Case studies

Addiction

An addiction is a dependence on a substance or behaviour which is both compulsive and habit-forming. Typically, they develop slowly with the person needing ever increasing amounts to satisfy their craving. At its most extreme, the cravings are overwhelming and drive people to desperate measures without any thought of its impact on others. Many people do not recognise their condition as an addiction and might deny that it is having an impact on their lives. It is only possible to help someone overcome an addiction when they recognise it is a problem and want to do something about it. Addictions include smoking, drugs (prescription, recreational, illegal), alcohol, caffeine, shopping, gambling, self-harm, exercise, sex, relationships - or other compulsive behaviours that impact adversely on your life.

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Alcohol Counselling and Eating Disorder Clinics

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Alcohol misuse

We live in a society where drinking is part of our lives. Most people can take or leave a drink and keep their drinking within recommended limits. Alcohol misuse is when a person cannot limit their drinking and it causes them physical, psychological, or social problems. Those problems include liver disease, heart disease, stroke; depression, loss of memory, impaired judgement; violence, domestic abuse, losing a job. As with addictions, a person needs to recognise their drinking is a problem and want to do something about it.

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Anger Management Counselling

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Anxiety

Simon, aged 23, was friendly and likeable but a little withdrawn. As a computer technician, he didn’t interact with many people at work and felt safe until new responsibilities changed this. He found he couldn’t always control his anxiety; during feelings of panic, he would get a wave of anxiety rushing up from his stomach to his throat, making him retch and sometimes sick. Unable to eat in front of anybody except his family, his anxiety in social situations increased and was especially bad if women were in the group. He would decline invitations to the pub as he was afraid he might be sick in front of others. He had noticed that his anxiety in situations with women had emerged when he was about 11 years old. He had not had a relationship with a woman for five years. He was due to present a course at work and it was the dread of this that prompted him to seek help. He wanted to be mentally stronger and enjoy other people's company. In his first session, an NLP technique taught him to make the wave of anxiety travel in the opposite direction. We introduced a metaphor about feeling really good in public and how it was possible to be calm and relaxed. During his second session, we used hypnotherapy to explore the origins of his anxiety and discovered it started when he joined a new school and felt overwhelmed and lost. He tried to make himself appear small and insignificant, and ensure that everything was perfect, so as not to draw attention to himself. Instead he was bullied. We worked together on diminishing his need for perfectionism. By his third session, Simon felt his control was increasing; he had not had a panic attack all week and had been feeling increasingly calm. As a work function was looming, we concentrated on his anxiety about eating in front of others, using hypnosis to introduce positive thoughts. At his next session, he explained he had been able to eat in front of male friends but felt self-conscious in front of women. During hypnosis it emerged that his sisters had made fun of him when, aged 11, his voice started breaking. It also showed that a failed relationship, when he was 18, knocked his self-confidence with women. We used Gestalt therapy to explore the very intense feelings caused by this relationship. Two sessions later, Simon explained that he had been out to the pub for lunch with two women at work, and had eaten a sandwich. He realised that his anxiety levels dropped to zero after about 10 minutes and felt confident it would improve. As he felt he had come a long way since the start, we suggested a break to consolidate his new patterns of behaviour. He called four weeks later say he felt much better about himself and able to be calm and confident in social situations. He had started a relationship with a woman he had known for some time but had kept at arm's length. And his fear of criticism had reduced to the extent that he had taken on the job of training staff.

Behaviour

Paul was in his mid 40s and he had been absent from work for 3 months after a medical diagnosis of anxiety and depression.

He had begun to experience panic attacks on the way to work and had thought that he was having a heart attack. Investigations had ruled this out and his GP had told him that it was in all likelihood a stress response. Paul had been extremely shocked by this as he had always felt that he “could deal with whatever life threw at me” and that it was “weak to let things get to me."

Paul explained that he was a senior manager within his organisation with many years service. Recently, his department had undergone a lot of changes and he had felt unsettled by this and that he was being 'sidelined.'

