Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Needle?

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Stella_E_M_Hutson]Stella E M Hutson
One of the most interesting clients I worked with recently is a man in his thirties who has had an acute phobia of injections from a very early age. We explored the history of his phobia, tracing it back to the incident when he was 6 years.
As a small child, struggling against the injection being administered, he became so distressed at being informed that an operation might be required to remove a broken needle form his leg if he continued to struggle - not surprisingly, he was violently sick and "passed out" with fear! - ideal phobia inducing situation. Instantly the phobia was created - a powerful one off learning experience.
He has been afraid of injections for nearly as long as he can remember and has even had root canal dental work recently completed without anaesthetic such was his fear of needles. He had adapted to his phobia so much that the root canal work without a local anaesthetic was preferable to the injection. His fear of the needle was totally beyond the normal range. Now however he was faced with a problem. He and his wife were seeking IVF and an upcoming blood test that ( a pre requisite for his partner's IVF treatment) had spurred him on to contact me for a hypnotherapy session
This was an extreme phobia of almost 30 years!
However, I firmly believed that if he learned the fear quickly then he could unlearn it just as quickly!
During the therapy session we used a powerful combination of hypnotherapy and NLP to tackle his phobic response and prepare for the upcoming blood test.
I began with an initial consultation of about an hour - essential in order to calibrate each client and give them an opportunity to really tell me what they want help with. He had also left it really late as the blood test was only a week away - I arranged to see him the morning of the test.
I began with progressive relaxation in order to give him a lifeline and enable him to access when ready the distressing context very precisely and safely - he described a particular shape and movement to his feelings of anxiety which seemed to grow and grow. Focusing on this I used that brilliant technique Richard Bandler uses of creative visualisation of the sensation - moving it around and spinning it out of his body - so he knew he would not be troubled by the anxiety. Next we worked on the original event using a mixture of timeline seeing the incident from old eyes and comforting his younger self and then a classic double dissociation fast phobia cure.
Following this he set off for the hospital.
He messaged me 2 hours later, having taken the test. I will let his message speak for itself! Suffice to say, it warmed my heart and reminded me why I choose to do what I do!:
" Hi Stella, just to let you know I'm back from my blood test and it all went very well. Practically no anxiety. Went in, and did it. For the first time ever, no sickness or sweaty palms so thank you very much. I'm sure I can hold this experience in my memory and replace the fear. Thanks again, this is going to have a massive impact on my life."
Stella is a fully qualified and accredited hypnotherapist. Prior to this she had an extensive career in special education and developed a huge range of approaches working with challenging young people. Latterly she worked as an advisory teacher for children with Autism. She is qualified and practices in CBT, NLP and Hypnotherapy. To learn more about her practice and the services she offers visit http://simplychanged.me
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Whos-Afraid-of-the-Big,-Bad-Needle?&id=6556365] Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Needle?