I had a female client earlier this year who had experienced an unexplained fear of dogs for as long as she could remember. And she is now in her early 50s so we can safely assume that this fear has been for 50+ years. This fear has had a negative impact on most days of her life. If a small dog secured on a leash was being walked, she would have to step out onto the road just to get past.
She would break into sweats and have heart palpitations … two classic anxiety symptoms.
One session of hypnotherapy was all she needed. And what an interesting session it was. I take the view that I don’t have the answers, and the client’s conscious mind doesn’t have the answers. However I was confident that her unconscious mind did have the answers.
Was the dog smiling or growling?
During hypnosis I noticed a moment where tears were running down the client’s face followed by a smile and a laugh. It wasn’t until after the session when I asked the client if she was prepared to share what she was experiencing that we had the ‘aha’ moment. She said a memory flashed back that she had long forgotten (or had safely filed it away). She said that she must have been 3 years of age and she was trying to feed a dog through the fence. It was showing its teeth and she thought it was smiling at her, so she persevered. It wasn’t until her mother came around the corner and screamed at her that she jumped in fright. We can only assume that at this point her unconscious mind has taken a screen shot of the growling dog, attached the fear of her mother’s scream, and bingo … we have etched into the mind a fear of dogs.
So what happened? Her unconscious mind realised that it had received the wrong message all those years ago. Now it had the correct message and the healing (or rewiring) can begin. The client sent me a photo a couple of weeks later of her holding her sister’s cocker spaniel. It was the first time in her 50+ years of life that she had the simple pleasure of holding and cuddling a dog.
I love the work we do.
If you are living with the debilitations of a fear, consider the immediate benefits of hypnotherapy at Cameron Hypnotics at The Junction. Contact me to discuss.