Paul initially felt uncomfortable talking about how he felt - and the impact that this was having on his home life. As the sessions progressed, he visibly relaxed and started to talk freely, saying “this isn't as scary as I thought it would be.” I gently encouraged Paul to explore how the situation at work had affected him and how his behaviour had come to change as a result. As Paul liked to work in a practical way, I provided him with resources to use between sessions that allowed him to consider his responses to everyday occurrences and to look at what changes he wanted to make.

By the end of the third session, Paul felt that he had renewed energy for both work and home. At this point, he began a phased return to work. He had recognised that he had become stuck in the detail of problems and lost sight of the things that mattered to him. He felt confident that he would recognise the signs of depression and anxiety much earlier in the future and that he could put steps in place to ensure his ongoing emotional wellbeing.

Bereavement

Patricia, a single mother on low income and part-time employee in a local shop, had recently experienced the traumatic bereavement of her father. She was struggling to face work because of the immense pressure she felt with now having to support and care for her elderly mother as well as her two young children.

Patricia had no one she felt she could talk to about the loss of her father. The thought of caring for two young children and her mother both financially and emotionally were overwhelming and Patricia began to feel she was sinking.

During our sessions, I encouraged her to talk about how she was feeling about the death of her father. I provided practical advice on allowances that Patricia would be entitled to, along with local care centres that could help her mother.

Cognitive behaviour therapy CBT) for Anxiety and Panic Attacks

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Confidence

Carly was intelligent, successful and attractive but had a debilitating lack of self confidence. These feelings prompted her to feel anxious in social situations and to actively avoid opportunities for career progression.

Carly was very adept at using words and imagery so we used metaphors to represent how she felt about her situation. We identified the image of a huge grey ball to signify the lack of confidence that was crushing her. I encouraged her to find a way of altering it and she found a way to have it 'dry out' and disappear.

The change was then tested. She was asked to visualise being in a group and immediately said she felt “scared”. This feeling was used to lead to her second metaphor, being surrounded by spikes suspended in the air. They were there to hold her back and stop her getting into trouble. This was probably the actual cause of her problems, an originally helpful behaviour response that had gone out of control.

Instead of keeping her out of trouble, it was now stopping her doing anything at all. To transform the spikes she was asked to look really closely at them, and when she did so she was surprised to find that each one she looked at just popped out of existence. She cleared all the spikes this way. When she was mentally led into the group situation this time she was totally confident that she could join in and even lead the group naturally and easily.

I then asked Carly to imagine a friend asking her to start a company, another thing she said could not imagine doing. She immediately came up with a third metaphor. She was inside a cage with black steel bars and she was calling out to people walking by but they were unable to see her. Later she was able to transform the cage so that the walls disappeared but she found that she still was holding on to a few bars, even though she was now outside the cage. She found that she did not want to let go. This indicated that the symbol represented some sort of resource for her, and she did want to lose it.

Valuable resources are always kept, so it was suggested she transform the bars into something useful that she could carry around with her. It turned into a silver ball in her hand. But as soon as she felt it in her hand part of her wanted to throw it away. So she transformed it again and it turned into something she could keep in her pocket. As soon as it was in the pocket it merged with her body and ceased to exist. She then said that she was walking along with all the other people and they were not paying any attention to her.

She was again tested against all her scenarios and ll her fears had totally cleared. As she was tested against each of the things she said she could not do, a wide smile appeared on her face and just kept getting wider and wider as she realised that it was all over. She was free of it.

Couples Counselling

Steve and Sarah had been married for 10 years and had three children.

They were both feeling bored in their relationship. They rarely had sex and they would often argue. They still enjoyed each other’s company, but they did not spend a great deal of time together even when they had free time. They felt saddened by what they felt was a lack of connection in their marriage.

