(This blog was
originally posted on August 24, 2016)
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Hypnosis Motivation Institute
founder John Kappas, Ph.D.,
once worked with a client to help her overcome her irrational fear of water. She
told the hypnotherapist that she even felt anxious just thinking about water
and always tried to wipe the fluid off her face as quickly as possible. This
anxiety was a legitimate fear
versus a phobia because the client had nearly drowned in a river as a young
child and was subsequently involved in a car crash where the vehicle went over
a bridge. However, she also manifested 27 symptoms consistent with having low
blood sugar.
When working with someone who has an irrational fear of water, start by
advising the person to change her eating habits to normalize the blood-sugar
level, Dr. Kappas advised. It is also necessary to modify her suggestibility
to decrease this fear and susceptibility to suggestions about it. Once the
client is in hypnosis, work with the individual to separate her anxiety of
water and the sensation of it making contact with her face.
Use circle
therapy to desensitize the person to the fear reaction by repeatedly having
her bring up the fear and then relax, the hypnotherapist said. This process
will help the individual associate relaxation with the originally threatening
stimulus. As the client disassociates her fear of water from the fear of her
physical reaction, she will gradually be able to think about this stimulus
without associating it to a fear response.
Finally, use a double bind to lock in her sense of relaxation, Dr.
Kappas said: “The harder you try to feel the fear of water, the more difficult
it will become.”
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, four years in a row (2019-2022).
For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an
appointment, please visit my website.
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