Medical Crisis Overload

 

I spend a lot of time observing human behavior in the context of how my hypnotherapy clients behave and interact with others and deal with crises that occur in their environment. Recently, concern about contracting a devastating illness such as Ebola or Human Enterovirus-68 has been distracting and distressing a lot of people. It is interesting to me that while the likelihood of contracting Human Enterovirus-68 is a more immediate “threat” for citizens in the United States, there is greater concern about Ebola.

Indeed, the recent news that a Liberian man who was visiting his fiancée in Texas had to be admitted into a Texas hospital with this diagnosis has overwhelmed and terrified a lot of people. It was one thing when several American aid workers contracted the disease overseas and were brought home for treatment. But the idea that someone could and actually did bring a deadly and contagious disease into the United States, well, that dose of reality has been hard to process. Meanwhile, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outline strategies to contain the disease and manage/treat it, questions and anxiety-levels remain high. So, too, is the potential for heightened suggestibility that could induce a trance-like state and possibly hinder our ability to identify and respond to an actual (versus a perceived) health threat.

According to John Kappas, Ph.D., hypnosis occurs when message units overwhelm and disorganize our critical mind, which trigger the fight-flight response and triggers a hyper-suggestible state that provides access to the subconscious mind. For example, constant bombardment of information about the lethal nature and symptoms of this disease, plus statistics about how it can (and cannot) be transmitted, increases our anxiety and intensifies our suggestible state. The fact that contraction of Ebola is “unknown” in America and few people here have a subconscious mental script for dealing with it makes the disease seem all the more frightening. Meanwhile, Enterovirus-68 can and has been lethal in several cases but people seem better able to deal with and even accept those symptoms. Perhaps people’s comparative acceptance of that virus stems from the fact that it manifests like a common chest infection—a subconscious known which most people survive—and isn’t accompanied by excessive bleeding, the disturbing symptom for which Ebola is known.

According to the CDC, you must have direct contact with bodily fluids of someone who has the disease to get sick. If you believe that you have had such contact and are experiencing symptoms of the disease, seek medical help immediately to verify and treat the illness or rule it out as a diagnosis. If you continue to feel overwhelmed with anxiety about your likelihood of contracting it, follow CDC recommendations and advice about how to protect yourself from Ebola. I also recommend that you “count yourself out” of the hyper-suggestible state of anxiety whenever you notice that you are or have become preoccupied about becoming ill. To do this, say to yourself: “One, two, three, four, five, eyes open [say your name], wide awake and no longer in a suggestible state.”

As a certified hypnotherapist, it is out of my scope of expertise to diagnose an illness or to recognize/identify specific symptoms that have a psychological or physiological basis. Therefore, I do and will refer clients to an appropriate licensed medical or psychology professional to determine the cause and/or treat that specific physical symptom that. However, once this other expert has ruled out a medical etiology of your symptom, with a follow-up referral from that licensed professional, I can continue to work with you in hypnotherapy, which can provide complementary therapeutic benefits and help to alleviate and/or control these symptoms and help you to pursue and achieve your vocational and avocational self-improvement goals.

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014