Hypnotherapy, Low-Blood Sugar Levels and Agoraphobia

Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D. believed that agoraphobia—a dysfunctional disorder that stems from a fear of loss of control—is strongly associated with and but could even be also be exacerbated by low blood-sugar levels. According to the hypnotherapist, agoraphobia typically starts as one type of fear, such as fear of the dark or a fear of being alone or a fear of certain animals, and then generalizes to other anxieties and issues. 

Like other fears and phobias, the person doesn’t associate his or her anxiety with what is going on in the environment versus what they eat. Physical and psychological symptoms of agoraphobia can include heart palpitations, panic, memory problems, depression, confusion and even suicidal ideation. Food that contains high levels of sugar or carbohydrates, drinking alcohol or caffeinated beverages can elevate blood-sugar levels and exacerbate these symptoms until the individual becomes virtually immobilized by his or her fears.

“[Low blood sugar] can come on after stress,” Dr. Kappas said. “The fear reaction can create blood-sugar problems, resulting in phobic reaction onsets later.”

Agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) is often associated with a sudden drop in blood-sugar level, he explained. When this happens, the body automatically “defends” itself by substituting adrenaline for glucose (sugar). The bloodstream carries and delivers this hormone to the organs, muscles and glands to activate the fight/flight or survival response. When blood-sugar levels are low, it is common to experience various physical symptoms such as nervousness, anxiety, dizziness or nausea; in extreme cases, you may have a panic attack or even faint. Meanwhile, your subconscious mind automatically attaches significance to whatever you are doing or even your location when this discomfort sets in, and the phobia is born.

Hypnotherapy can be an effective treatment for agoraphobia with which to “unlearn” and change or replace these unwanted fear and phobia behaviors. In hypnosis, the hypnotherapist should address the client’s eating habits and encourages dietary changes that include more protein and fewer carbohydrates/sugars in the nutrition plan. Dr. Kappas also advised using systematic desensitization and relaxation techniques to reduce the client’s hyper-suggestibility to rewrite the client’s subconscious mental script about these generalized fears.

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/.

© 2016

April Showers

Photo courtesy of Midnight

“April showers bring May flowers…”

I forget the rest of the lines to that saying, or maybe there aren’t any. Anyway, spring flowers are growing like gangbusters in Southern California right now, as they have been since mid-February. Although strong, El Nino-fueled weather systems were predicted to hit California this year, most of the heavy rain (and “wintry feeling) headed up to and stayed in Northern California, Oregon, Washington and the western coast of Canada. Instead, grass, weeds and early blooms started blooming much earlier than usual. Even Death Valley National Park has been treated to a carpet of beautiful desert blossoms.

The unusual weather has also produced a phenomenon that I can’t remember experiencing since I was a student in London: April showers. I vividly remember the first time I was caught in one of those unexpected (to me) and unusual deluges. A friend and I were chatting in a park when the clear blue sky opened up and heavy drops of rain started to pelt down. For a woman who grew up in Southern California, this phenomenon definitely counted as a subconscious “unknown.” There was nothing in my conscious mind or subconscious experience—I knew you need clouds to produce rain!—that prepared me for that moment. Rain didn’t happen in Southern California unless there were plenty of clouds around. My friend just smiled at my bewildered expression and reassured me that it was just an April shower and would stop in a minute or so. Which it did, and then started again a little while later. From that day I learned to accept and expect rain to come down anytime and anywhere, including from a clear blue sky. Since I like rain and changes in weather, it was kind of fun to be in on Mother Nature’s annual seasonal joke.

To be honest, I hadn’t thought much about April showers until this February. My sister and I were coming back from a walk around her neighborhood when plump drops of water once again started to fall from a clear, blue sky. There were a few heavy rain-clouds nearby but definitely not overhead; nonetheless, we were in the middle of an “April shower.” Like me two decades previously, my sister looked completely puzzled and disbelieving as she gazed at the sky. “There aren’t even any clouds!” she said.

I was treated to another April shower earlier this afternoon when I was at the barn, grooming my horse. Once again, there were some heavy clouds in the distance but overhead the sky was blue and spitting tiny drops of water. Galahad cocked a hind foot and nickered softly as I ran the shedding blade over his coat. I knew that the light shower would make his hair stick to my skin and clothes, but I didn’t care. It would be April in two days and these showers were a beloved rite of spring that I came to enjoy when I lived in England.

Anyway, all those spring blossoms need water to bloom, and I doubt there will be much more rain coming our way after this. Bring on those pre-April showers!

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/.

© 2016

Who Do You Think You Are?

Photo by Rick Hustead

When I sat down to write my blog this afternoon, I honestly had no idea what I wanted to say today. And then I came across an article on-line and realized that I had plenty to say, after all.

The article I discovered is titled “Do Women Everywhere Suck at Their Jobs?”¹ In it, Katy Waldman explores the various reasons why women are more likely than men to doubt or even disparage their qualifications to do jobs for which they are very qualified and very skilled. The author explains how decades of social conditioning and expectations that women’s role is in the home/tending the hearth contributes to their impression that they are never good enough at or even deserve to have their job. To compensate for these perceived higher expectations, women have a greater tendency toward perfectionism and blame themselves/take personal responsibility for errors as a way to perceive greater control over their work. Their logic seems to be: “If I take the blame and say I’m a failure at ‘x’ first, someone else won’t.” Waldman astutely points out that the risk of this behavior is that these women not only start to expect to fail; they also don’t recognize or acknowledge their accomplishments when they succeed. And from there, a vicious cycle of negative self-talk, low expectations and low self-esteem/self-confidence is born.

It is not uncommon for a person to experience occasional self-doubt about his or her experience or qualifications to do a task. However, the “Imposter Effect” is about so much more; it involves the internalization of generations’ expectations about a person’s role in the work-force and even in the home. It is “Systems Approach” in the work-place: every employee has a specific role and expected behavior, and if those roles are untraditional, if a female employee is assertive rather than passive, chaos is likely to ensue. Conflict is uncomfortable in any relationship, but when it happens at work, implications of those challenges may be catastrophic (e.g. loss of employment). If we take a more complacent stance—it is better, it is usually more comfortable and in certain instances advisable to do what is “expected” and not rock the boat—we start believing the hype. We internalize the negative messages—“You’re so lucky to have that job!”—and infers the unspoken content, “Are you good/experienced/qualified enough to do it?” 

When a client comes to me in this kind of situation (Imposter Syndrome), I start the individual on the Mental Bank Concept to build self-esteem and self-confidence. It is important for her to experience how much she is worth in both monetary and realistic/symbolic value. When she records value events (activities and beliefs) in her Mental Bank Ledger each night, she sees the symbolic value of each task through the value (dollar amount) that it is assigned. However, the action of writing out each task (value event) also reminds her or her true value and contributions at work, in her subconscious mind. Finally, writing nightly affirmations in the Mental Bank Ledger and the opportunity to practice “experiencing” her greater self-confidence and higher self-esteem in guided-imagery exercises enables this client to take these attributes back to work with her.

₁ Slate, Katy. “Do Women Everywhere Suck at Their Jobs?” Slate.com. November 5, 2013

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/.

© 2016