Sarah contacted me with a couple of acute fears that were affecting her – spiders and heights. Sometimes different phobias can stem from the same source but for Sarah this was not the case and we decided to treat each separately, starting with the spiders.
For Sarah, it was not just ‘spiders’ but there were a number of factors that influenced the degree of phobic response – this included colour, the proportion of body to legs and whether they were moving or not. She was adamant that she did not want to kill them but learn to
live harmoniously with them.
With her fear of heights, there was a very specific memory that had caused a trauma based response that allowed us to use a couple of very effective techniques to address this memory.
Sarah had a total of 4 sessions.
The first was the chemistry session that builds the foundation for the work and also teaches a very effective way of learning to relax – a skill
that is beneficial to everyone.
We addressed the spiders in one session, heights in another and then had one further session to address a few more criteria that had popped up around spiders that meant she was not quite where she wanted to be with them.
In that 4th session we also added in a lovely exercise that takes the use of mental power up another notch too.
Heights
Sarah had the perfect opportunity to test out her fear of heights when in Rome and going up an old rampart wall. She stood at the top looking over and felt nothing more than a little nervousness. Her husband could not believe it at first and also said that when he looked down at the huge drop, he felt the same nerves – a very natural and normal response to real risk but a mile away from her previous situation of not even being able to get close to the edge.
Spiders
With our 8 legged friends, she had seen them on TV and actually said they were beautiful.
She’d had one on her foot with no response and could now easily go into a room with one in.
In Sarah’s own words:
“The sessions with Caroline have been a very positive experience and incredibly rewarding. Caroline made me feel relaxed and comfortable from the start, and her calm, kind and empathic personality made it very easy to trust her. I particularly liked
hearing about the scientific basis for hypnotherapy, as this gave real credence to the process for a logical, rational thinker like me. And, after years of struggling with my fears, I am now enjoying my new freedom from anxiety and better sleep into the bargain. Caroline is a
brilliant therapist and I cannot recommend her highly enough.”
If you are struggling with an acute fear, even if not as common as these, know that the process works. Let’s chat about how it could work for you.
Amanda contacted me after years of struggling with eating and was wondering if hypnotherapy could help with her difficulty in swallowing. It was steadily getting worse to the point she was genuinely fearful for the future. She was aware that it was not physical as she could eat breakfast with relative ease (always eating the same thing). Lunch was more of an issue. But by dinner time, eating had become a huge source of stress.
She had experienced something similar in her early 20s but her GP had been very dismissive. Over time, the symptoms had resolved on their own. This time, she was aware that this was not going away and she had to do something about it. She thought hypnotherapy may help.
Another big motivator for her was the fear of passing the behaviour on to her two children. She had started to notice one of her children also starting to struggle at dinner times.
Amanda had just two sessions which were both conducted online. The first is what I call the chemistry session which is designed to help clients decide if my approach works for them. It is a slow start but facilitates a quicker finish.
We then did just one therapeutic session where several memories popped up of having choked on sweets as a child. We used one simple but powerful therapeutic technique under hypnosis that allowed Amanda’s mind to recognise that whilst the risk was real at the time, that time has passed and no longer posed a threat.
Amanda also received a personalised recording that she could use to further embed the therapeutic work we did in the session.
When following up with Amanda just a few days after the second session she was ‘delighted’ with the results. Meals were now enjoyable and she was embracing her love of food.
Hypnotherapy is a powerful form of therapy and time and time again, can help resolve issues that have been detracting from people’s quality of life in a very short period of time.
If you are experiencing something that is detracting from your enjoyment of life, let’s chat
Lesley had had a fear of birds for as long as she could remember. They had a home in Spain but she was unable to sit outside to eat and enjoy the glorious weather for fear of a bird coming down in search of crumbs. Whilst her partner was understanding, it was placing a real strain on what should be very relaxing breaks. She had heard that hypnotherapy helped with a fear of birds.
What was fascinating was that Lesley would happily feed the ducks with her grandchildren – the rationale being, they didn’t fly! This helped us to narrow down on the likelihood that it was a traumatic experience that had created the phobia. But not one that she was consciously aware of.
And this is where hypnotherapy is so powerful – it works at the level of the subconscious where memories are often buried.
Lesley was familiar with my work and had been hypnotised before. So we jumped straight in and it took just one session. Her mind took her back to a very early experience of being in a pram, swaddled up and put outside for a midday sleep. A crow had landed on the handle bar. Her mind was still using that reference to determine that you become powerless with birds that fly – and that reference was triggering the same fear all those years on.
