Agraphobia

I received a request from George (I shall call him), “Could I visit him in his house on the edge of Swansea as he was a prisoner!”

When I knocked on the door, I was met by a pleasant, quiet young man of 22 years of age. His story as it unfolded was one of a normal upbringing until the age of 15 when he suffered from bullying at school. He began to play truant and roam the streets and adjoining fields and parks. However, he then started panic attacks whenever he was on his own outside. This fear of exposure to the outside world eventually became so bad that he was unable to go far at all.

His doctor was eventually called and diagnosed an anxiety state and prescribed tranquillisers. George appeared to respond a little and managed to finish his schooling and land a job nearby. However, he was unable to come off his drugs but despite being reliant on the tranquillisers, he met a young lady, managed to get married and had a young daughter.   His wife wished for them to go out as a family, shopping and socialising, but George found this increasingly difficult until a massive panic attached forced him back to his house.

By the time I arrived, he had given up his job and could not even step out of his front door despite his doctor prescribing even higher doses of drugs.   These kept him calm and relaxed him whilst in the house, but could not calm him outside.

No fear anymore of open spaces for George

After taking detailed notes of his life history, at a subsequent session, we used Hypnotherapy to take the traumas out of the original vicious bullying experience. Then we did the same for his major panic attacks, whilst starting to reduce his drug intake little by little. We then started behaviour therapy which meant a daily trip out of his front door.

The first week it was onto his garden path, then week two onto the pavement beyond his garden gate, and so on until he could walk to the end of the road alone.

Meanwhile, his Hypnotherapy was progressing as I used taped sessions to strengthen his subconscious mind and convince it that the open spaces out of his house were safe and secure. By this time he was off the drugs completely and was walking to the shops locally, and eventually could walk into a local pub and began to socialise more readily.

His father bought him an “old banger” and George was then able to take his family to the beach and onto the Brecon Beacons, and as he said, “I feel I have my freedom back again and I can set an example to our daughter by walking anywhere and being in full control.”

Anthony

Hypnotherapist

Anthony Wilson Hypnotherapy Wiltshire