Is there something wrong??

[poohbearsmommy]

I began hypnosis to help with my panic attacks but I am having a little problem. I had my second session and we really started to do some work. She brought me to the point where I had my first panic attack and she told me to watch it not relive it. Well that didn't happen and I ended up having another panic attack, and it was a pretty bad one. I was so upset and couldn't stop dry heaving, she kept trying to get me to relax and finish the session but I couldn't. Every time she tried to get me to relax my anxiety levels would get to high and I'd freak out again. We decided to end the session and let me take a break for a week or two. My problem is I really don't want to go back. My anxiety has literally been cut in half. My husband says the change is amazing. I just get so balled up inside when I think of going back. Any suggestions?? I really want to finish my sessions and get on with my life.

Pooh

[Simple Guy]

Hi Pooh,

I'd suggest that you call this therapist and discuss your concerns.
As she has worked with you, she is in a far better position than
any of us to offer any other suggestions. Congratulations on the
reduction of your anxiety and best wishes on your further success.

[Terry (existing)]

One might well feel that way when considering making a second visit to the dentist, but usually you consider the choice as being constant pain and discomfort against a short period of pain, and then peace at last... It would seem from what you write that it was YOUR choice to cauterize the problem, one of the common methods of dealing with fear. I don;t think your practitioner intended for this to happen, but since it did, and the results were good, you must give some consideration to clearing up the problem once and for all........

[inandout]

You might want to try an NLP or CBT therapist for this. Become aware of your thoughts and your breathing when leading up to an attack and learn to relax tense muscles and take deep breaths.

Much love
K

[Poodle]

It's really hard to try to breath during a panic attack. Any type of shallow breathing hurts like HELL! I would suggest that taking you to the brink of a panic attack and immediately inducing hypnosis (an instant induction) and then over the top and down the hill finishing the panic attack while being totally relaxed and peaceful could teach you how to get over the panic attacks and then delve into your subconscious mind to find out what is causing the blasted things and get it out of there. Panic attacks are horrible things that scare one to death and one thinks one is having a heart attack or something. A very good hypnotist should get you over this quickly and easily and you will not have to continually have that little bottle of pills with you. Many hypnotists do NOT know how to do this type of therapy or are afraid to use it so ask before you go!! It is extremely good and effective. Just sign me on this one been there done that! Pood

[Jack]

Hello Pooh,

It is quite understandable that you might not want to go back.

But you know that it had an effect, well half an effect, so you know that it could possibly get rid of all the anxiety if you did go back.

Something I do in my own practice with anxiety and PA sufferers is to teach them how to breathe, Sounds pretty silly, but most sufferers have forgotten how to breathe and only do it with the upper part of the lungs, which causes hyperventilation and makes the feeling you get with a PA that much worse. There's a free ebook at www.alphadynamics.com (http://www.alphadynamics.com) that I recommend since it has breathing exercises in it and you can get it anonymously without having to get on some mailing list or other.

Once you have control of your breathing you may be surprised at how differently you feel about going back. See if it helps.

Jack

[Don]

Hi, Jack.

Would you say that they have forgotten how to breathe, or simply established a different breathing pattern that results in and amplifies the unwanted response?

From your description, I would be inclined to say it was the latter. This was fully described by Wilhelm Reich over 50 years ago, along with how to get a person to breathe "normally."

[Simple Guy]

Don,

Forgive my intrustion upon the query you directed to Jack. It would
seem that a good argument can be made that Reich's "body armoring"
reflects a learned (modeled and conditioned) behavior, as well as a
condition of forgetting. The extent of "body armoring" is proportionate
to impingement of breathing.

Breathing comfortably,
Simple Guy

[Jack]

It's how I explain it to my clients, Don. It simplifies the concept and ensures effort in 'remembering' how to breathe properly. Nobody like to lose something they once had.

Jack
Hi, Jack.

Would you say that they have forgotten how to breathe, or simply established a different breathing pattern that results in and amplifies the unwanted response?

[skip]

Hi girl,

This panic business is a tough deal isnt it?

I dont know if you should go back to this therapast or not. Of course it will have to be your call, but you have already had a bad experience there, and I would expect that you feel anxiety about just going back, knowing the potential is there for another panic attack.