Using a very simple therapeutic technique, we helped her mind understand that she was no longer a swaddled baby and that the reality is birds are now more scared of you! And if you don’t want them near, a simple wave of the arm and they are off.
After just one session she opened her eyes and said, “Find me a ‘bleep’ pigeon!
She left my house (where no pigeons were obligingly nearby) and that afternoon sent me a picture of her standing in a town centre (much like Trafalgar square) surrounded by pigeons.
Hypnotherapy is very effective at dealing with phobias of all types. Many people suffer needlessly due to embarrassment or believing they can never change. Lesley managed to make the change 50 years after the phobic reaction was set up. It needn’t be that way! For more information, please do get in touch.
Sabrina had given up smoking on a couple of occasions before but always drifted back to it. So our work to ensure a longer term success was to find motivations to end the habit once and for all.
Sabrina has teenage children and in the natural course of life, they were becoming more independent the desire to spend quality time with them when they were at home was paramount- no more sneaking off for a quick puff!
Also, she was very aware of how smoking reduced here energy levels and her ability to really enjoy her other habit – running.
And a further significant motivator was the recognition of how smoking was controlling her. She felt ‘like a slave to cigarettes’ with the addictive powers consuming thoughts and defining behaviours. “Thoughts of when I could have my next cigarette were constantly on my mind,” she said.
In our preliminary chat, we also uncovered a subconscious belief, “Smoking is always going to be my weakness.”
Such beliefs are powerful in defining our behaviours, but beliefs are just thoughts that have been repeated many times. Beliefs can be changed. And therefore, this became an important part of the therapeutic work.
The approach to stop smoking is a two part process. The first establishes all the reasons to stop smoking and all the potential barriers to success. I also give the client a really good understanding of what happens neurologically when we perform habitual behaviour. It creates the foundation we then build on in the therapeutic session.
This second session is a more intensive 2-2.5 hour session where we use a range of very powerful techniques to change the mental association with the smoking.
Sabrina was also given a personalised recording to listen to post the session that helped embed the work that we did and included a relaxation process that helps address the chemical addiction element of smoking progress more quickly too.
In a message from Sabrina a month following the therapeutic session, she said “Since our work, I am off cigarettes. Our work has been successful and I am really pleased.”
If people are to return to smoking, they will normally have done so within a 2 week period.
Whilst Sabrina is now a smoker who no longer smokes (she can never be a non-smoker) her chances of never picking up a cigarette again and potentially even higher as she is not using ‘willpower’ to not smoke, but has changed her deep psychological relationship with smoking.
Hypnotherapy is very effective at dealing with smoking cessation of all types. If you would like more information on this, or any form of addiction based habits, let’s have a chat.
Joanna’s motivation to overcome her phobia was her children. Due to her fear of flying, her sons had not flown before but both were due to be going away independently over the summer and she wanted them to feel confident in flying – so she had to be too!!
Like most people who have this phobia, it not only makes the trip itself difficult, but will impact them for days and often weeks before the flight is due, and then also effect the holiday as the fear of flying rises again for the home leg.
Also, very similar to others, Joanna did not really understand where her fear had come from, her fears had just escalated over the years.
Phobias are typically very responsive to hypnotherapy and Joanna used the ‘deep dive’ process that I’ve developed over the years to effectively treat these acute fears. It is a 2.5-3 hour session where we use a range of very powerful techniques to change the mental association with the fear. Whilst intensive, it works!
Joanna was also given a personalised recording to listen to post the session that helped embed the work that we did and could be used to help reinstate a sense of calm at any point.
Joanna sent me photos from her flight out. She was listening to the recording, smiling and felt calm, as did her two sons. The younger of the two had expressed some concerns but by her staying calm, it really helped him too.
She can now relax when they go off on their own separate adventures over the summer and can also now plan her own next trips knowing that flights will never need to hold her back again.
In Joanne’s words, “I am amazed at how something I had struggled with for so long was dealt with so quickly. I really wish I had dealt with this sooner but am now looking forward to be able to plan holidays anywhere I choose to go in the future.”
Hypnotherapy is very effective at dealing with phobias of all types. Many people suffer needlessly due to embarrassment or believing they can never change. It needn’t be that way! For more information, please do get in touch.
Emma had had a fear of flying for years. The days before a flight would be affected by the increasing anxiety. She would study the weather forecast each day for the location and the destination airport and would work out how she could refuse to get on the plane if the forecast was not good.
