Did You Say “Vegetable Phobia?”

Up until a few months ago, when a woman approached me about treating her vegetable phobia, I had no idea that Lachanophobia (fear of vegetables) even existed.   When I agreed to take her on as a client, I knew that I could help her get past her fear, but I had no idea how much the session would impact her life!  My client’s phobia was precipitated by a traumatic event in childhood, where she was left in a highchair all night staring at a bowl of peas.  After the incident, she developed an extreme aversion to vegetables, which lasted into adulthood.  Whenever she was faced with the prospective of having to eat any kind of vegetables, she would start to feel panicky, her throat would close up and she would feel very nauseous.

Being significantly overweight, my client’s weight loss goals were constantly being undermined because of her fear of vegetables.  When she came into my office the first time, she was practically in tears as she described her frustration with not being able to lose weight.

I treated her condition just like I would treat any phobia, by rewiring her memories of the traumatic event and desensitizing her to the fear.  After only two sessions, she’s now eating most vegetables (except for the ones which we agreed she never had to eat, like Brussels sprouts).  Not only does she feel comfortable around cucumbers and asparagus, but she’s lost 20 pounds in one month and she’s feeling great!

The moral of the story?  There’s no such thing as a weird phobia. If you’re legitimately afraid of something and its negatively impacting your life, maybe it’s time you faced your fear.

Are You Living in Fear?

Most people are afraid of something.  They spent countless hours avoiding this, that or the other.  But, alas, the more you avoid something, the more it shows up in your life.  (What you focus on expands).  I’ve been avoiding snorkeling and scuba diving since I was 10 years old because I’m too scared of fish! It may sound absurd, but to me it makes perfect sense.  I developed ichthyophobia when I was around 9 or 10, after a certain incident where I was chased with a fish (no kidding!).  Since then, I’ve been scared to go anywhere near them.  But now that I’m going to Hawaii for my honeymoon (and my husband wants to go scuba diving), I feel that it’s time to finally confront my fear.

This topic has really got me thinking about the importance of overcoming fear.  Fear can be so debilitating and so wasteful.  It prevents people from living their lives to the fullest and inhibits them from pursuing their greatest passions.  After five miserable years as a courtroom litigator, I overcame my biggest fear of switching careers and now I help others conquer theirs.  If I hadn’t been willing to tackle my fear, I’d still be sitting at a desk sorting legal documents.

I help people release all types of phobias, including flying, elevators, animals, public speaking, doctors/dentists, closed spaces, etc.  One of my clients avoided elevators for nearly 20 years until I gave her a hypnotic suggestion that every time she saw an elevator, she would be reminded of the glass elevator from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and the little child in her would feel compelled to explore the possibilities of where the elevator could go.  I had another client who was deathly afraid of birds until I gave her a hypnotic suggestion that every time she saw a bird, she would think of a chipmunk.  (In her mind, chipmunks were safe and cuddly).

I’m so passionate about helping people overcome their fears/phobias, that I’ve developed a TV show around this topic and I’m pitching it to Oprah!  If you want to learn more or you just want to see me being chased around by a fish, please click on the link and VOTE: www.tinyurl.com/AyeletsOprahVideo (Don’t be confused- Ayelet is my Israeli name).

Do You Have An Addictive Personality?

If you’ve ever polished off a whole pizza or had one too many drinks, you know what it feels like to overindulge.   But what separates the occasional “over-indulger” from the full blown addict?  Are there personality traits that make one person more susceptible to addiction than another?

The idea that there is such a thing as “addictive personality” is highly debatable in the medical community.  Most experts agree that there is no singular recipe for addictive behavior.  However, there are certain factors that can affect the likelihood of someone developing an addiction:

• Family history of addiction
• Gender (e.g., men are twice as likely as women to develop drug addiction)
• Anxiety, depression and loneliness
• Antisocial personality
• Low distress tolerance
• Difficulty delaying gratification
• Abuse or trauma in childhood
• Profound inconsistencies in parenting

If you recognize the signs of an addictive personality in yourself or someone you love, don’t fret. Just because you have the traits, doesn’t mean you’re destined to develop a problem with addiction.  If you are struggling with an addictive behavior, you’re not alone.  There are many treatment options available.  Hypnosis is one alternative approach.