As the counselling progressed, I encouraged Steve and Sarah to consider innovative and creative ideas of how they could spend time with each other that would be different from what they had been doing. One of the exercises that I asked the couple to do was to imagine the problem as they envisioned it as if it were a living character. I had them describe it and expand on this outward embodiment of their issues. I then encouraged them to think of their character when they felt they were being overcome by the issues that were keeping them apart and to think of what they could do to fight the character.

Sometimes the discussions got quite heated as the couple spoke about things that were really bothering them. I observed their interactions and helped them listen to each other and communicate better. Sometimes I encouraged them to continue their discussions and helped them to practice the skills learnt towards more positive interactions.

Both Steve and Sarah felt they had benefitted substantially from working with a marriage counsellor. They felt closer than they had in years and felt better equipped to cope with outside pressures. They also found that the understanding of their problems that they had achieved during the counselling sessions had created a return to being connected and to have feelings of intimacy than they hadn’t experienced in years.

Depression Counselling

This female client was diagnosed, at the age of 18, as having severe depression. Although she managed to control her behaviour with medication, the symptoms began to re-emerge. Her behaviour and concentration became erratic; she lost her job. At about the same time she realised she was gay. Overwhelmed by the changes, she was referred by her GP to a psychiatrist but she didn’t experience any improvements. The psychiatrist recommended an increase in medication but, wanting to address the underlying causes of her anxiety, she decided to try psychotherapy. We recommended that she explore her direction and purpose in life, and re-evaluate her personal and career goals. As her newly-emerged sexuality was in conflict with her extremely religious family’s values, we focused in particular on her sexuality and her relationship with her family. After 10 sessions she felt confident enough to reveal her sexuality to her parents so they were able to understand her and begin to accept her as she was. She also developed greater self-awareness about the early warning signals of her depression, enabling her to take pre-emptive action to limit its effects.

A male client was very negative and depressed. He was in his early 60s and said he had always felt this way. He felt there was more to life and wanted to experience happiness. We worked with him on defining exactly what, for him, constituted happiness. He defined it as being assertive in situations and feeling light inside. We used hypnosis and self-hypnosis to release his feelings of fear and eliminate depression. He said he struggled with new concepts and was encouraged to persevere so that the could see that work was done on letting go of the struggle. He began to describe feeling more joyful on waking in the morning and, as this feeling was reinforced, it grew in frequency and became almost an everyday experience. He began to be more aware of his feelings, learning to express them in constructive ways, and developed the habit of looking more positively at his everyday life.

Drug mis-use

We know that some people use drugs to help them cope with aspects of their lives: demanding or stressful jobs, difficult relationships, challenging situations for example. Others take drugs in social situations, using them only occasionally. Drug mis-use is generally considered to be when occasional use becomes a dependency or when it has an adverse affect. As with an addiction, a person needs to recognise their drug-taking has become drug –mis-use and wants to do something about it.

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Eating Disorders

Bigorexia: We recently helped a heterosexual man, aged 28, with bigorexia, or muscle dysmorphia. Also known as reverse anorexia, this is when a person has a distorted view of him or herself, believing he or she is inadequately muscular. It is common among bodybuilders and can lead to them cutting themselves off, afraid to be seen, or disguising their bodies in large clothes. In our client’s case, his symptoms included continually feeling flabby, comparing himself to stronger men, working out obsessively at the gym, considering turning to steroids, erratic eating patterns and purging (making himself vomit after eating). We recommended 10 sessions of counselling to focus on stabilising his eating and exercise patterns; identifying triggers for his behaviour; psycho-education; and improving his self-confidence. He learned to eat a more-balanced diet at regular meal times and adapted his exercise routine. He developed relaxation techniques and other practical strategies to deal with challenging situations. We helped him recognise the true effects of his eating patterns on his thoughts, feelings and behaviour. His body image improved and the symptoms disappeared.

