Hypnotherapy can help you do almost anything when treating a phobia – even skydive faster than the speed of sound!
Last year, Austrian Felix Baumgartner became the first skydiver to go faster than the speed of sound – but a severe claustrophobic reaction to the pressure suit he had to wear during his ascent to 39km (24 miles) and his freefall almost put the whole project in jeopardy.
So he turned to hypnotherapy to overcome this anxiety.
The 43-year-old adventurer had never worked at extreme altitude before, and in order to survive the jump he needed to be more than a skydiver – he needed to become a test pilot.
His next generation, full pressure suit was made by the same company that prepares the flight suits of astronauts – but whereas a test pilot would have a couple of thousand hours to train in a pressure suit, Baumgartner only had 20.
“Having this suit on my body and feeling it, and the smell of the rubber, made me anxious,” he said.
So anxious, that he took a year off training and returned to his home in Austria and had hypnotherapy to help him prepare mentally for the challenge.
A phobia is an irrational fear, literally a fear without good reason, or a fear of something that may not happen. People with phobias often experience unwanted responses to animals, objects, insects, closed spaces, actions or places.
Claustrophobia is defined as the persistent fear of restricted or closed spaces, leading to fear of asphyxia and it can be stimulated virtually by any limited space such as elevators, small rooms with no windows, crowded vehicles, caves and even restricting clothes.
The manifestations of this type of phobia are anxiety or panic attacks which vary in intensity depending on the period of direct exposure to the stimulus.
So, how does hypnotherapy treat phobias? Generally, the solution is to see that phobia in a different context starting from an objective perspective and then gradually building up exposure from a minimal to comfortable level.
Using hypnosis this can be done rapidly as the unconscious is able to process information more effectively without the interference of the critical mind. This is a known as desensitisation.
Often phobias can be treated in just one session. There is, however, no guarantee as change depends on the individual’s willingness to embrace it.
Most therapists will therefore give you a realistic expectation of how long treatment may last.
Each hypnotherapist may use a slightly different approach to treating phobias depending on whether the client knows when the phobia first started, how they view it and how receptive they are to change.
The intensity of claustrophobia takes into consideration the gradual layering of visual lifelong experiences – objects, places and events.
With the aid of hypnotherapy, these are not visualised baldly, as if seen for the first time, or for a once-and-only time. Instead, they are seen as remembered.
This complication of simple visual record of the claustrophobic stimuli is not only animated, but true to the claustrophobic experience, which superimposes the triggering image on current feelings.