"Well thank you! First time in years I had a blood test and no
fainting/drama!...More blood tests tomorrow, but I feel ready.
Thanks again"
(S.J. - Phobia of needles/blood)
Background: The client had recently become pregnant and needed to have
regular blood tests due to risk of Downs Syndrome. However, she had
suffered from a phobia of blood and needles since the age of 10yrs old, and
regularly fainted at the sight of blood.
Treatment: 4 Sessions of hypnotherapy focused upon reprocessing the
client’s experience of the original trauma. This also involved teaching NLPstyle
coping techniques for emotional state anagement and use of selfhypnosis
for ongoing relaxation.
Whilst the client was open to the idea of hypnotherapy, she was also
nervous about the prospect of having to finally confront her fear. Much of the
first session involved “hand holding” the client (pacing and then leading the
client according to her level of comfort).
Result: The client was able to take the required blood tests without any
adverse effect. She later returned for further help in physically and mentally
preparing herself for the birth of her child ("hypno-birthing"). She is now the
proud mother of a healthy baby girl.
"I had a 4 x 1 hour course of hypnotherapy for a fear of flying. I flew
5 days after my last session and it was very effective. I felt I
should be fearful but the fear didn’t ‘reach’ me, like it was on the
other side of a screen."
(N.H. - Fear of flying)
Background: The client had recently started a new job that required him to
take regular flights. He was also due to get married in a few months time
and was desperate to make the long-haul honeymoon flight go smoothly.
Whilst the client was OK with most aspects of flying, he was extremely
anxious about take off/landing and periods of turbulence during the flight. In
fact, whilst simply describing these symptoms, the client broke out in a cold
sweat and began trembling.
Treatment: 4 sessions focused upon teaching the client practical
related coping strategies, self-hypnosis and hypnotherapy using positive
visualisations.
Result: The client was able to take his honeymoon flight without any
problems. Whilst he was on holiday, he also felt confident enough to book
some unplanned internal flights on 6-seater airplanes.
"I appreciated the flexible approach to therapy which was tailored
to my needs. My therapist was good at remembering what I had
said in previous sessions...I found his questions intelligent and
thought provoking..."
(J.R. - Depression/Identity issues)
Background: The client had been diagnosed at the age of eighteen as
suffering from severe dpression.
Although she had managed to control her behaviour for a significant amount
of time through medication, the original symptoms were now starting to reemerge,
and as a result, her behaviour and concentration levels had
become erratic. This had started to adversely affect her ability to perform her
work, to the point where she had lost her job.
Roughly coinciding with this, the client had begun to explore her sexuality in
more depth and had realized that she was gay. As a consequence, she felt
overwhelmed by all of the changes that were taking place.
The client had
previously been to see her GP who had referred her to a Clinical Psychiatrist
but without any perceived improvement in her condition.
The Psychiatrist was keen for the client to increase her medication, but the
client was adamant that she wanted to be less dependent on medication to
manage her behaviour, and instead wanted to address some of the
underlying causes of her anxiety. This is what prompted her to seek
psychotherapy.
Treatment: 10 sessions using Psychotherapy to explore the client’s
direction and purpose in life and to re-evaluate her future personal and
career goals.
The fact that her family were extremely religious meant that her newly
emerged sexuality had brought her into conflict with the values expounded
by her family. So we focused in particular on her sexuality and her
relationship with her family.
Result: The client eventually felt confident enough to reveal her sexuality to
her parents so that they were able to understand and to begin to accept her
as she was. She was also able to develop a greater sense of selfawareness
concerning the early warning signals of the onset of her
depression. This meant that she was able to take pre-emptive action to limit
the effects.
"I have found our meetings very useful and can happily say that
my outlook has changed dramatically and positive changes have
already started to bed in."
(M.R. - Binge Eating)
Background: The client suffered from periods of binge eating and as a
result she had put on over a stone in weight during the course of the
previous two years. Prior to coming to us, she had tried a whole series of
diets and exercise regimes without any lasting improvement.
Treatment: 4 sessions using a combination of practical nutritional advice,
Cognitive Behavioural herapy (exploring the link between thoughts,
emotions and behaviour) and Hypnotherapy. In particular, we focused upon
changing the client’s attitudes towards food, so that the change was organic
and more likely to endure.
Result: The client has followed a healthy regime for over a year now and in
the process, she has lost over a stone and half in weight.
"I just wanted to thank you for all your help. I really feel like I'm
getting better and starting to become the person who I really am."
(J.B. - Self-esteem/Relationship issues/Bulimia/Drug mis-use)
Background: The client suffered from low self-esteem, much of which
seemed to stem from her relationship with her father who the she described
as being “overbearing”.
As a result of this low self-esteem, she found her opportunities for career
advancement extremely limited, and had adopted a number of selfdestructive
behaviours including as Bulimia, drug mis-use, smoking and
inappropriate relationships (many with men who were already married).
She had previously undertaken 2yrs of Psychoanalysis in the United States,
but had ultimately found the outcome of this fairly fruitless. She had also
tried working with another therapist in UK, but had felt uncomfortable”
during the sessions because she felt that the therapist did not truly
understand her situation.
Treatment: 12 sessions using of Person-centred counselling in which the
client was encouraged to take direct responsibility for the content and
direction of each sessions. This served to promote a greater degree of
assertiveness with the client.
Result: The client is now involved in a meaningful and fulfilling relationship.
Her eating regime has stabilised and she has curbed her drug taking to a
neglible level.
"I found the whole experience incredibly useful and I feel I’ve
moved on massively in a relatively short space of time...I feel like a
different person to how I felt when I walked into therapy! The main
thing for me was being equipped with the tools to deal with anxiety
and realise that I can deal with it! I would thoroughly recommend
it!"
(N.S. - Blushing/Anxiety/Panic Attacks)
Background: The client suffered from panic attacks and anxiety, particularly
when experiencing stress such as work presentations, queuing in
supermarkets or travelling on the tube. She had experienced these feelings
on a regular basis, although the symptoms seemed to become particularly
acute on a cyclical basis i.e. approximately every 2-3yrs.
She was referred by her doctor after having been signed off work for 2
weeks with stress. She had reviously been subscribed anti-depressants
by her doctor. However, whilst these seemed to reduce the level of anxiety,
they had never managed to fully eradicate the issue. Thus she was keen to
deal with her problems on a more long-term basis.
Treatment: 8 sessions of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy focused upon
teaching the client practical coping techniques, challenging the client’s
prevailing beliefs and behaviour, and setting regular omework in between
sessions to gradually desensitise the client to the original stimuli. We also
undertook 2 sessions of hypnotherapy to deal with blushing.
Result: The client is now able to travel comfortably on public transport and
has not reported any feelings of anxiety or blushing in over six months since
completing therapy.
For bookings and enquiries, call us on 0870 446 4375
or email info@pinnacleplus.co.uk