Bingeing: A female client suffered from periods of binge eating and, in two years, had put on over a stone in weight. Before coming to us, she had tried a series of diets and exercise regimes without any lasting improvement. We recommended four sessions using a combination of practical nutritional advice, cognitive behavioural therapy (exploring the link between thoughts, emotions and behaviour) and hypnotherapy. We focused on changing her attitudes towards food so that the change was organic and more likely to endure. She has followed a healthy regime for over a year now and, in the process, has lost over a stone and half in weight.

Exam nerves

Amanda was an extremely bright undergraduate student. However, her course work was often far better than her exam results due to her nerves which she claimed frequently caused her mind to go blank.

I encouraged Amanda to form an image of the challenging situation. We then used hypnotherapy in order confront the negative image and gradually override it with feelings of confidence and positivity drawn from other areas of her life.

At the end of the session Amanda was asked to describe how she now felt about the situation which she had previously described as "nerve wracking". After just one session, she was able to see herself sitting her exams easily and confidently.

Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy

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Fear

People are often keen to know the difference between a fear and a phobia. Generally, a fear is rational; when a fear becomes irrational, it is a phobia. The difference between the two can be slight and hard to judge because fears are to some extent irrational as they are the result of imagination. Generally, it is the degree to which the fear is irrational that will determine whether it is a fear or a phobia. People are often also keen to find out the cause of their fear or phobia. Whilst this can be interesting analytically, it is not essential for treatment to be successful. For many, stopping the fear or phobia is all that is needed. We will discuss possibilities with you so you can decide how you would lime to tackle your phobia. A phobia is not the result of an illness or a mental disorder. It can make life very difficult, cause embarrassment and affect self-confidence and self-esteem. Simple phobias are fears of one thing such as heights, a specific object or animal, or enclosed spaces. Complex phobias are fears of several things together: a fear of flying might include a fear of being enclosed and of a crash and of not being in control. Social phobias include being afraid of what might happen when you are with others: blushing, forgetting, keeping control. Panic attacks are a form of phobia; they can strike unexpectedly and affect people you would least expect to be affected. Agoraphobia is the strongest form of phobia; this is no longer defined as a fear of open spaces; it is when someone becomes increasingly anxious the further they are from their own home; at its extreme, a person might never go out because they are so fearful of being away from home.

A male client had recently started a new job that required him to take regular flights. He was also due to get married in a few months’ time and was desperate for the long-haul honeymoon flight to go smoothly for him. Whilst he was ok with most aspects of flying, he was extremely anxious about take-off and landing as well as turbulence during the flight. In fact, whilst simply describing these symptoms, he broke out in a cold sweat and began trembling. We recommended four hypnotherapy sessions focused on teaching him practical coping strategies, including self-hypnosis, using positive visualisations. He was able to take his honeymoon flight without any problems. While on holiday he also felt confident enough to book some unplanned internal flights on six-seater aeroplanes.

Identity

Susan was 53 and had lived with a manipulative mother for much of her life. Her mother had died about six months ago, but Susan had not moved on in her mind. She found it hard to make decisions about her private life options and believed that personal life changes might be risky.

Using NLP and hypnotherapy, I encouraged Susan to imagine what she wanted to enjoy. At one point Susan spontaneously selected images of her sister and I worked with her to image an improving relationship with her.

During the six sessions that we had together, we worked through Susan building her ability to change her relationships and how to set her personal priorities. During the cycle of sessions she even met a new boyfriend and her relationship with her sister improved.

Insomnia and sleep issues

Although reseach has not yet discovered exactly what sleep does, it is essential. Disrupted sleep affects reactions, behaviour, quality of thought, desire, emotions and more. Sleep disorders range from insomnia and narcolepsy to restless legs syndrome, sleepwalking, sleep terrors, chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep apnoea and disrupted sleep patterns caused by stress, anxiety, panic, depression, pregnancy, menstruation and the general pressures of life in the 21st century. Therapy can help people to learn techniques to overcome their inability to sleep or change their sleeping patterns.

