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| Photo by Rick Hustead |
In a very interesting clinical case history at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, HMI founder John Kappas, Ph.D., worked with a woman
who was afraid of death. The preliminary interview revealed that the client
possessed 80-percent emotional suggestibility and
80 percent emotional sexuality.
Her presenting “symptom” was a fear of germs, dirt and contamination
(mysophobia), which manifested as a compulsion to constantly wash her hands and
clothes. She revealed that her mother died of a tumor when the client was five.
To treat the client, Dr. Kappas gradually, systematically desensitized her
to the fear of contamination and misdirect the impulse to “decontaminate” herself.
The hypnotherapist helped to make the client aware of how her fear of germs
began as a reaction to her mother’s tumor; however, he did not have her
visualize this experience or her response. It is important to reduce the stress
that triggered her phobia and replace the compulsion to wash her hands and
clothes with another behavior, he said.
“If mother is frightened for your health, she implants this fear
mechanism in you,” Dr. Kappas explained. These fears still bother you as an
adult because they’re part of your mental script, he said. “The goal is to
modify the script, give you something positive to model and not affect you.”
To treat this phobia, the hypnotherapist elevated the client’s physical suggestibility by at least twenty
percent and ascertained the status of her family dynamics/family system. He
also needed to determine whether a secondary gain was associated with this
phobia. Once she was in hypnosis, Dr. Kappas reassured the client that she was
not to blame for other people becoming sick. He also made her aware that low
blood-sugar levels could trigger phobias and suggested that she could control
her tolerance for stress by changing her diet. “Don’t create a new neurosis and
ensure that there’s no sugar-level drop that can cause depression,” he advised.
Dr. Kappas concluded the session by using circle therapy with a stop
mechanism (double-bind) that enabled the client to control her fear reaction. “You
want logic to control impulsive reactions,” he said. If the client seems to
want to be “controlled by” something and abreacts
to this suggestion, the hypnotherapist should use a paternal voice when giving the
hypnotic suggestions, he added.
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
