How Hypnotherapy Can Help Overcome a Phobia

Phobia of any type can make living life difficult. The good news is that many people have had great success in overcoming their phobia using a form of therapy called hypnotherapy. To learn how hypnotherapy can help someone overcome a phobia and what a typical hypnotherapy session would be like for someone suffering from a phobia, I have interviewed psychotherapist Teresa L. Oglesbee.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

"Being the child of a career military parent, I feel I was 'conditioned' to be a therapist. Traveling and living in many different countries, experiencing a variety of cultures, attending more schools than I can count, I learned early on to appreciate everyone's uniqueness. I received a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. I also received both my masters and specialist degrees in Counselor Education. In addition, I have National Board Certifications as a School Counselor, Mental Health Counselor, and Clinical Hypnotherapist. I received training and certification for hypnotherapy at the American Hypnosis Training Academy in Silver Springs Maryland. My professional experience ranges from becoming a Service Center Director at the Appling/Jeff Davis Service Center -- a branch of Pineland MH/MR/SA in Baxley, Ga., to a School Counselor in Guyton, Ga., and finally to opening my own private practice in Rincon, Ga. This span has left me with 20 years of experience working with children, adolescents, adults and couples."

What type of impact can a phobia have on someone's overall life?

"It can be absolutely paralyzing for the person who lives with these constant fears. Phobias at least in part are caused by one's thoughts. These thoughts are usually composed of a small portion of truth mixed with a variety of generalized fears. These fears could be real or imagined. As the person begins their "looping" process...their thoughts become more and more irrational. Let me clarify what I mean by looping. Everyone generates continual thoughts, which we respond to in the form of internal dialogues -- we talk to ourselves. Based on what we tell ourselves we have an internal reaction. For starters the response to the dialogue usually creates an emotional reaction, which then leads to a physical response. To loop, one has these thought patterns in an extremely rapid succession. Each time the thought pattern continues, the emotions and physical responses become more intense. Now the person has "conditioned" himself or herself to experience on-going subconscious thoughts, which validate the fears. Finally, with the irrational thoughts, intense emotions, and disturbing physical responses, the irrational fears are accepted as reality."

How can hypnotherapy help someone overcome a phobia?

"Hypnotherapy is an excellent tool for individuals who suffer from phobias because it is great at changing automatic thoughts that feed the fears of a phobia. Hypnotherapy, in my experience can be much more effective as well as a much shorter form of therapy than the traditional talk therapies. Since phobias are typically non-voluntary reactions (at least on the conscious level) individual's experience these intense negative feelings and sensations without warning, despite their best efforts, they find it almost impossible to stop or control the intense feelings of fear. So it just makes sense to me to effect change at the sub-conscious level where the fear is being fed in the place."

What would a typical hypnotherapy session for a phobia be like?

"Of course this would be individualized and potentially an intricate process, in general it should follow this course of action or at least something closely related to it. Part one would be to build a relationship and a trust between the therapist and client. Part two would involve teaching the client how to relax. This could be done by using a variety of trance states. Part three involves determining what course of action to take. For phobias I have found a technique developed by Joseph Wolpe, to be very effective. It is called systematic desensitization (SD). Basically SD works by erasing problematic habit patterns and replaces them with healthier ones. In essence the fearful person develops responses that contradict or are incompatible with the unwanted response. Consequently the client experience a self corrected thought pattern offering both a sense of empowerment as well as relief.

Are other forms of therapy needed in order to make the hypnotherapy session effective?

"Most therapy is eclectic by nature due to the differences in personalities. I use many in succession. However, as far as a therapy which seems to prove most effective, I've found that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is also great at eliciting change because it challenges the client to look at what they are "doing" in order to keep these negative patterns going. If you don't like the outcome, what are you willing to do to make it better? CBT is also great for the analytical type."

Thank you Teresa for doing the interview on how hypnotherapy can help someone overcome a phobia. For more information on Teresa Oglesbee or her work you can check out her website at www.sccforu.com.

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