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Treatment

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Pain management

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Panic attacks

This female client suffered from panic attacks and anxiety, particularly when dealing with stressful situations such as work presentations, queuing in supermarkets or travelling on the tube. She had experienced these feelings regularly though the symptoms seemed to become particularly acute on a cyclical basis – approximately every two to three years. She was referred by her doctor after having been signed off work for two weeks with stress. She had previously been prescribed anti-depressants but, whilst they seemed to reduce the level of her anxiety, they had never fully eradicated it. She wanted to deal with her problems for a long-term. We recommended eight sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy focused on teaching her practical coping techniques, challenging her prevailing beliefs and behaviours, and setting regular homework in between sessions gradually to desensitise her to the original stimuli. We also undertook two sessions of hypnotherapy to deal with the blushing she experienced when anxious. She is now able to travel comfortably on public transport and has not reported any feelings of anxiety or blushing in over six months since completing therapy.

Phobias

People are often keen to know the difference between a fear and a phobia. Generally, a fear is rational; when a fear becomes irrational, it is a phobia. The difference between the two can be slight and hard to judge because fears are to some extent irrational as they are the result of imagination. Generally, it is the degree to which the fear is irrational that will determine whether it is a fear or a phobia. People are often also keen to find out the cause of their fear or phobia. Whilst this can be interesting analytically, it is not essential for treatment to be successful. For many, stopping the fear or phobia is all that is needed. We will discuss possibilities with you so you can decide how you would lime to tackle your phobia. A phobia is not the result of an illness or a mental disorder. It can make life very difficult, cause embarrassment and affect self-confidence and self-esteem. Simple phobias are fears of one thing such as heights, a specific object or animal, or enclosed spaces. Complex phobias are fears of several things together: a fear of flying might include a fear of being enclosed and of a crash and of not being in control. Social phobias include being afraid of what might happen when you are with others: blushing, forgetting, keeping control. Panic attacks are sometimes a form of phobia; they can strike unexpectedly and affect people you would least expect to be affected. Agoraphobia is the strongest form of phobia; this is no longer defined as a fear of open spaces; it is when someone becomes increasingly anxious the further they are from their own home; at its extreme, a person might never go out because they are so fearful of being away from home.

This female client had recently become pregnant and needed to have regular blood tests due to the risk of her baby having Down’s Syndrome. However, she had suffered from a phobia of blood and needles since the age of 10; she regularly fainted at the sight of blood. We suggested four hypnotherapy sessions focused on reprocessing her experience of the original trauma that caused her phobia. It involved teaching NLP-style coping techniques for emotional state management and self-hypnosis for relaxation. Whilst she was open to the idea of hypnotherapy, she was nervous about the prospect of having to confront her fear. Much of the first session involved metaphorical hand-holding – pacing the session and leading her according to her level of comfort. After the four sessions, she was able to take the required blood tests without any adverse effect. She later returned for further help in physically and mentally preparing herself for the birth of her child using hypnobirthing techniques. She is now the proud mother of a healthy baby girl.

Relationships

Tina was a 29 year old sales executive who was encountering difficulties in many of her relationships. She frequently interpreted comments and behaviours from friends and colleagues as derogatory - and tended to respond accordingly. This caused her to lose friendships and to miss out on promotion opportunities.

Over a course of six sessions, I helped Tina to understand how her negative thoughts were causing her to be unhappy. Tina also learned how to spot when she was jumping to conclusions in this way.

As a result, she was able to challenge these negative thoughts by looking for evidence to see if they were really true. This prompted her to re-evaluate many of her existing relationships in a more favourable light and to feel more confident in herself.

