Phobia

Often when a client comes to see me about their phobia they will openly state that they feel the fear is irrational. They know that there is no real threat to their safety, yet something is preventing them from rationalising the situation. Some of the problem people with phobias have is that the feeling and memory of an incident becomes lodged in the subconscious mind. When it resides there, hypnotherapy becomes a very effective technique for dislodging it so it can be rationalised. A client I saw recently had a phobia of rats, she knows that they are not everywhere, she knows that they are unlikely to hurt her and she even knows that the phobia is probably connected to an abusive ex-partner who used to threaten to keep rats. Even so, her phobia became more and more problematic as she ruminated upon her fear, to the extent that she was finding it hard to leave the house. We used a persepctive technique while in trance that allowed her to remove herself from the phobic situation while observing it, which allowed her to be an impassive observer. This is one of several methods that can can be used during hypnotherapy, both allowing the client to objectify their fear and communication with the subconscious. Depending on the severity of the phobia, hypnotherapy treatment length can be anywhere between one and seven sessions.

#phobia #hypnotherapy