Frequently patients enquire about clinical hypnosis for stopping smoking, losing weight and putting them off chocolate!!! (miracles cost a little more). The therapy has even gained fame for regression, building confidence and treating phobia’s, however I discover new ways of applying this remarkable therapy everyday. With kind permission of those Lavington surgery patients concerned, although I have omitted the names, I shall relate yet another use for hypnotherapy.

            I was approached by a patient recently who was due to have an MRI scan. As we have all done with unknown experiences my patient listened to several accounts of this procedure ranging from mildly anxiety provoking all the way through to complete terror. She obviously found a sense of fear and anxiety taking hold. Quite unfounded really as this was to be her first encounter of this procedure and so she had no actual experience on which to base her concerns, however this is often also the case for many phobic patients. In electing which treatment to use I therefore initially elected to take the approach of hypno-desensitisation In order to assist me to ‘treat’ her. I asked one of her friends who had a great deal of experience of this procedure, and who had managed to de-sensitise herself to a degree that was workable to write a detailed account of the machine, the room and the procedure. In working with the desensitisation technique it is essential to have as much detail as possible, my patient however did not read the account as I did not want to ‘colour’ her view before we began.
Reading the account confirmed how feelings of fear can grow out of proportion when we are already anxious and vulnerable. This account really helped with preparing my patient both before and within trance, as we were able to discuss her points of concern and ‘re-frame’ them with a more positive view. One thing my patient found particularly useful was the knowledge that feelings of ‘panic’ come from our own ‘fight or flight’ response which releases our own defence mechanism in the hormone Adrenalin. She was amazed to discover that all her physical anxiety symptoms were a normal physiological response to the release of this hormone and was most relieved to know she was not about to die of a heart attack after all. In fact we even thought about times when she had been excited by something pleasant and noticed the similarity in that physiological effect.

            In ‘cave-man’ days, when that wild boar began their attack the physical response to Adrenalin release was to RUN or fight and so utilise that Adrenalin in order to give energy to our major muscle groups, these days we are far less likely to meet a wild boar than a wild ‘boss’. Unfortunately with a wild boss although we could choose to run we do not and generally speaking are unable to beat them with a club unless we want to be charged with GBH. So our physical response does not come and that Adrenalin has nowhere to go unless we do decide to run (another reason why exercise is so good for us) and as a result there is often a build up which results in a constantly high-level of Adrenalin. This means there is a bit of an over-spill, which results in feelings of panic every time we encounter a minor stress. The feelings of panic can then begin to turn that minor stress into a major stress, fear or phobia.
In hypnosis we work with the system in the body that naturally counteracts the Adrenalin response, the ‘parasympathetic’ nervous system, which restores balance and so can bring about a very effective feeling of calm and peace. Once this feeling is achieved in the session of hypnosis and practised through self-hypnosis the unconscious mind stores it and brings it out whenever it is needed, so the next wild boss you encounter you simply take a deep breath and
Relaxxxxxxx…….

            Anyway my patient had her scan and phoned me later the same day to tell me what a positive and interesting experience it had been, she found that she had managed to close her eyes and recall the pictures that are in my treatment room and had then heard my voice helping to calm her. I’m sure the sceptics out there will say she may have felt that way even without hypnosis and I am in total agreement, indeed she only had ‘one’ session. However for the flight phobic who actually manages to fly, feeling in control of their own physiological responses and relaxed or for the dental phobic patient who not only manages to sit in the dentists chair but also has treatment whilst drifting away on a beach, their fear has been very real and powerful and they are very well aware of the huge change that has taken place. So when enquiring about clinical hypnosis if the problem involves the way you think or feel about something or someone then it may be interesting to find

‘ with a change of mind you can change your life’.

Hilary Field RGN, RSCN, RM, D.Hyp, PDCHyp, MBSCH.