Helping a Client with a Fear of the Unknown : A Case Study

by Erika Flint, BCH, CPHI

She arrived with her husband, both in their early 60’s, from a small town about an hour away. The client’s presenting issue was a fear of driving on the freeway, and a fear of being alone at home without her car - but I’d find out as this first session progressed that it was much more than just that.

Both retired, my client and her husband (details and names changed to protect their privacy) spend a lot of their time together. He’s a retired police officer who was often gone for days at a time while he was working, and she worked in South Seattle for years, often driving 60+ miles each way to and from work. She was rear ended on one of those days commuting to work, and states that things have gone downhill ever since and it was getting progressively worse. The accident happened over 10 years ago, and thankfully nobody was seriously injured, but the lingering uneasiness has grown over the years to the point where she won’t drive on the freeway anymore at all.

“So why are you coming in today?“ I ask.

Because it’s getting worse every day, she replies, and she’s missing out on spending time with her grandkids. She also worries about her husband’s health and doesn’t want to feel trapped by him needing to drive her everywhere outside the small town they live in. She describes how as long as she’s at home and her car is there, or she’s driving “in my zip code” (where there are no freeways), she’s fine.

We continue through the first session preparation phase - getting her ready for hypnosis and conducting the pre-hypnosis interview and pre-talk. I already have a plan for this client, and since she’s coming in for a fear, the plan is to go right into Age Regression in the first session if possible.

“Would you like to do hypnosis with me now ?” I ask.

This question is called the assessment for readiness of hypnosis, a very important question to ask your clients which helps you as the hypnotist determine whether to start on the next phase of the session. How she answers the question will determine what I do next - either start hypnosis with her, or see if there are other questions for me to answer first.

“Yes”, she states, “I’m ready, and excited to get started”.

There was no hesitation in her reply. It was enthusiastic, and she did seem excited to get started - to get this behind her so she could experience the freedom of waking in the morning and driving herself to visit her grandkids at a moment’s notice.

We start the hypnosis session, and everything is going according to plan until I say “Now that you’re feeling relaxed physically, I’m going to help you relax mentally”. At this point the client states, “but I’m not relaxed, I’m nervous”, and she opens her eyes.

Let’s pause right here - because there are many directions you can go when and if this ever happens. Because at this moment, my mind was racing to find the most appropriate solution.

First, stay calm. Remember the phrase “Don’t worry, I know exactly what to do” that we say to our clients? Well keep that handy for yourself too, remember what you learned in class - this is not brain surgery! Everything is going to be just fine. Here’s what I did :

Smiling, I say “What are you feeling right now?”

“I don’t know why, but I’m nervous.”

Note : Often when clients open their eyes during a session you want to simply say “close your eyes” and have them continue. But in this case, because the client was coming in with a fear, and I suspected she may be having that feeling right then, I chose a different route.

“Can you describe that feeling to me, what you’re experiencing right now?”

She continues to describe a sensation of feeling overwhelmed, almost crowded in her head. I ask if it’s similar to how she feels when driving, and it was.

And now we have a perfect scenario to use an Affect Induced Age Regression Induction, or the Time Tunneling Technique™. The client is experiencing the feeling she came in to get rid of, right then. But it was fear, and we know the number one reason people won’t go into hypnosis is fear, so I ask her, “If it’s OK with you I think we should proceed anyway - you know you’re here safe in the chair, correct? And I know you want to be rid of this feeling for good.”

“Yes” she states, “I’m willing”.

If she would have said no, I likely would have talked with her more about this and describe to her that I’ve helped a lot of people things just like this, and that as long as she’s willing we can be rid of this feeling now, likely for good.

But she didn’t say no. She said yes, so I continued with : “Very good. Close your eyes, and take your attention to that feeling inside of you, where you told me the uneasiness was, and put your attention on it, it will grow, all the while knowing you’re right here, in my office, yet as you focus on that uneasiness, it get’s stronger and stronger”.

We continue with the Time Tunneling Technique™, having the client go to the place inside of her where she feels the feeling, then follow it back. The Age Regression was back on track, and the client experienced great relief from her uneasiness, and what she described in the end as and end to “a general fear of the unknown” based on experiences as a child of being left alone for long periods of time.

To end the session, we did Future Progression on her fear of being alone at home without her car. She laughed out loud. “That’s silly”, she says now. “I can easily be at home without my car”. We also did a Future Progression on her driving on the freeway, and the client felt safe and with the ability to focus on what she was doing. The fear was gone.

With a clear shift in her demeanor, obviously more comfortable and at ease, the client leaves with a smile and goes and collects her husband, still reading, next door.

They leave my office hand in hand, and I am once again grateful to be part of this process. In summary, if you do enough sessions, things won’t always go as planned. And that’s OK, it’s actually good because your expertise will grow as you’re required by your clients to figure things out. Even if your client wants to do hypnosis with you, things can shift in an instant. The sessions go how they need to go, and if you have the confidence to be flexible with your clients and understand how to blend techniques - like the Time Tunneling Technique™, into your work, you’ll be able to help your clients achieve their success faster and you will feel more confident in the work you do.