Exposure Therapy

You can also use any of your hypnosis sessions for exposure therapy if you wish. This can only be arranged after one or two hypnosis sessions and may require a double session depending on the time required. It involves using your session for a brief hypnosis before going into a situation that has previously been visualised. EG for an agoraphobic perhaps a short walk to the shop or park. I can accompany you and we can work in some alert hypnosis to help you through it.

This is highly effective when used alongside hypnotherapy, giving you confidence that you are making progress and that you will be able to change your life for the better and break free from fear. Facing your fear with support gives you such a boost of confidence moving you forward in therapy to a life without restriction, without fear, without phobias.

How many sessions are usually required?

The number of sessions varies from person to person. A lot depends of how much progress you make in each session and how deep seated the phobia is. About four sessions would be expected in most cases. Occasionally, in severe cases this process can take much longer, especially if the phobia also involves panic attacks. It is very important that you do not abandon the course of treatment with impatience for results, in very ingrained long standing phobias significant changes and improvement might not be gained immediately but once the changes begin to occur the path ahead becomes clearer and greater progress can be made.

A good hypnotherapist will offer an initial free consultation for you in order to discuss your problem and explain how therapy would proceed. If your phobia is making it difficult for you to lead a normal life. If the phobia seems to be getting worse, if it stops you doing normal things and interferes with your enjoyment of life it is probably time to talk to someone about it. If you experience high levels of stress or anxiety on a regular basis as a result of this phobia or suffer with panic attack because of your phobia then it is time to seek help to improve your quality of life.

The way to get over a phobia is to expose yourself to the feared object or situation and manage the anxiety levels, decreasing them to a manageable level. It is possible to do this on your own, you do not need therapy, but it is necessary to have a plan, to work through gradually from easy situations to hard ones through the hierarchy of gradual desensitisation and to take it at a steady pace. There are self help books which may be useful.

Phobia: Subject Index