She could never relax in the airport and during the flight itself, her husband’s hands would be squeezed to death!! And then the whole thing would start again on the days before the return flight, impacting on the fun and enjoyment of every holiday.
Phobias are very responsive to hypnotherapy and Emma used the ‘deep dive’ process that has been developed over the years to effectively treat these acute fears. It is a 2.5-3 hour session where we use a range of very powerful techniques to change the mental association with the fear – flying in Emma’s case.
Emma was also given a personalised recording to listen to post the session that helped reinforce the work that we did and could be used to help reinstate a sense of calm at any point. She continued to use some of the tools from that recording which worked well for her during the flight.
Emma’s text’s to me evidence her experience. Here are the messages received from her after her outbound journey and return journeys:
“I made the flight in one piece with Steve saying he had never ever known me so calm. I have to say it as an amazing thing not to be experiencing the churning stomach and need to not be totally sober. We even had a long delay on the tarmac and then a flight taking off before us who had to declare an emergency. Normally I’d have been in internal panic but not this time. Even the turbulence didn’t worry me; I actually finished my book!”
“…Even when towards the end of the flight it was announced we were entering thunderstorm activity, I didn’t go into panic mode at all and Steve’s circulation was intact. Not once did I fixate on the 35,000 ft between me and the ground. Honestly it’s been a revelation, I can’t believe the difference.”
Hypnotherapy is very effective at dealing with phobias of all types. Many people suffer needlessly due to embarrassment or believing they can never change. It needn’t be that way! For more information, please do get in touch.
R had a challenging entry into the world resulting in many invasive medical procedures and a full bone marrow transplant aged 7. On-going physiological conditions have meant that regular treatments continue to be a necessity. One of these is related to the need for regular flushing of the ears but for R, anything being put inside the ear is unbearable, resulting in R needing to be held down and the treatment taking a long time and traumatic for all.
R’s Mum contacted me to see what we could do to help her relax and explore whether self hypnosis could make these treatments endurable for R.
Due to them living overseas, all sessions were undertaken over zoom.
With younger children (R was 11) finding the triggers is important, whilst also creating anchors for them to use. One of R’s triggers was talking about her ears, so we referred to them as ‘milkshakes’ and changed the anxiety into something funny as we decided which flavour we were working with that day! Her anchors were around some cuddly toys, using heightened awareness of sensations in her hands to create the sense of control and safety.
In the first session we used a technique of dissociation – taking her mind to a place where she felt safe and she could see herself in the treatment room but not associate with it. Over a total of 4 therapeutic sessions, we continued to overlap sessions with treatments. To support R, we also created a personalised recording that she could listen to on the way to her treatments which also helped her to relax.
The following was received by R’s Mum:
“Thank you so so much. She was like a different child. It went really well and best of all her ears feel really nice now, she says, so she’ll look forward to the next one!
Thank you for everything- really. Words aren’t enough.”
And from R herself (albeit a little edited!!)….
“THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today went brilliantly, I listened to the special video you made me on the way there and in the waiting room. When I went in, mum practically had to push me in because I was so sleepy. And luckily there was only Dr Dani and Mum with me so that helped a bit more. Then Dr Dani started and it was very easy and I had one ear phone in the other ear, still listening to my special recording.
Then we hoovered out the first ( her description of the treatment) and I was able to stay still!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for helping me get to this point Caroline, you have helped me soooo much.”
Hypnotherapy cannot only help overcome previous traumas but also help you face challenges in the future that cannot be avoided. For more information, please do get in touch.
At 14 years old, O was struggling with friendship issues – something not uncommon to early teenage years but for her, it was affecting her sleep, her motivation and leading to heightened levels of anxiety. Her self esteem and confidence were being eroded.
Hypnosis is something that teenagers tend to respond to in a rather ‘marmite’ way – they either love it or hate it. The first session is always a gentle session, giving the teen the opportunity to learn more about the process and experience hypnosis without having to pour their heart out in front of a relative stranger. This provides a platform that we can then build on.
In the first therapeutic session, O was able to revisit previous experiences and see them from a new perspective. This allowed her to see ‘ring leaders’ in a new way and her role in the interactions. This new understanding allowed her to feel a sense of control once more.
O returned to Boarding School after one therapeutic session. Two weeks on, I received the following email from her Mum.
“I am delighted to say that things at school seem to be going very well. I have had no tears on the phone and she seems genuinely happy.
