A 45 year-old woman came to me for help with a fear of snakes. She had been afraid of snakes for many years, and had decided that enough was enough. This woman owned nine acres of land that had walking trails that led down to the river that ran along her property, yet this woman never used them because she was so afraid that she would come upon a snake and go into a panic. Her neighbors got more use of her property than she did!
After the standard intake procedure and conversation about what hypnosis is and is not, we proceeded with an induction process, then deepened the trance state. When the woman showed me the signs I tend to look for that a client is in a good place trance-wise, I gave a series of direct suggestions designed to replace her fear reaction with a natural feeling of regard for any snake that she might see. I worked at re-creating empathy for any snakes that she would encounter, reminding her that they are simple creatures who just wish to be left alone, and that almost any snake she would ever come upon would be much more afraid of her than she was of it. If she just gave snakes the healthy, natural respect that they deserve, they would do the same.
I gave these suggestions to the client repeatedly, modifying them each time so that they were framed a little differently, worded a little differently, with the intention of making sure the ideas got communicated several times in as thorough a manner as possible. When I finished that process I helped the client emerge from hypnosis, de-briefed with her, and sent her on her way. The results were immediate. She went home and walked her property without any anxiety whatsoever, and reported that she no longer experienced feelings of anxiety when she saw snakes on TV or in pictures.
There are always multiple ways to approach an issue like this. Some practitioners will want to regress to cause, helping the client understand what created the fear and then re-framing that experience so they can move forward. I have done this myself in some cases, but I also think it's valid to just work in the present with clients. As I've developed my own style, I find myself more and more often taking the approach of staying in the present. Help your clients re-shape their thinking, help them understand and buy into the idea that they have resources and strengths, and let them get moving forward.
I don't think it matters which approach you use, but it matters why you're using it. Having a sound philosophical approach that guides your practice is important. And you can depart from that approach from time to time if you have good reason. What matters is that you do what you do for a reason, not because some manual or script says you should.
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