Dear psychotherapist

I am originally from England. I moved to France and lived there for about three years. I moved back to London six months ago and on the plane, I felt terrible. I felt that I was having a panic attack and that there was nothing I could do to stop it. I felt that the whole of my body was tense and that my internal organs were becoming tighter.

I survived this ordeal but it really shocked me. I went back to work. But after a few days I started to feel this tense feeling in my stomach. I love hot (spicy) food, and I wondered whether this was the reason, but I have always eaten spicy food and I have never experienced this. I then went to the GP and he gave me Mebeverine, which is an antispasmodic. I took this and it improved slightly, but now I have diarrhoea. I then took some Imodium and that worked but then I got constipated and so it goes on. I have had my stools tested and had all sorts of examinations but they can’t find anything. Is this sort of thing psychological? Can it be? It seems real to me. I haven’t tried hypnotherapy andI wondered whether you can help me. Can you? And how do I get an appointment to see a hypnotherapist. I am sure that I have got IBS. Is hypnosis what I need? Thanks Dave.

Dear Dave 

Thank you for the e-mail. It seems that you are suffering from IBS-A, where symptoms of diarrhoea and constipation alternate. IBS is very often related to psychological stress or trauma. The approach that I have used in the past, and I have had great success with this process, is to combine support in the psychotherapy with hypnotherapy. In the hypnotherapy I used the direct application of hand warmth to the stomach and I combine this with imagery–specifically, the river metaphor. In this approach, you will be asked to imagine a river and to clean the river of all the rubble and waste, and this, in turn, has a relieving effect on gastrointestinal transit.

In order to book a session, you can simply ring the number here–0207 467 8564. One used to have to get a referral letter from one’s GP; but now, you can simply ring for an appointment with a hypnotherapist or psychotherapist.

Best of luck

Dr David Kraft (PhD); hypnotherapist and psychotherapist.

Dr David Kraft is a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and also a member of the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH). David is also on the General Hypnotherapy Register. He holds two diplomas in clinical hypnosis and a diploma in clinical psychology. He has written papers in international and national journals, including four articles in Contemporary Hypnosis, the publication of the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH), and three articles in the Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. Dr David Kraft uses hypnosis in conjunction with psychodynamic psychotherapy, and he is based in Harley Street in London, UK.