclusive and combines Hypnotherapy Edinburgh & Cognitive Therapy (see: www.ellisrebt.com) & a generic Hypnotherapy download.

Remember, hypnotherapy is a powerful tool, but it's always best to work with a qualified professional.

Cancellation policy: require 48 hours notice otherwise full fee is payable.