Hypnosis Lap Band Surgery Yields Great Results

What is the V-Band?

It’s the most advanced weight loss procedure being used by hypnotherapists today.  The concept was first introduced in the UK, where it was reported that a woman named Joh Smith lost 55 lbs after being hypnotized to believe she had gastric binding. It later spread to other parts of Europe and is currently making its West Coast debut at the Santa Monica Hypnosis Clinic.

The V-Band is a non-surgical procedure that uses hypnosis and the power of the subconscious mind to help you achieve the sensation of your stomach being constricted by a gastric band. As a result of this procedure, you feel satisfied with smaller portions, you eat less and you steadily lose the excess weight.

How Does It Work?

The procedure lasts less than 20 minutes.  While under deep trance, your therapist will suggest to you that you’ve been fitted with a gastric band.  After the procedure, you will be eating smaller portions. Every time before you eat, you will feel a tightening in your stomach, signaling you to only eat when your stomach is empty.  You will feel full quicker and will recognize that you are full when your stomach feels like a balloon that has been inflated to maximum capacity.

What’s the Success Rate?

Although there’s been a lot of positive press about the mental lap band, it is a little too early to tell what the success rate will be.  So far, this program has yielded very positive results. Because we want to be able to publish our results in a clinical journal, we have decided to offer the program to a select few for a deeply discounted rate.  Participants will be asked to give feedback and their photo and resulting statistics will be published.

How Do I Apply for The Clinical Study?

A few openings are still available in our clinical study. We would have to meet with you first to make sure you qualify for the study. If this sounds like it would be a good fit for you, please call us so we can get you in for a consultation.

Hypnosis: a Powerful Tool in Complementary Cancer Care

Initial studies have shown hypnosis to be extremely beneficial for cancer patients and loved ones who battle anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and other secondary symptoms associated with traditional cancer treatments. Aggressive cancers like mesothelioma can have harmful side effects associated with radiation and chemotherapy regimens. Hypnosis has been shown to demonstrate improved capacity to manage these symptoms in mesothelioma patients as well as that of other types of cancer.

Hypnotherapy has been used for many years in clinical settings. Hypnotherapy’s role in cancer management however, is relatively new and indications are that its utilization has not been fully maximized yet. Effective cancer treatment often depends on the patient’s ability to not only defeat the cancer through treatments but also to maintain their health and mental spirit throughout the painful side effects of cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.

Often, the symptoms and effects of the cancer itself on the body are negligible compared to the pain and other side effects of chemotherapy and radiation. This is where acupuncture has been said to be most effective. Cancers such as mesothelioma, which are often unable to be removed by surgical means, are often treated with some combination of chemotherapy and radiation. While these potent therapies can be effective in eliminating some of the tumor mass and growth, they also profoundly affect the health of the surrounding tissue. Symptoms of these effects including fever, nausea, and general pain have been dramatically reduced through the utilization of hypnosis. Patients, who are able to withstand these symptoms and recover quickly, will often be able to be more aggressively treated, increasing the efficacy of the treatment regimen as a whole. Some specific hypnotherapy techniques utilized in pain management include altering the neurophysical configuration of pain, control of anticipatory anxiety, and targeted imagery.

Hypnotherapy techniques may not be appropriate for all patient’s pain and individual symptoms but it’s certainly worth exploring as it can do very little harm in experimenting with integrative therapies. The goal with alternative therapies, as with traditional mesothelioma treatments, is always to increase the effectiveness of treatment as a whole. If hypnotherapy can assist in any way in helping patients recover or manage symptoms of chemotherapy or radiation, then it will have contributed to the treatment regimens overall efficacy and should certainly be utilized.

References

Erickson MH: Hypnosis in painful terminal illness, in Haley J (ed): Advanced Techniques of Hypnosis and Therapy: Selected Papers of Milton Erickson, MD. New York, Crune & Stratton, 1967.

Sunnen, Gerard M.D. , Hypnotic Approaches in the Cancer Patient Ozonics International, LLC

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