O has mentioned that she thinks it is a combination of the girls are being more pleasant and when things have been said she is able to take it as nothing more than a comment and she hasn’t taken it to heart and allowed it to upset her – fabulous!”
At the end of a full term at school O wrote,
“Hypnotherapy has helped me to form better and effective coping strategies and has helped me improve relationships with my friends. Thank you for helping me.”
How we feel inside can often be picked up by others. This can result in those who are feeling vulnerable becoming targets to bullies. By creating a sense of empowerment, it changes this vulnerability leading to different interactions and this is what O experienced. And in addition, even when comments are passed, she has the self confidence to acknowledge they are just an opinion and she can choose whether she takes it on board or not!
Whilst this is a common scenario for teenagers, a lack of self-esteem and confidence is seen in adults too, leading to them being vulnerable to those that delight in preying on perceived weakness. O has demonstrated that this can be resolved relatively quickly leading to a different quality of life.
If you would like to know more about how hpynotherapy could help you, let’s chat
Katherine had been struggling with spiders for years. During most of the year it was something that caused her discomfort, however she dreaded the autumn months knowing that there was a high likelihood of her going into a room and finding one.
Her main motivation to address her phobia however, was the fear of passing it on to her children. This was a very realistic fear as often phobias are learned behaviour, passed from generation to generation.
Katherine elected to do a ‘deep dive session’ – an extended session where we use 3 key therapeutic tools that are proven to be effective with acute anxiety. We start the session by paving the way – learning about the science behind hypnosis and developing awareness of how the mind works. This can be very powerful in recognising that a phobia is not an illness, but more of a mental hypervigilance to protect.
Katherine commented, “I didn’t fully understand hypnotherapy before seeing Caroline and wasn’t sure how successful it would be. Caroline fully explained everything.”
Many people have an impression of hypnosis developed from seeing stage shows or films. This can lead to a fear of loss of control or lack of awareness. So we spend time to dispel these myths and gain clarity on what hypnosis actually is – in Katherine’s words, “A deep state of relaxation.”
After the session, Katherine left with an optimism that she certainly felt different. She quickly had exposure when a spider was on her son and she did not react in the way she would have done previously.
“I have noticed that I am already more confident at dealing with spiders and I am more conscious of my thought processes around spiders and my reaction to them.”
Katherine was also given a personalised recording that has two key objectives: It helps develop the ability to relax which can reduce generalised stress and anxiety, and it also builds on the tools used in the session to help embed that work. Whilst the autumn was a few months away from our work together, using it will help maintain this changed mindset, however Katherine added, “It is still early days and the true test will be in the autumn but I already feel I have more tools to deal with the 8-legged creatures!”
Phobias tend to respond really well to hypnotherapy. People often do not get help for them as they feel embarrassed at their reaction to what they consciously know is not dangerous. However, a professional will help you understand how your mind is working and work sensitively with you to reduce and potentially remove your phobia. It you would like more information, please get in touch for an informal chat.
A was just 9 years old and experiencing high levels of anxiety around loud noises. At school, special steps were having to be taken every week during the fire alarm test which was escalating to A not wanting to go into school on that day. Her anxiety was also spreading, leading to distress around the risk of car alarms going off and even her sibling’s noisy toys if they did not have an on/off switch.
A’s experience follows a typical pattern of anxiety and escalation. In children however, this escalation can be quicker than in adults.
The age of a child is less relevant than their mental maturity. In the first session we take small steps to identify if hypnosis is an approach that they can embrace.
A took to the approach easily and quickly and after just one session she was already showing signs of having changed her mental association with noise. I then sent A a recording to help her learn to relax and feel more in control with the recommendation to use this as often as possible and definitely on Tuesday mornings before school.
After just one session I received the following email from her Mum.
“She has had a breakthrough and it is completely down to talking to you. Before seeing you she had to leave the school and wait on the field, last week she stood in the room while they set the alarm off!! I am so grateful to you.”
Deeming that progress was being made, we decided to continue to use the recording and then test out the other triggers for her anxiety.
“She isn’t as anxious about other noises now either like car alarms and is no longer having a complete meltdown when her brother plays with noisy toys, she asks him to stop but in a controlled manner,” added Mum.
Not every young child is a perfect candidate for hypnosis however equally, results such as those as A received are achievable and A now has an awareness of risk that will also be with her as she moves forward and faces other challenges as she grows up.
If you are not sure if your child is a good candidate for hypnotherapy, please get in touch for an informal chat and we can take it from there.