Well, the good news is that after 4 previous attempts at passing her driving test, Nicki Durrant has now got her drivers license thanks to hypnotherapy. Well done Nicki…

In this hypnotherapy article at Small News Website and several others on the internet this morning, it states the following:

Nikki Durrant, 35, developed such a severe phobia of driving that she would burst into tears as soon as she got behind the wheel.

She tried to pass her driving test four times but with each failure the panic attacks worsened – sometimes leaving her barely able to breath.

Nikki became so desperate that she turned to hypnosis and after just two hours of treatment she passed her fifth test with flying colours.

The article goes on to say:

”Hypnotherapy has worked wonders for me, I don’t think I would ever have passed my driving test without it.

”I don’t normally go in for that kind of thing, but now I use it whenever I am stressed.”

It also states:

Following her fourth failure, Nikki’s husband Stuart suggested she undergo sessions with Glasgow based hypnotherapist Caroline Tyler.

Hypnotherapist Caroline said: ”Nikki’s fear was crippling. She could drive but she panicked so much that it disabled her.

”She was anxious so I took her through her driving test in her head so when she did come to take it again she could associate it with a relaxed memory.”

Caroline taught Nikki to hypnotise herself by slowing her breathing and this technique allowed her to pass her fifth test with flying colours.

And she even used hypnotherapy again when giving birth to her second son, eight-month-old Freddie, to cope with the pain without drugs.

Marvellous stuff all round, eh?

It does not stop there, following on from many similar articles published in the UK press in recent months, the Independent online in South Africa is also now championing hypnosis and hypnotherapy for aiding with childbirth. This self-hypnosis article states:

After a traumatic Caesarean section birth three years ago Magan Hall of Rosebank in Cape Town could not imagine herself going through another childbirth.

But after much contemplation, Hall decided to try for a second baby. This time, however, she wasn’t going to let her first birthing experience get the better of her.

She started doing research on birthing options, having decided that a C-section would not be an option.

After a visit to her midwife she was advised to try hypnobirthing. It was the first time that she heard of this birthing method, but decided to give it a go.

“I remember attending my first class and thinking how will this help me give birth naturally? Because of my bad experience with my first birth I had become very sceptical of everything,” she said.

Little did she know she was in it for the long haul. She attended the full antenatal course and used the techniques in November last year when she successfully gave birth naturally to her son Huw within two hours of going into labour.

The article continues:

Hypnobirthing is described as a childbirth method that uses self-hypnosis to help expectant mothers manage the tension caused by fear and anxiety during labour, through visualisation and relaxation.

It uses different breathing techniques to help the body reach a deep, relaxed state similar to “daydreaming”, thereby allowing the expectant mother to manage her labour pains. The techniques are also taught to birthing companions, who learn to help the mother reach deeper levels of relaxation.

Still a relatively new method in South Africa, hypnobirthing was developed in the US by Marie Morgan, a hypnotherapist who said she uses self-hypnosis on pregnant women to help their body’s muscles work the way they should during childbirth.

Today it is widely used in countries such as the US and UK, with available research suggesting that it can reduce the standard first labour from 12 hour to eight hours.

According to Kim Young, a hypnobirthing childbirth educator in Cape Town, the “horror stories” that pregnant women are told by friends, family, and other sources, including the media, about childbirth has resulted in many being scared of giving birth even though many are physically capable of giving birth comfortably.

The article also offers up a lot more information and is a great promotion for the hypnobirthing process. Great stuff again.

I thought I’d mention another little snippet here too, there has been stacks of other stuff in the news recently, but I like to point out things that pique my interest… Here is something which I was interested to read because I have seen many discussions on forums about hypnotherapy degrees in recent times as well as had students enquire with St Marys university in London, which gets some poor press in this article at the Telegraph newspaper.

it is not the coverage of the University, or the debate on University fees that I am writing about. It is actually the derisory snipe at the Univeristy because it offers a degree in Hypnotherapy, it states:

WITH the best will in the world St Mary’s University College in Twickenham hardly rates as an exceptional centre of higher education. Founded as a teacher training college, the south-west London institution, now offering degrees in clinical hypnotherapy, inhabits the bottom third of the university league table. Not the most glittering of prizes.

How is that the “best will in the world”?? I just chuckled wryly at the fact that they put the boot in to the University some more by sniping at the fact that they offer a degree in hypnotherapy…

Anyhow. There you have it, some hypnosis and hypnotherapy stories making the news around the world… brought to you by yours truly… I’ll be back tomorrow…