MAY 1998, VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1, Abstract 7
HYPNOSIS IN THE TREATMENT OF SOCIAL PHOBIA
Lachlan Lipsett, Medical Practitioner
This case report illustrates the use of hypnosis in the treatment of a 26-year-old client with social phobia. A specific goal was nominated and some cognitive therapy was first employed, followed by a trial of desensitisation (both in hypnosis and in vivo with hypnotically conditioned relaxation) which proved insufficient to allow comfortable attainment of the selected goal. The client’s contradictory messages manifesting as ambivalence were then sorted and a “somatic bridge” was employed to trace the feelings of anxiety back to a sensitising event which was re-experienced and resolved in hypnosis. Further desensitisation allowed attainment of the specific goal, but the client has requested further assistance for problems with dating.