Dr David Kraft has co-written articles on many subjects. In the first article, written in 2004, he looked at the use of hypnotherapy in the treatment of driving phobia. The Abstract is as follows:

This is a case study of a fifty-five year old married lady who had a severe driving phobia with a concomitant reduction in her mobility. She had been involved in an accident on the motorway but did not develop phobic symptoms until after the second incident—a near collision. The treatment consisted of a systematic desensitisation of driving scenarios in hypnosis: after sixteen treatment sessions, the patient made a complete recovery and was able to drive on all public roads. Following each session, the patient was encouraged to practise her driving in the presence of her husband who was a skilled driver. In hypnosis, the patient was able to create a world of vivid imagery using all sensory modalities; and it was this verisimilitude, akin to ‘virtual reality exposure therapy’ (VRET), that contributed significantly to her complete recovery.

Key Words driving related fear (DRF), motor vehicle accident (MVA) and non-motor vehicle accident (non-MVA), virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), safe place

Copyright 2004 British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis. Whurr Publishers.