Chapter 72 Chapter 19 Using Hypnosis to Treat Social Anxiety

Treating Social Anxiety With Hypnosis The proportion of social phobia in the population is about 2%.But because it looks like shyness and goes unnoticed, it's also the most overlooked psychological disorder.Most people are more or less nervous in public, but if this nervousness reaches the level of fear, it is social phobia. The most common form of social phobia is the fear of speaking in public.If a middle school student is particularly afraid of being questioned by the teacher in class, and lowers his head like a confession when the teacher asks a question, it is a symptom of social phobia.College students' social phobia often manifests as a fear of facing strangers independently, such as having to go to a certain place to meet a certain person for a certain purpose.I remember that when I was in college, I wanted to visit a famous professor, but when I walked to the professor's door, I didn't dare to ring the doorbell.I hesitated at the door of the professor, as if after ringing the doorbell, there would be a catastrophe.There are also college boys who dare not invite the girl they like. When the girl really stands in front of him, he will panic to the point of being tongue-tied, which is also a symptom of social phobia.Entering the adult society, you face many challenging social contacts, such as job interviews and product sales.Many people have lost good job opportunities and career development possibilities because of social phobia.

Social phobia is similar to shyness, so it is not a disease in the eyes of outsiders, but it is extremely painful for that patient.When I was in college, I suffered from severe social phobia. I was afraid to speak in public, afraid to socialize with girls, and afraid to go to the dance hall.Once, I was dragged into the dance hall by my classmates, and I felt like I was suffering in hell.There was a girl who probably liked me, and sat next to me, suggesting that I ask her to dance. I was so scared that I immediately got up and fled the dance floor.But I didn't show any of my inner fears on my usual appearance, and I still seemed to be very social.My social phobia is actually the internal motivation for me to transfer from undergraduate electronics to graduate psychology.In the 1980s when there was a shortage of psychological counselors, I hoped to treat my psychological problems by studying psychology by myself.

Later, of course, I cured my social phobia through the psychology I learned.But in my many years of practice in clinical psychology, I have not really encountered many patients with social phobia, because most people with this disorder would rather endure torture by themselves than let others know that they are "ridiculous". fear".When I was working in a counseling center in Queens, I met Tom, an American who was an editor at a New York television station.Tom confessed to me that he suffers from social phobia.He is most afraid of his boss. Every day when he sees his boss, he will have some inexplicable fear; secondly, he is afraid of speaking at the editorial meeting; and he will blush when he sees female colleagues.He has seen several psychiatrists, but the results of the treatment are not satisfactory.He heard from a friend of his that I could use hypnosis to treat social phobia, so he came to me for treatment.

"Did you feel nervous when you rang the doorbell?" I smiled at Tom.Tom's eyes lit up and said, "Yes, how do you know?" "Because I used to have the same problem as you." My words quickly brought my relationship with Tom closer.I briefly introduced to him the principle of using hypnosis to treat social phobia: use hypnosis to discover the vicious cycle of subconscious trauma and current social phobia, and then use hypnotic analysis to relieve the continuous attack of subconscious trauma, and at the same time use direct suggestion to cut off the subconscious Trauma and the vicious cycle of social phobia at the conscious level and teaching him simple social skills.Tom agreed with my treatment principles and was eager to enter hypnotherapy.

I asked Tom to make fists with both hands, and then I looked into Tom's eyes with my eyes, asking him to look into my eyes, and at the same time, I covered Tom's hands with my hands, and I kept cueing his hands tightly. It's getting tighter.After more than ten seconds, Tom's eyes slid to one side, he was obviously not used to such direct gaze.I asked him to pull his gaze back, while continuing to imply that his hand was getting tighter and tighter.There was a sudden tremor in his hands, and his eyes were tightly closed, as if trying to avoid something. I asked him what he thought of?He said he saw the little bully in his elementary school through my eyes.The little bully kept bullying him, laughing at him as a coward, and the little bully's followers also laughed at him.He was also warned not to tell his parents, and he really never dared to tell his parents.I hinted that he was focusing his anger on the clasped hands, that he couldn't separate them.As a result, he really couldn't separate his hands.I knew this was a clear sign that he had entered a hypnotic state, and the conversations I had with him since then were actually carried out under his hypnotic state.I asked him to open his eyes, look at the bully in front of him, and encourage him to say something that directly challenged the bully.Under hypnosis, I guided him to mistake me for the little bully while accepting my suggestive instructions.As a result, after several attempts, he clearly uttered the words of daring to challenge the bully under hypnosis.I know this is a key subconscious trauma in the treatment of his social phobia.Through such hypnotic exercises, his subconscious fear of the bully was quickly eliminated.Naturally, his social phobia also showed a fundamental turning point.