When 27-year-old Claire (not her real name) walked into my office for a consultation, she was clearly in bad shape. She had been living most of her life in the vice-like grip of a fear she could not control – the fear of heights – and after a series of failed attempts at traditional treatment (psychotherapy mostly), she was desperate for relief. Hypnotherapy, she hoped, would be the answer.tn pas cher
Claire reported having this fear of heights from the time she was 5 years old, and was actually able to pinpoint the exact moment it began. Her family had gone on a vacation to the Grand Canyon, and while everyone stood at the guardrail, looking out in awe at the surreal view, Claire was struck by a sudden, uncontrollable sense of panic. She felt shaky, her heart rate spiked, and she had difficulty breathing. What was worse, there was nothing she could do to escape the fear.
For the next 22 years of her life, Claire suffered similar attacks. Whenever she would look out the window of a tall building, or drive along the edge of a seaside highway, or climb beyond the second rung of a ladder – even looking down from the second floor at the shopping mall, Claire was overwhelmed by the fear of falling, consumed by an uncontrollable urge to flee. The situation reached a breaking point, however, on her honeymoon. Claire and her new husband were staying in a high-rise hotel, and she simply tried to take in the view from their balcony – when a full-fledged panic attack set in. It was at that point, on the cusp of starting a new life with the man she loved, that Claire was finally determined to rid herself of the phobia that was controlling her life.
Claire was exhibiting the classic symptoms of Acrophobia, the clinical term for a fear of heights. While Psychologists have identified the fear of falling as one of nature’s innate fears – key to our biological survival – a phobia is quite different. It is defined as an irrational fear, an uncontrollable, excessive, unrealistic and/or illogical reaction to an object or circumstance. The phobia may manifest itself as hyperventilation, sweating, dizziness or nausea (or all of the above, as in Claire’s case); and though a number of people suffer these symptoms quietly on a daily basis, more and more are finding that professional treatment is the only solution. Hypnotherapy – because it deals with anxiety triggers on a subconscious level, where they originate – has quickly become the ideal treatment option for millions like Claire, who are desperate to relieve (or completely eliminate) these crippling fears and phobic responses.nike tn pas cher
The first thing I educated Claire on was the importance of eating a healthy diet to maintain constant blood sugar levels, thereby minimizing the chances of having a panic reaction. Most people don’t realize that phobias are often initially created when a sudden drop in blood sugar causes feelings of nervousness, dizziness, trembling, nausea, clammy or sweaty skin and anxiety. These symptoms simulate the Fight-or-Flight response, which in turn floods the body with adrenaline. This is a useful survival mechanism when we are presented with life-or-death situations, providing our bodies with the necessary chemicals to fend off real threats, or run from dangerous situations. However, a person having a phobic response has subconsciously learned to misidentify a neutral situation as a perceived threat. Each time the phobic person encounters the same or similar situation, the subconscious kicks in and reminds the body that this is a “real danger.” Eventually, this reaction begins to occur in a multitude of situations, driving the phobic person to even greater anxiety, because they can’t anticipate if or when the debilitating symptoms will flare up. In severe cases, people have taken to avoiding all potentially “threatening” situations – leading to a condition known as Agoraphobia, the inability to leave home for fear of having a panic attack.
After discussing the impact that our diets have on the subconscious, Claire and I began exploring the different scenarios in which she would experience mild anxiety to full blown panic. I had Claire rate her fear on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst fear possible. She reported a baseline feeling of “about an 8” whenever she so much as thought about a “threatening” situation. Clearly it was time to give her relief.
Claire was already very suggestible, as most people with phobias are, so she went into hypnosis easily. First, I guided her on an imagery journey to her “Special Place,” a location in her mind where she felt relaxed, peaceful and at ease. For Claire, this was a lush meadow, with a delicate stream running through. After exploring these surroundings and feeling comfortable for a while, Claire was ready for the next step. Systematic Desensitization is a technique designed to release anxiety and replace it with feelings of relaxation. In hypnosis, the client first imagines feeling very comfortable, then is given suggestions to remain relaxed in situations that are progressively more anxiety provoking. Feelings of relaxation dominate, and the fear response is desensitized because relaxation and anxiety cannot exist at the same time. I gave Claire the suggestion in hypnosis that “Whenever you begin to experience anxiety, the mind and body will immediately trigger a calm, comfortable feeling of well-being and safety” – and we had laid the foundation for her treatment.
Claire came back in the following week for her second session, and she was already showing signs of progress. She had made a few modifications to her diet, reported thinking about the fear less often, and reassessed her baseline level on the 1-to-10 scale – she was down to a 6. A notable improvement, but there was still much work to be done.
I introduced the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) in the second session. EFT was developed by Gary Craig and is based on Dr. Roger Callahan’s theory that negative emotions are caused by disturbances in the body's energy field. Tapping on specific energy meridians (much like acupuncture without needles) while thinking of a negative emotion alters the body's energy field, restoring it to "balance." After a few rounds of EFT, I continued to guide Claire through desensitizing her fears in hypnosis, beginning with the lesser ones and building up to the more anxiety-producing ones. At the end of the session, Claire felt confident enough to “test out” her fear that week. I reminded her to practice her EFT techniques daily on her own and sent her out to face the world. She called the next day to report that she made it to the 8th rung of a ladder before she began to experience anxiety. Her husband had been watching, and was in awe of her progress. Claire also reported feeling at “about a 3” now with her fear of heights, and was motivated to try a bigger test to see how she would react.
That week, Claire visited the 20th floor of an office building, went out onto the balcony and peered over the railing at the ground far below. She was slightly nervous at first, but a “voice in her head” kept reminding her that she couldn’t have two opposite feelings at the same time, and she was now choosing to feel calm and confident (all suggestions given to her while in hypnosis).
After two more sessions of Hypnotherapy, Claire reported feeling only “normal” amounts of cautious fear. She was down to a baseline level of 2 on our 1-to-10 scale, and no longer thought of herself as having an irrational fear of heights. Not only did she feel incredibly happy and proud of herself for the progress she had made, she also noticed a drastic improvement in her confidence level. She was managing stress in her work and personal life more effectively than ever before.
With this new sense of freedom and self-assuredness, Claire was excited about what the future held. And as we finished our final session together, she thanked me, then set out to go hiking with her husband in the mountains – something she had only dreamed of before now.
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