Welcome to our
private psychotherapy practice

THUMB SUCKING

This condition can be present from birth upwards and many young children suck their thumbs which has a soothing effect. However if this persists into later childhood and adolescence it may become very distressing both for the individual and their family. It may have become such a habit that the individual is unaware that the thumb is going into the mouth.

Often as a result of prolonged thumb sucking the teeth are pushed out of alignment and are likely to require extensive dental treatment later.

Hypnosis can be very helpful in treating this distressing problem. During the course of the treatment the patient is given powerful suggestions that they will no longer have the need to suck their thumb. During the treatment session the patient will be taught how to use self hypnosis at home; this an essential component of the treatment programme. Dr Kraft has found that if the patient is well motivated to give up this habit the treatment results are excellent after about 10 sessions.

TRAFFIC PHOBIA

Pedestrians who have been involved in road traffic accidents may develop a fear of traffic and this may reach panic proportions. However, a fear of traffic may also develop when there has been no actual accident but the individual has witnessed a situation where there was a potential for an accident to take place. In both instances the panic may be connected with a fear of dying. If there is a loud noise associated with the circumstances of the trauma then the patient may react to this by becoming over sensitive to other noisy situations. This may be something quite unrelated such as the radio, or the television, or even a room full of people. This can escalate so that they are unwilling to turn on the radio and will only speak in whispers The individual may become so frightened that they are reluctant to venture out into any place where they might encounter traffic or noise.     

The treatment of choice in the first instance is hypnotherapy.  During this treatment the patient is hypnotised and in the relaxed state, under the guidance of the therapist, the patient imagines increasingly difficult situations which cause distress.  In order to counteract the fears they are asked to imagine a special place in which they feel perfectly safe and secure. This will then have the effect of reducing the anxiety. The aim of the treatment is to ensure that eventually the patient is able to face all situations involving traffic and also cope with noise if this is a component of the problem.

As the treatment progresses it is frequently found that patients wish to explore other issues in their lives which on the surface seem unrelated to the presenting problem. It is important to address these and the use of psychotherapy in addition to the hypnotherapy is woven into the treatment.  

In Dr Kraft’s experience by using a combination of psychotherapy and hypnotherapy for this type of problem the patient is likely to make an excellent recovery.

THUNDERSTORM PHOBIA

People who suffer from a thunderstorm phobia do not usually seek treatment for this condition until it has reached panic proportions. When these patients first become aware of the symptoms they initially try to combat the feelings of panic by taking practical precautions, such as drawing the curtains and un-plugging electrical appliances. This would be considered to be quite a normal reaction. However, as the phobia escalates even the possibility of an approaching storm will precipitate feelings of anxiety. This can reach such proportions that they constantly watch the weather forecast and scan the sky in case the weather might change for the worse.

The first line of treatment is to use hypnosis to desensitise the person to mild weather conditions, such as “cotton wool” clouds in the sky. As the treatment progresses more severe weather is introduced in the hypnosis. The severity is carefully graded as the patient feels better equipped to cope with each level of difficulty, until eventually a stage is reached when they are able to cope with the possibility of an imminent thunderstorm.

The therapy continues until the patient feels no panic when they hear thunder claps and lightening flashing. Throughout the hypnotherapy the therapist gives the patient a vivid description of the various scenarios interspersed with the patients chosen “special place” where they feel safe and secure.

In the final stages of the treatment, the patient is asked to imagine all the component parts of a thunderstorm together, which has the effect of consolidating the treatment. During the course of the therapy it is possible that the person may wish to talk about the reasons behind the development of their phobia.

In Dr Kraft’s experience thunderstorm phobia can be treated very successfully using a combination of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy.



Dr. Thomas Kraft