Overcoming Fear of Thunderstorms with Hypnosis

Astra phobia is a fear of thunder & lightning storms, the feeling that “something is wrong with God’s world and you’re in it”. It is true that lightning can maim and even kill us but it rarely happens and the chances are miniscule.

Thunder is a sonic boom caused when air expands after heated by a lightning bolt.
Lightning strikes when clouds build up electrical charge and release it to ground. The lightning bolt draws streams of opposing charges from objects on the ground eg trees and people.

I watched a programme in which an astraphobic chose Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to confront her fear face-on. She had to sit in a room with artificially created lightning strikes. Also listed to audio tapes of thunder and watch videos of storms. The intention was that she would become accustomed to the sudden noises and flashes and so her fear would diminish. The therapy had only partial effect and was not performed during the peak season for thunderstorms.

Hypnosis is effective at treating all sorts of fears and phobias in a gentle way, whilst the person is in deep relaxation. The process used is desensitization to the cause of the fear. While no one may ever like or enjoy something that has previously caused them fear, the aim is for them to handle the situation in a calm way rather than showing physical reaction to an irrational fear. Watching a thunderstorm can actually be a wonderful experience...when safely indoors.

A Hypnosis MP3 download is available to anyone wishing to overcome the fear of thunderstorms. Within 60 minutes of downloading the session, the fear could be history.

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

Treating Phobia of Bridges

Gephyrophobia is a fear of bridges. Crossing one or standing on one can bring on a panic attack.

I watched a TV programme about treating the fear of bridges with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). The young woman's fear was that her mind would somehow take over her body and throw her over the side of the bridge. She felt unbalanced. Even talking about the subject, made her feel nervous. When driving across a bridge, she believed that she would pull across to another lane and hurt someone. Jenn's fiancé said that she was a rational person in every other way. She suffered nightmares about the fear.

She consulted a clinical psychologist in Boston who said that Jenn had never stayed standing still on a bridge long enough to learn that she would not throw herself over. Jenn recalled an incident from her childhood when her father had grabbed her by the ankles just stopping her falling over a bridge.

No one should have to live with a phobia which impacts on daily life.

The psychologist took Jenn out on to a high-up fire escape to make her confront her fear. On a scale of 1-8, her fear was at 8. She felt dizzy, unblanced and fearful that she would throw herself over. After about ten minutes, her symptoms began to subside as she felt calmer.

She then drove the psychologist quickly across a bridge, feeling a fear score of 8 again. The next challenge was to walk back slowly across the bridge. Each time the intention was to confront the fear. She had never stood on the high point of a bridge. She was told that many bridges shake as their building materials have to give.

Her next bridge was even higher up. She had to look up and down into the water. She had to partially climb up and wave to passers by on boats.

The psychologist concluded that Jenn needed to repeat her walking visits to bridges often to reinforce the new behaviour.

A more gentle way of treating a phobia of bridges is with hypnosis under deep relaxation. Hypnosis is well-known for its wide-reaching application in helping people overcome all sorts of fears and phobias.

Click here for a Hypnosis MP3 Download on "Overcoming Fear of Bridges"

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people making positive change and overcome phobias.

Treating Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia is an exagerated fear of closed-in spaces,being in crowds or even in large spaces. We have a natural defence mechanism which seeks to prevent us being crushed, buried, suffocated to the point that we cannot breathe. The fear can lead to fainting and panic attacks. Just being in a crowd can cause panic.

Lifts/elevators are a common problem. A person will feel trapped and worry about every sound or jolt. Even the alternative stairs can feel repressive.

Any phobia leads to the perceived problem being exagerated, that the worst is about to happen. A desire for our own space, air and unfettered movement is normal but lack can cause panic. Classic fight or flight responses include rapid breathing, increased heart rate and shaking.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a popular form of treatment for any phobia but its many techniques involves heading the fear head-on and submitting oneself to the extremes of the fear. This seems like torture.

I watched a programme(1) with American psychologist Dr Michael Telch treating a 20 year old female claustrophobic. The girl said that she had been told that CBT is 100% effective but she doubted how being placed in extreme situations of fear would help. In the second session the girl was placed in an enclosed chamber or box to recreate the idea of a coffin and told that she had to lie there for a couple of minutes without screaming or attempting to escape. She started with a fear level and fear of danger of 85% and after two minutes, this lowered to 75% as her breathing started to slow. The next step was a private guided walk down into a cave, somewhere she had never been before but just a normal tourist walk, no attempt at pot-holing or climbing between cave crevices. Finally, we saw here walking along a river where previously she had fainted due to the crowd. She felt comfortable and enjoyed the walk. The therapist considered her relieved of her phobia.

Personally, I fail to see how exiting from a locked coffin with a high 75% fear level, walking around a large cave and then freely by a river means that the phobia has been eradicated. As someone who has suffered from the claustrophobic effect of being strapped into a MRI scanner, the idea of the closed box was unbearable.

Hypnosis is also very effective at treating claustrophobia but in a gentle, almost detached way. The unconscious mind cannot distinguish between real and imagined and under the deep relaxation experienced in hypnosis, the person seeking help is exposed to fearful situations but without provoking fear. The message is then rewritten direct in the subconscious so that the fear is released, calmly and permanently.

The basis of much hypnosis work is ego-strengthening, ie making the person feel more confident, more "comfortable in their skin" and part of this process is identifying a time when the person felt really good, positive, on top of the world and fully in control. The therapist then locks in that feeling, often with an NLP technique so that the person can recreate that feeling whenever necessary.

The hypnotherapist will then desensitize the person's fear by replacing it with positive emotions. The person may never love what has caused a phobia but the desired outcome is that the person will regain control over the fear and experience a "normal" reaction to the source of fear.

(1) "Phobia" produced by Pangolin Pictures for National Geographic Channel, 2002

Click here for a Hypnosis MP3 Download "Overcoming Claustrophobia"

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

Psychological Aspects of Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic, relapsing and usually lifelong condition. Patients with psoriasis often lose hope that their condition can be managed. This may lead to poor treatment compliance. It is a well established fact that in addition to physical discomfort and disability, psoriasis can produce anxiety, depression and other psychological problems, which in turn can aggravate the disease.

A number of studies have shown that psychological stress is often caused by psoriasis and can be a factor in flare-ups of psoriasis. Pruritis in psoriasis contributes to stress and the stress in turn can lead to more pruritis. This vicious cycle can contribute to psychological problems including depression, anxiety, aggressive behaviors, obsessional behavior, and alcoholism. The other psychological problems can include poor self-esteem, sexual dysfunction, and suicidal ideation. The mechanisms by which psychological stress can make pruritis worse are not clearly understood.

Psychological counseling may be helpful in some patients with psychosocial problems. A family counseling session may also help the family members to understand the nature of the disease better and realize the role that family members can play in reducing psychosocial stress.

Traditional psoriasis treatment regimens may be augmented with stress-reduction strategies. Biofeedback training, psychotherapy and hypnosis are examples of adjuncts to traditional medical treatment.

Hypnosis may improve or resolve numerous dermatoses, including psoriasis. In addition, hypnosis can facilitate aversive therapy and enhance desensitization and other cognitive-behavioural methods.

Cognitive behaviour therapy combines two kinds of psychotherapy, cognitive therapy and behaviour therapy. CBT has been very thoroughly researched. Numerous studies have shown CBT to be as effective as drugs in treating both depression and anxiety.