NOVEMBER 2010/MAY 2011 Volumes 38 Number 2 & 39 Number 1, Article 2
The Place of Hypnosis in Psychiatry, Part 4: Its Application to the Treatment of Agoraphobia and Social Phobia
David Kraft, Private Practice, Harley Street, London
This paper, the fourth in the present series, is based on a world-wide search of the literature, and focuses on the use of hypnosis in the treatment of social phobia and agoraphobia. Both disorders are complex and difficult to treat. Several explanations of the aetiology of social phobia and agoraphobia have been suggested over the years, but researchers are in agreement that, in both disorders, patients have frequently suffered inadequate parenting and experienced a huge amount of anxiety in early life. It is for this reason that therapists using psychodynamically orientated psychotherapy in treatment, must take great care to provide patients with the space to come to terms with these inner conflicts. Hypnosis is employed as an adjunct to therapy: It is used to help patients to reduce cognitive and physical symptoms of anxiety and provides them with more control in everyday situations. The author reviews a range of treatment procedures which have been shown to be highly effective in the treatment of both social phobia and agoraphobia. Some of these treatments are based on behavioural lines,
but all of the approaches, to a greater or lesser extent, explore the psychodynamics responsible for the condition. Detailed accounts of the treatment procedures are given so that practitioners may incorporate these techniques in clinical practice. Implications of treatment are discussed.
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