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How hypnosis released me from the Jaws of fear
From the Gazette & Herald, first published Wednesday 23rd Feb 2005.
CAROLINE MOONEY was one of the many people who have a phobia - hers involved a fear of fish. So, she decided to take the bull by the horns (or should that be, shark by the fins?) and consulted advanced hypnotherapist Robert Williams, who works in Kirkbymoorside and York, in a bid to cure her problem.
Here is her story...
WHEN under considerable pressure, my nightmares always involve fish. Occasionally, I have literally woken up in a cold sweat.
Everybody has something that they don't like or want to face. Some people then go on to develop phobias to those things.
My phobia is fish. I'm not too keen on being near dead ones, and live ones are a big no-no. In fact, the best way to get me near a fish is to batter or breadcrumb it, before serving it to me with chips and onion rings.
It isn't something I tend to think about. I don't go seeking them out, and I don't have to check a room or restaurant before I'll go in. It's only a physical confrontation with something bigger than a goldfish that makes my stomach turn and I begin to get uncomfortable, before anxiety gets the better of me and I have to leave.
Fish officially turned into a phobia for me while I was on a trip to Tenerife as a teenager. My mum and dad had taken me into a supermarket to buy some supplies, and at the back of the shop on the fresh meat and fish counter sat the disembodied head of a tuna. It was only the shout of "Look at the size of that tuna head!" that made me look round and face the beast, which was only two feet away.
Although I don't like the look of fish, it isn't crippling my life. But it did help me decide to leave a waitressing job at a pub where they held a fish night on Tuesdays. It happened to be one of my days to work, and there were times when clearing plates that I would get back to the kitchen hyperventilating because of the remains left on the plate.
Needless to say, I wasn't in that job for too long.
The idea of hypnotherapy to resolve anything, be it phobias, weight loss or as a way to stop smoking, had never crossed my mind. Like a lot of people, I thought hypnotherapy was only for making people think they were chickens. And like a lot of people, I had heard success stories about friends of friends but have never actually met someone first hand who had benefited.
Not being in complete control bothered me, a fear which is unfounded - as advanced hypnotherapist Robert Williams told me, it is up to the client to decide when to go into hypnosis and when to come out of it: "It's completely up to the individual. You're always awake, just at that point before sleep where you're more aware of what's going on around you. I can't make you do anything you don't want to."
Great, I thought, only this now leaves me with the quandary of how to stop myself from thinking my usual blurb of thoughts and instead focus on the job in hand.
In our first session, I did find it difficult to relax, not because I was uncomfortable but more because I kept waiting for something to happen. I don't know what I was expecting. There were no swirly hypnodisks and no gold watches to mesmerise me. I just had to sit in a comfortable chair, shut my eyes and listen, but try to drift off.
During my first session, Robert made me a tape to listen to at home that was purely for relaxation and getting me used to being under hypnosis. I was to listen to it twice a day, which I did find difficult, but usually managed to do it once.
Sometimes during his sessions, Robert uses regression as a technique. He did with me, back to the tuna incident, and again it was a case of focusing while switching off. Regression is a useful way of rooting through your mind to find out what happened. It's not a further state of relaxation but more a continuation, and again you as the client are still fully aware and able to open your eyes as you choose. It's a lot like recalling what happened to you some time last week.
If he doesn't regress you, there are techniques which get you to imagine people or places or states of being to help you face your fears.
It only took one session for me to "free" myself of the phobia. I tested it solo in a supermarket just by walking past the fish counter with no anxiety and no need to quickly move away. Robert also tested it while in the next session by presenting me with a fish. Again, there was no anxiety and although I turned down the chance to touch it, we were both pleased by the result - me standing two feet away from a fish.
At the initial consultation, Robert has everyone fill out a form on which you need to tick what you are there for.
"Everybody can usually pick at least two things on there that they would like help with. Sometimes, the problems are linked, for example someone who is afraid of public speaking might also have anxiety, lack of confidence and problems sleeping. By resolving one thing, people can find that others just disappear. Sometimes, though, we have to work on each problem separately before they go."
Hypnotherapy does take a lot of concentration and the ability to use the imagination. It also requires you to take a step out of a lot of people's comfort zones so probably isn't an appropriate treatment for everyone. However, it can be a fascinating insight into how your mind works and affects you daily on a conscious and subconscious level.
At least now my nightmares will be fish-free.
Updated: 16:07 Wednesday, February 23, 2005
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