Allergies and psychotherapy

I first became interested in the treatment of allergies when I noticed on several occasions, whilst helping patients process past traumas or resolve a phobic response, they reported that the treatment had also resolve an allergy. After some research I found that many colleagues could also recount occasions where psychotherapy had also resulted in the resolution of an allergy.

Modern science has taught us a great deal about allergies but we still do not know why an increasing number of people have this totally illogical reaction to everyday substances such as pollen, cat hairs and a variety of harmless foods. Medical practitioners tend to split up sufferers into the nearest pre-existing medical specialisation ; migraines are referred to a neurologist who may not be trained in immunology, joint problems will be sent to a rheumatologist; a food intolerance will be referred to a gastroenterologist etc.

While these presenting symptoms could be caused by other medical conditions which need to be eliminated, once this is done the patent should be referred to a allergy specialist who can approach their condition from a more holistic point of view. But chances of being referred to a specialist in Clinical Hypnosis, Neuro Linguistic Programming, or trauma therapy are remote and, at best only as a last resort referral.

Once taken lightly, clinical hypnosis has now become a legitimate and effective medical tool. The use of hypnotherapy for skin rashes, headaches and asthma is widely known as it is a particularly effective treatment for stress and past trauma. In these and many other medical conditions it is known that stress can be a trigger or, as some now believe, may be the root cause .

There are many cases where the onset of such conditions have been linked to a specific traumatic event such as childbirth, bereavement, a car crash or an assault. The medical treatments for such conditions tend to be mainly reactive to an attack or preventative by avoiding the antagonist. Unfortunately little is done to establish a root cause other than eliminating organic illness. Psychotheraphy is rarely considered.

It is hardly surprising that the hard pressed GP is often forced to turned to quick fixes which alleviate annoying symptoms but do not determine root causes. In such cases clinical hypnosis can help in several ways.

The usual diagnostic regression, which allows the unconscious mind to indicate if a past event is playing read more