Welcome: 01/25/22

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Fear of Being Alone

To minimize risk of exposure to and spread of the COVID-19 virus and COVID-19 variants, I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. Meanwhile, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE!

(This blog was originally posted on October 28, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

If there is no specific cause for being afraid of being alone—for example, a specific traumatic incident that threatened the person, such as a physical attack—the individual may be agoraphobia. The late Dr. Ron Hodges, a psychiatrist and colleague of Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., and former director of the Atlanta, Georgia branch of HMI, contended that fear of being alone is many people’s Number One Fear. Since this reaction is often associated with low blood-sugar levels, it is imperative for the hypnotherapist to address this issue before working with the client to alleviate the actual fear or phobia.

“[Fear of being alone] is an irrational fear based on physical sensations,” Dr. Kappas explained. “You think something will happen to you.” These include irregular heartbeat, dizziness, shaking, confusion, increased suggestibility and anxiety or panic. But the related anxiety of losing control, which is triggered by these physiological sensations, forms the basis of this fear. Once better nutrition is established and the person’s blood-sugar levels are stabilized, the hypnotherapist must teach the client face the fear of being alone. This is accomplished by demonstrating how to induce and ameliorate the physical symptoms that come up whenever he or she thinks about situations that typically trigger fear.

“Desensitize the physical feelings for every situation you feel the fear. It’s got nothing to do with the event,” he said. Remember that it can take some time—months or even years—until the person can completely overcome this fear, Dr. Kappas warned.

Limited-Time Special Offer: Free 30-minute Phone/Zoom Consultation

January—the start of a new year—is a great time to fulfil New Year’s resolutions and complete projects you may have been putting off. Call/send me a text message at (661) 433-9430 or send me an e-mail at calminsensehypnosis@yahoo.com to set up your free, 30-minute phone or Zoom consultation and find out why hypnosis and therapeutic guided imagery are such effective modalities to help you achieve your self-improvement goals and finish those projects!

Offer valid through February 28, 2022. May not be combined with any other offer. Not redeemable for cash.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. Sara has been voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California, three years in a row (July 2019, September 2020, July 2021). For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/

The Pattern "Interrupt"

(This blog was previously posted on March 13, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

The subconscious mind controls almost all of our beliefs and behavior. Therefore, the subconscious mental script for an entrenched habit will overpower the conscious mind’s logic, will-power, decision-making and reasoning faculties that want to change this habit every time. When I help a client to change a behavior in hypnotherapy, I utilize a technique called “pattern interrupt.” The purpose of the pattern interrupt is to give the SCM a time out while the individual engages in something completely different for a little while. Through this exercise, the client experiences how it feels to have the power and control to choose whether to engage in an activity that has been controlling his or her life.

When I work with someone to change a behavior, such as to quit smoking or lose weight, I first ask what specifically triggers the undesired behavior, and how he or she handles this kind of temptation. Next, we discuss options for dealing with the trigger without engaging in the unwanted behavior. It is important that the person comes up with these alternative behaviors in order for the client to remain motivated and enthusiastic about working to achieve his or her goal. The pattern interrupt should be simple and easy to do, whether it is taking ten slow, deep breaths instead of lighting a cigarette; drinking a glass of water instead of a can of soda; take the dog for a walk instead of playing a computer game. I will also reinforce these options as hypnotic suggestions so the subconscious mind will also start to recognize these new activities as “known” behaviors.

Every time you choose to do the replacement activity, even for just a couple of seconds, you are reinforcing a new behavior and creating a new known in the SCM. The great thing about the pattern interrupt is that anyone can do this. You don’t need to be in hypnosis or to have received a post-hypnotic suggestion to substitute an unwanted behavior. When temptation strikes, you just need to do something else for a little while… just long enough for the craving to subside and your subconscious mind to forget, for a little while, that this behavior ever existed, at all.

Limited-Time Special Offer: Free 30-minute Phone/Zoom Consultation

Offer valid through February 28, 2022. May not be combined with any other offer. Not redeemable for cash.