So before you make your decision about going back, or not, I am going to offer you a couple of exercises to do, that may help you be able to go back confidently, and then you could decide whether or not to go back.

If you are able to do the exercises well enough on your own, you may choose not to go back at all.

First I want you to learn to find the most peaceful, relaxing, comfortable, safe, situation you can imagine being in. One in which you not only feel safe, but powerful and confident that you can deal with just about anything. And practice getting to this 'place', this state of mind, until you are good at it. See whatever you see, hear whatever you hear, and smell and taste whatever you like, and above all feel everything I described, all rolled into one great feeling.

Tough duty I know.

Now dont spend all your time there, but practice this until you can get yourself there, whenever you want to. And test that by imagining yourself in stressful situations, and all the sudden, because you decided to, you go to the peaceful place. Do this until you can do it well, and pretty effrortlessly. And you can get more and more confidence with this by practicing with more and more stressful situations, gradually, until you feel confident that you can get out of pretty much anything, and into your peaceful spot.

That's a nice skill to have anyway isnt it?

The second exercise has to do with your panic attacks. I am going to ask you to imagine one, just not yet.

Before you do, I want to you do whatever you feel is necessary to safeguard yourself, so that you wont be 'personally' involved. I sometimes have people visualize thenselves out in front of themselves having one, and they just put the tinest tip of their little finger in it, just for an instant, to check and see if the feelings are correct.

And if you wanted to do that I would suggest that you start out with a very mild one, one you know isnt going to get full blown. And try that one just testing it briefly, to be sure it is correct.

And watching it, as the person goes all the way thru the attack, and becomes calm and peaceful once again.

Now if that seems too 'dangerous' to you...

Sometimes people cant stand to look at it, but can be close to it, so we imagine a curtain (to take short peeks thru) between us and the 'attack'.

Or you could try having the person so far away that you need binoculars to even watch them. And you, of course, would have to imagine an impossibly long extension to your pinkie, to 'test' it. Funny I know, but even as ludricrus as you will feel doing it, when you test at that distance, you can tell if the feelings are correct or not.

The point here is that you can use your imagination to safeguard you, to insulate you to whatever degree, you know is necesary, to allow you to eventually watch yourself, with reasonable comfort, have a full blown attack at close proximity.

You might start out with watching from far away. You might want it to be someone else having the attack, just that the feelings are the same. You can do whatever is necessary to do, to allow yourself to safely do this, and as you continue to do this, watching the attack all the way from before the beginning, to all the way thru until they are peaceful and calm, you would want to morph the person gradually to you, and bring the proximity in, and slowly allow more and more of the feelings thru (still being able to comfortably handle them), until you are atisfied, that you can deal with an imaginary attack safetly.

Now Poohbearsmommy, when you have mastered these two skills, and it wont necessarily take you long. The two weeks reflection time is sufficent. You will be ready to make a decision about going back to to the hypnotist.

You will have successfully inocculated yourself against having an adverse reaction to a dissosciated reliving of the panic attack.

And you will have successfully created a conditioned response that takes you to a very peaceful state of mind.

If you were to decide to go back, you could teach the therapast to help you get to your peaceful place, by using a trigger word, or gesture, or touch somewhere. When they can say the word, or give you the touch, and you go to your place, you have set what we NLPer's call an anchor, that she can use, to help bring you to that calm spot.

You are also at a point where you can safely do theraputic work hypnotically with the panic attack as long as she does the work with you disassociated. I would leave it up to her, to bring you to where you can deal with this associated.

If she doesnt understand what I just said, I do not believe I would use her further. I would seek out an NLP practioner, who will know exactly what I am talking about, and will be framiliar with the exercises I gave you.

Or you may decide you need no further work. You may feel going back is unnecessary, because the exercises have given you mastery over the panic attacks.

cheers,

skip

[Don]

It's how I explain it to my clients, Don. It simplifies the concept and ensures effort in 'remembering' how to breathe properly. Nobody like to lose something they once had.

Jack


:)

Works for me!

[Hilde]

Hi Poobearsmommy,

I too have suffered from panic attacks - they are NOT fun! I tried using EFT to help and have not had one since. I did not get them frequently, so time will tell, but so far so good. You might want to check it out and give it a try.

http://www.emofree.com/panic-anxiety.htm

Hilde