Welcome to our
private psychotherapy practice

IMPOTENCE 

Men who suffer from impotence fall into two categories: those whose impotence is life long, where psychotherapy is the treatment of choice, and those who have functioned adequately in the past but have acquired an impotence problem, and in these cases hypnotherapy is a very successful form of treatment. It is important to establish before any treatment begins that there is no underlying medical condition which is responsible for the impotence.

In patients with acquired impotence it is important to take a careful history to determine the onset of the problem and to try and discover if there is any known reason why it developed at that time. There are many factors which might contribute to the inability to achieve and maintain an adequate erection; however, sometimes the patient is unable to isolate any precipitating factors. Hypnotherapy is the treatment of choice for acquired impotence and has been shown to be highly effective. In many cases the patient finds it helpful when a combination of psychotherapy and hypnotherapy is used as this gives him the opportunity to explore, in a safe environment, the causative factors responsible for the impotence.

Patients who have never been able to achieve an adequate erection will require on going regular once a week individual psychotherapy over an extended period of time as this is a much more complex problem.

INJECTION PHOBIA

Many people who have injection phobia do not seek treatment until faced with the prospect of having to have an injection or blood tests. For example they may wish to go aboard on holiday to a destination where vaccinations against certain diseases are mandatory; or they may need to have an operation or it may be that they wish to become pregnant.

For patients who suffer from injection phobia just the thought of an injection or blood test is terrifying for them.

Injection phobia can be treated with either psychotherapy or hypnotherapy or by a combination of both of these. Which ever of these two approaches is used, it is essential in the early stages of the treatment that these patients learn to familiarise themselves with needles and syringes simply as pieces of equipment. During the treatment sessions the therapist will gradually introduce these items first in picture form and then produce real sterile syringes and needles. Once the individual is able to look at these items without fear they are then able to move on to the next stage of the treatment which involves handling them. Again this is done gradually in the context of the therapy. The next stage is for the patient to see a photograph of someone about to have an injection. The treatment progresses through a number of stages until eventually the patient is sufficiently confident to cope with actually having an injection or blood test themselves.

INSOMNIA

Lying awake at night is a distressing symptom. There may be a number of reasons why an individual has difficulty in sleeping and any physical cause such as pain needs to be investigated and treated. In the same way insomnia is frequently a symptom of both depression and hypomania and in these cases the treatment should be directed towards the underlying condition.

Once it has been established that insomnia is not associated with any obvious physical or psychiatric illness it is possible to treat the sleeplessness in its own right.

There are many simple remedies which may help an individual to get to sleep, which include taking a hot milky drink, having a bath, doing something relaxing before retiring to bed. However, many people who suffer from insomnia will have tried all these measures in the first instance and found them to be ineffective.

There are number of different sleeping tablets which can be prescribed by doctors. Alternatively there is homeopathic medication which can be bought over the counter without prescription. In spite of this, in many instances, the patient finds that he or she still has difficulty sleeping or if they do sleep with the aid of the medication it has an adverse effect on the way they function the next morning.

Patients who have difficulty sleeping fall into two main categories: those who have difficulty getting off to sleep and those who get to sleep easily but wake during the night and cannot get back to sleep again. In addition there is a third group of people, these are shift or night workers whose normal sleep patterns are disrupted.

Hypnosis is an extremely effective way of treating insomnia. During the treatment sessions the patient is taught self hypnosis and is encouraged to use this on a daily basis particularly when preparing to go to sleep or when they wake in the middle of the night.

As a result of this form of treatment many patients find that they can conquer their insomnia.

In Vivo Desensitisation 

In Vivo Desensitisation is a form of treatment in which the patient experiences the problem area in real life in the presence of the therapist. For example in the case of a patient who has difficulty going into department stores, the therapist would gradually introduce him/her to entering the department store and remaining in the store for increasing periods of time. As the patient progresses and becomes more familiar with the store he/she will be able to venture deeper into the building and further away from the exit. As confidence builds they become relaxed enough to make purchases, ask assistants for advice, wait to be served at the check out and use the lifts and escalators. All this takes place within the context of the treatment session and the therapist is present through out, offering encouragement and giving emotional support.

A similar approach can be employed for people who have difficulties travelling on various forms of public transport, and is an especially helpful form of treatment for people who are phobic about travelling on underground trains.

While the treatment of agoraphobic patients requires increasing the distance travelled from base, some in vivo desensitisation can take place in the consulting room, such as the treatment of spider phobia and wasp phobia. With larger animals the early stages of the treatment begin in the consulting room using photographs and books and then when the patient is comfortable with these moves to encounter these animals in the environment.

An example of this is snake phobia where the patient starts the treatment by looking at pictures of snakes, then looking at toy snakes and eventually handling toy snakes of increasing size. When this has been achieved the therapist then accompanies the patient to the Reptile House to view live snakes.

At all stages of the treatment great care needs to be taken to ensure that the patient does not experience excessive anxiety, as this is counterproductive. The treatment is carefully graded so that each successful stage promotes greater achievements. A well-managed progression should lead to ultimate recovery from the phobia, this is particularly true in the case of well-motivated patients.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Studies have shown that 1:5 people suffer from some degree of irritable bowel. It is often only when these symptoms become severe enough to interfere with their life that they seek treatment.

The symptoms of IBS can vary but patients will often present with urgency and frequency of bowel action, abdominal pain and bloating. Often patients complain of diarrhoea, but some are troubled by constipation.

It has been found that hypnotherapy is an extremely effective form of treatment, and after 12 sessions many patients have reported a considerable reduction in their symptoms, even in severe cases.

The first objective in treatment is to obtain a soothing effect on the bowel. Patients can go on to make a complete recovery but this will involve a deeper understanding of the emotional problems which underlie this syndrome.

 

Dr. Thomas Kraft