LCCH News Summer 2005 - London College of Clinical Hypnosis

TREATING PHOBIAS

Avy Joseph

A phobia is one of the most widespread and recognisable of

SYLLABUS

human experiences. Just about anyone could admit to

being 'phobic' about one thing or another. It seems anything

Definition of Phobia

could become the object of a phobia. The term phobia has

come to cover a wide variety of fears and anxieties. This

Beliefs and automatic responses

Masterclass is about the treatment of inappropriate fears

relating to specific impulses or events.

Social Phobia e.g. public speaking

This Masterclass will explain how clients think in situations

Animal Phobias e.g. spiders, snakes

that produce anxiety; how they think about their phobias in

ways that stop them moving forward and, perhaps most

Blood - Injury - Injection Phobia

importantly, how they can work on changing their thinking

and resuming their normal lives. This Masterclass will reflect

Natural Environment Phobias e.g. darkness, storms

the important role of cognitive factors which generate and

maintain phobic disorders, vital in the treatment of phobias,

Situational Phobias e.g.claustrophobia, dental

as well as behavioural approaches.

Agoraphobia

This Masterclass has been developed through extensive

work and research into phobias and will benefit therapists

Miscellaneous Phobias e.g. foods

interested in specialising in this particular field of anxiety

disorders.

Treatments and treatment plans

Theoretical perspective

HYPNOTHERAPY AND AUTISM SPECTRUM PERSONALITIES

Dawn Heather

Interventions for empowerment,

enablement,

anxiety

tool for empowerment and enablement - this is not a cure or

reduction and stress management.

treatment.

In general, people with Autistic Spectrum Personalities see

The self-empowerment inherent in clinical hypnosis has the

the world differently. There are discrepancies in their methods

potential to enable people with Autistic Spectrum

of social interaction, which fall under the loose headings of

Personalities to manage their own stress levels sufficiently

socialisation, communication, and flexibility of thought. For

well to avoid anxieties escalating to the point where their only

instance, interpretation of verbal communication can be very

method of communication is through challenging behaviour.

literal, body language may not be learned automatically, and

facial expressions may not be representative of the person's

The Masterclass is of general interest for Medical

moods.

Practitioners as well as Hypnotherapists. It looks at the nature

of the Autism spectrum, the advantages of an individualised

The frustration that arises from an inability to communicate or

approach, and the contra-indications of using a language

to have one's messages understood often results in displays

based therapy with individuals whose interpretation may be

of challenging behaviour. Once this situation takes place the

different from the majority.

individual's anxiety levels have increased significantly, making

it even more difficult for messages to be understood. It then

SYLLABUS:

becomes extremely problematical to ascertain the nature of

the stressor. The immediate desire for those supporting the

Understanding the Autism Spectrum

individual is to reduce the challenging behaviour to a level

where communication can commence, and a solution to the

Symptom presentation

problem may be sought.

Co-morbidities

The heterogeneity of this population has, historically, made it

Risk assessment and management

extremely difficult to generalise support procedures. In this

Contra-indications

sense, the nature of hypnotherapy, where the structure is

therapist led, but the content is patient led, lends itself very

Customised hypnosis script writing

readily to the customised practice that is so desperately

needed for these individuals. It should be noted that what is

Other hypnotherapeutic interventions

being suggested here is that the therapy should be used as a

Summer 2005

London College of Clinical Hypnosis