Self-esteem

A female client suffered from low self-esteem, much of which seemed to stem from her relationship with her “overbearing” father. Because of her low self-esteem, her opportunities for career advancement were limited; she adopted several self-destructive behaviours including bulimia, drug mis-use, smoking and inappropriate relationships (many with men who were already married). She had two years of psychoanalysis in the USA but had found it fruitless. She had also tried working with another therapist in the UK but had felt “uncomfortable” during the sessions – she felt the therapist didn’t understand her situation. We recommended 12 sessions of person-centred counselling in which she was encouraged to take direct responsibility for the content and direction of each session, to give her a greater degree of assertiveness. She is now involved in a fulfilling relationship; her eating regime has stabilised; and she has taken successful steps to deal with her drug problems.

Smoking

Smokers are under increasing pressure to quit. Now that smoking in public places has been banned, smokers have been ostracised in the workplace and in many social situations. This is not necessarily enough for them to want to give up; as with other addictions, smokers can only be helped to stop smoking if they feel their smoking is a problem and they want to give it up. Hypnotherapy is a particularly effective form of treatment, often for the long term.

Pinnacle Therapy Case Study coming soon 

Sports performance

Swimming the Channel: A 31-year old man was training to swim the English Channel. We undertook four sessions of hypnotherapy to help him to overcome the physical tiredness, extreme temperatures and to make the passage of time seem quicker. We also taught him self-hypnosis to enable him to remain calm as the date of the swim drew near and to build on his level of self-belief. Improving at golf: A 63-year old man wanted to improve his golf stroke. We recommended three sessions of hypnotherapy to help him to increase his levels of concentration, improve the execution of his stroke and his overall self-belief in his ability. As a result, he was able to reduce his handicap significantly.

Stress management

Alex was a senior level executive who was causing conflict with his colleagues as a result of how he was handling his stress levels. He had frequent angry outbursts and confrontations at work. This behaviour was also having a serious impact on the morale of the team that he was managing.

By exploring the nature of some of these incidents, I was able to help Alex rationalise why some of the clashes had been occurring. Many of the clashes seemed to stem from the clients’ feelings of stress.

By helping him to increase his awareness of the thoughts, feelings and behaviours linked to this, we were then able to look at practical strategies for addressing these. This included introducing Alex to basic relaxation and time management skills, as well as alternative thinking patterns.

Over the course of the six sessions, Alex noticed a significant reduction in the number of disputes that he encountered at work. He was also able to begin to improve his sleep patterns and his levels of productivity at work.

Trauma

A trauma can be physical, medical or emotional – and its effects can be physical, medical or emotional. An accident, surgery, abuse, violence, witnessing a traumatic event, bereavement, experiencing injustice … everyday occurrences can be as traumatic as are unusual and exceptional events. Everyone reacts to traumas differently: some may be unaffected, others might not be able to function, many fall somewhere between the two, managing some aspects of their lives very effectively but struggling to keep others together. We specialise in trauma therapy, working with individuals who have experience personal trauma and with organisations with employees who have to cope with traumatic situations at work.

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Weight control

This client was female, aged 35 and married with 3 children. She was binge eating on chocolate, cakes, crisps, bread with butter and was making occasional secret trips to the fridge at 1.30am. The problem seemed to start when she was 15 years old and had self-confidence problems; she started to relate her body image to how she felt. It became more severe and at the age of 18 she became bulimic for a while. This abated but, after the birth of her first child, she started bingeing again. We recommended suggestion therapy and after the first session she stopped eating chocolate (whenever she looked at it, she felt queasy); the feeling of wanting something to eat all the time stopped; she started to drink more water and eat more fruit. She became slightly more active and joined a local gym. The second session reinforced the first suggestion therapy session; we had suggested a more analytical therapy session but she felt the habit was just that and that it didn’t have a source in her earlier life. We also taught her self-hypnosis. By her third session, she had lost 12lbs in the five weeks since her first session and was feeling a great deal better. She said that on a scale of one to 10, where one means no problem and 10 is a very serious problem, she had moved from 10 at the first session, to five at the second sesson then to two at the the third session. Six months later she referred a friend to us and I learned that she had maintained the weight loss.