Tale of fixing phobia of dogs
Fear of dogs, or dog phobia is a quite common issue. It is something that presents itself fairly regularly at the West Coast Hypnosis offices in Ayr.
Its clinical name is cynophobia.
Like most phobias, dog phobia is an irrational fear, that the individual has no control over; the cynophobic person understands the vast majority of dogs pose no real threat.
Even though they may fully realise this, they feel powerless in the face of dogs of all shapes and sizes.
For the person experiencing dog phobia, even the smallest and most inoffensive of dogs may be as threatening and fearsome as a tiger. In some instances, even the sound of a dog barking in the distance is enough to cause apprehension and real fear, or to use avoidance strategies, something that Fiona Paton remembers all too well.
Fiona sought the help of clinical hypnotherapist Naomi Hill at West Coast Hypnosis’ main clinic in Ayr last year, after a terrifying encounter with a dog almost led her to step off a cliff on holiday in Cornwall to avoid crossing paths with the animal.
“I’d had the fear for as long as I can remember,” Fiona explains. “It escalated as I got older and it got to the point where I would avoid going anywhere there might be dogs – beaches, to friends’ homes who owned pet dogs – even out into my back garden for a while as there was a dog next door and the sound of him barking filled me with fear.
“Then, last year, I was on holiday in Cornwall and was walking along a cliff one day. I realised I needed to keep at least 12 feet from the edge as I knew if a dog approached there was a risk I would step straight off the edge.
“During a family walk through the woods my husband had already needed to haul me back from a steep drop as a dog approached. I knew I needed help”.
Naomi goes on to describe how she works with phobias of this severity.
“In Fiona’s case, we used a combination of NLP and hypnotherapy techniques to desensitise her to all things related to dogs, which straight away produced some fantastic results.
“Within a week, Fiona was aware that her responses around dogs seemed to be dulled, and that she felt more in control.
“We continued to reinforce the fact that dogs simply had nothing to do with her.
“Within a couple of weeks she had stopped even registering them.”
“Now Fiona feels dogs aren’t on her radar at all.
“She was unsure if results would be permanent, which is common in a client experiencing rapid results. However, she has now been free of this problem for over a year and has a whole new lease of life.”
“A dog jumped up at me in the bank the other day”, Fiona smiles.
“I was just a bit irritated by it, but there was no fear at all.
“I had tried another therapist previously to Naomi and they had belittled my fear.
“I’m so glad I decided to give it another go with someone else. Naomi really listened and explained the whole process.
“I highly recommend that if anyone has any fear, suspend your disbelief and give it a try. Going to West Coast Hypnosis has completely changed my life.”
If you have an irrational fear or phobia, and feel you need some help, speak to Naomi at West Coast Hypnosis on 07941 106921, or via email at enquiries@ wetcoasthypnosis.