3min Read
This is a Case Study from a client experiencing Anxiety and Stress who came for Cognitive Hypnotherapy treatment with me. Case Study’s help future clients understand what’s involved in treatment, and can help them see that there is effective support available for them. If that’s you, I hope this helps you feel change is possible.
The Situation
Katie, in her 20s working in property services in the Sheffield area, had been struggling with anxiety and stress at work and in her personal relationships for as long as she could remember. Up until that point she was experiencing a challenge setting boundaries in a work environment that was, at best, difficult and, at worst, toxic. Some of her personal life her relationships, including with her mum were also strained.
Previously she’d worked with Counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and, while they’d helped her find relief while in treatment, she was looking for something that could drive change for the long-term.
Katie sought help from me through Sheffield Wellness Centre (where I work In-Person), and, due to her work and commuting requirements, decided working Online over Zoom would best meet her needs.
Treatment Phase
As with all prospective new clients, Katie and I had a 20-30 minute consultation call before agreeing to work together to help Katie understand how the process would work, costs, timeframes and whether I was a good fit. These calls also give me a chance to answer any questions and start to understand what a prospective client is experiencing.
Before the first session Katie completed a standard questionnaire, used in NHS and other clinical settings, to help benchmark her experience of anxiety, and to support measurement of changes over time. This showed that she was experiencing clinically significant levels of anxiety.
Overall Katie and I worked together for three sessions over Zoom:
- Session one: this is the “fact finding” phase, focused on understanding more about the nature of Katie’s experience with anxiety, and, equally importantly, what she wanted to experience beyond it.
- Session two: Katie and I worked with a regression technique so Katie could connect to the old, unconsciously held, memories of childhood experiences that for her were the starting point for anxiety. From there, I helped her re-relate to those memories and to create new meanings from her adult point of view. I provided an audio recording for Katie to support her mind to continue to make the changes that started in the session.
- Session three: focused on understanding what had changed, including a repeat of the benchmark testing, which showed a significant reduction in her experience of anxiety (from 8 down to 1) and a corresponding increase in her overall enjoyment of life. Sam also updated her audio recording to support Katie to further consolidate the changes.
In addition to the sessions and audio recordings, after session two, Katie reconnected to her own internal resources, strengths and capabilities through actively using some affirmations that came to her spontaneously after some of those old experiences and associated limiting beliefs had been updated. She started to use these affirmations in situations where once she used to experience anxiety.
The Outcome
As above, the short-term impact of Cognitive Hypnotherapy on Katie’s experience of anxiety was significant, including greater ease and less pressure at work, greatly reduced social anxiety and improved relationship with people close to her. This was demonstrated not only in her experiences but underlined by the reduction of her clinical scores. Linked to this Katie experienced improved overall well-being and enjoyment in her wider life.
Checking in seven months after finishing working together Katie had changed jobs and said “I took the leap and changed jobs a few months ago…I’m exhausted but loving the new role and having such a different outlook on life now.”
Gratitude
Thanks to Katie for giving me permission to share her story and be part of helping others find the relief from Anxiety and Stress they deserve.