NLP for dental phobia

[Neurotic1]

Hi,

I work withiin Maxillofacial Surgery in a hospital setting. I often treat Dental patients with local anaesthetic for extractions and minor surgical procedures. I have used hypnosis to help a few with fear of dental treatment previously but this is not always practical. Often when patients arrive, they are extremely nervous and I like to try to put them at their ease as much as possible. As time has gone on, I have improved my ability to put patients at their ease but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ways in which I might be able to help them using NLP. Usually these are people I have never met before and are attending in acute pain.

With thanks in advance :)

[Merlin]

Hello,

Is your intent for ease for the immediate treatment or long term change?

If for immediate treatment, just hypnotise them and give them appropriate suggestions of calmness.

If for long term, then time line therapy for phobias is excellent (slightly better than the standard NLP fast phobia methods).

Your post doesn't really say you'd be treating for long-term issues. So, isn't it considered unethical to make such changes in a person under those stressful conditions? Wouldn't you make an appointment a few weeks later to deal with long-term changework such as phobias? I'd use TLT for long term change.

[Neurotic1]

Hi Merlin

Thanks for your response. <note to self must learn TLT>

I would usually be treating people for one acute event for their treatment, which they find distressing. They have the offer of returning to other specialists for appropriate preventitative treatment. I don't see why it should be unethical to relieve someone's anxiety at one visit to improve their health. This would make the experience less traumatic. It is up to the patient to determine if they wish to take an offer to return for further treatment. Indeed I would have thought that they would be more likely to return for further preventitative and corrective treatment if they found the experience to be acceptable. In this sense, it could only have a positive impact upon their health. They would be less likely to return if I could do nothing to allay their fear. I do not really understand why you suggest it would be unethical?

Having said that, I have much interest in treating such patients long term as a form of rehabilitation, to allow them to access healthcare (with critical factor in place but without undue fear). This is why I have been developing my skills with hypnosis and NLP.

[Terry (existing)]

I have no idea what you got from Merlin's reply, but I believe you did NOT get the true intent. the patient is sent to you to relieve tension based on fear of needle, fear of drill, or fear of extraction. In other words the fear of pain which is causing tension...Ethical practise demands that you give the client what they request, not what you think they need does it not? If you step beyond the bounds of what is expected of you, and do so without permission of the patient, you are practising in an unethical manner no matter what the intent.

[Merlin]

Hi Neurotic1,

I was unclear from your first post, so I posed the question. I generally find that when I don't know, asking is better than assuming.

I would hope that you would ease their anxiety during their visit, helping them to be comfortable for treatment. But that's an immediate issue and hypnosis should work fine.

But the long term removal of a fear or phobia I would expect a return visit when there is no immediate stress for further treatment if they so choose.

See, it would be easy for you to spend the 5 minutes or so to do TLT to permanently change their fear before they left...
''Oh, btw, would you just < blah blah blah > before you leave? ''
and it's done.

Some would consider that a noble deed.
Others think to impose a change which they did not come for (no matter how valuable the deed or noble the intent) would be unethical.

For the acute event, I would assume you would do whatever is needed for their comfort, since that is what they came for.
I would assume you would remove all discomfort, whether physical or emotional for the treatment.

Hypnosis, NLP and TLT all have useful solutions. I usually start with TLT myself for anxiety, phobia, cancer or...
Of course if it was a trauma, a 3rd degree burn or such, I'd go with hypnosis first.


If you just pop them into the Esdaile state while you treat them, that alone would likely have them coming back for more :)

[Neurotic1]

Hi Terry
Thanks for your response.

I have no idea what you got from Merlin's reply, but I believe you did NOT get the true intent. the patient is sent to you to relieve tension based on fear of needle, fear of drill, or fear of extraction. In other words the fear of pain which is causing tension...Ethical practise demands that you give the client what they request, not what you think they need does it not? If you step beyond the bounds of what is expected of you, and do so without permission of the patient, you are practising in an unethical manner no matter what the intent.
I do understand that.
I am talking about acting upon that which the patient wishes me to act upon. I am not talking about effecting a change in a patient other than what they have requested. I am looking at various ways in which to achieve what is requested of me, which is why I posted the message and therefore this is not a question of ethics because i am asking for advice about doing something which the patient requests - i.e;'i am afraid of x can you make x a less fearful experience for me?'. I would not act and have never acted outside of patient's consent. It is intrinsic in my work to explore a patient's expectations with them prior to treatment and discuss the potential consequences. Failure to do so, as with any medical professional, would constitute assault. There are many areas of NLP which, IMO, could be of questionable ethics in the application. I wish to use NLP for the benefit of those who want it and request the change.

[Neurotic1]

Thanks Merlin, I'll check that out