There are different different types of phobia listed in DSM IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994): agoraphobia, social phobia and specific phobia. Within the specific phobia category there are five subtypes of phobic anxiety: animal phobias, situational phobias, blood injection injury types, natural environment type and other type. Animal phobia usually has a childhood onset. Individuals who suffer from animal phobia can normally lead a normal life, but in some instances, a person might develop extreme avoidance and safety behaviours, and in these cases, it is helpful to seek psychotherapeutic support.

These are some examples of safety/avoidance behaviours:

1 Not being able to read a newspaper because of an uncontrollable fear that you might come across a cat on one of the pages.

2 Not being able to go on holiday abroad because of fear of seeing a large spider in the wild.

3 Screaming out loud and asking your boyfriend to check every room of the hotel for ants before you can go in.

If these scenarios sound familiar, it might be helpful for you o seek help now. The approach that David Kraft uses combines behaviour techniques with hypnosis. He will use systematic desensitization in order gradually and efficiently to reduce anticipatory anxiety to your feared object. The hypnosis will intensify you feelings of well being and control throughout the process.

David Kraft is a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a full member of BSCAH. He runs a successful practice in Harley Street, London. To book a session, please ring 0207 467 8564.

London Hypnotherapy UK is the specialist partner of London Psychotherapy.

Offices and consulting rooms ar based at 10 Harley Street, London, W1G 9PF

For copyright reasons, the original article published in Contemporary Hypnosis cannot be included here. However, a pre-publication version can be included on one’s website. This is the pre-publication version of the original article. There is more information included here. I hope you enjoy reading about Tom Kraft–a famous academic and clinican. 

A tribute to Tom Kraft (1932-2008)

by David Kraft

Dr Thomas Kraft (‘Tom’) MB, ChB, FRCPsych, DPM died on the 10 of December 2008. Tom made a significant contribution to the field of integrative psychotherapy—that is to say, psychodynamic psychotherapy combined with hypnosis and/or behaviour therapy— and the following tribute celebrates the life of a man who supported, enriched and transformed the lives of many people in both short- and long-term therapy.

Life and Character

Tom was born in Berlin in 1932 into a wealthy Jewish family, where his grandfather owned a successful haberdashery business in the city. His father, a doctor of law, became aware very early on of the trend the political situation was taking, and he arranged for the family to leave for Switzerland as soon as possible. His grandfather, however, said that the prospect of a divided country and the possibility of mass segregation was not possible in Germany; however, he and his wife were later sent to a concentration camp and all of their assets were confiscated.

Tom adapted to life in Switzerland, enjoying Swiss chocolate and home-made ice cream, and teaching skiing in the alps for fruit at the tender age of five. He also learnt to speak Swiss dialect. From Switzerland. they moved to England through France and settled initially in Golders Green. Tom learnt to play the violin and, under his Aunt Truda’s influence, developed a love for classical—particularly, Baroque—music. During his childhood, Tom spent a significant amount of time at boarding school, which he hated. Nevertheless, Tom found a tree in one of the gardens and, in his spare time, he listened to the sounds of the birds, and he even created his own vegetable patch in the middle of the woods. When the family moved to Oxford, Tom continued to listen to classical music and to play the violin; he also worked hard at school and went to the theatre. The Oxford play company was always delighted when he came to visit because his infectious laugh made sure that the play would be a success.

Tom had wanted to become a doctor since the age of 5; at this age he had a first aid kit and he went around bandaging people throughout the day. It was almost an inevitability that he would train to become a doctor, and, Tom went to Leeds to do just that. Having qualified from Leeds Medical School in 1956, Tom held various house jobs in London—he was the house surgeon at St. Giles’ (1957-8), house physician at the Royal Northern (1957-8), Locum at the Brook and Dulwich Hospital (1958), House Physician at the Wittington (1958-9) and Senior House Officer at the Guy’s Maudsley Neurosurgical Unit (1959). During his national service, Tom was then stationed at Aldershot with the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was subsequently based in London and in the Middle East on the Heat and Acclimatisation trials. Tom also worked at the Army Information Offices in Belfast, Cambridge and Oxford: it was while he was in Belfast that he travelled regularly all the way back to London to finish a course in neurology at Hammersmith Hospital.

Tom went on to specialize in psychiatry. He worked at St Thomas’ for Dr William Sargeant, as a Psychiatric House Physician at the Netherne Hospital (1963-4), as a Senior House Officer, Registrar and Senior Registrar at St Clement’s (1964-9), Senior Registrar at Claybury Hospital (1969-71) and Senior Registrar at Barts’ (1971). Tom then set up in private practice in Harley Street (1971-2008) where he worked up until two weeks before his death in December 2008. Tom also treated patients in a number of institutions including the Grovelands’ Priory (1987-1995), the Florence Nightingale Hospital (1988-2003), Edenhall (1988-1998) and St Luke’s Hospital for the Clergy (2000-2008).       

It was in Harley Street that Tom developed still further his unique ability to treat patients. He became a lifeline for many patients. Some, who needed his continuous support, remained with him for years, while many others were, with his expertise, able to overcome their psychological conditions in a relatively short period of time. Tom had a tremendous success with thousands of patients over the 37 years in which he worked in private practice. He wrote some review papers, but many of his articles were case studies in which patients had successful outcomes: in many respects, these papers are a tribute to Tom’s life’s work.

Tom’s contribution to the field of integrative psychotherapy

It was as early as 1963, that Tom began working in the field of psychotherapy. He trained as a psychiatrist and completed the DPM in 1965; over the next few years, as part of his training, he underwent psychoanalysis himself and gained the MRCPsych in1973. During this period, Tom did some of the pioneer work in behaviour therapy which re-defined how behavioural approaches could be utilized in the treatment of psychological disturbances (Kraft & Burnfield, 1967; Kraft & Al-Issa, 1966; Al-Issa & Kraft, 1967; Kraft 1975). He employed learning theory in the treatment of a patient with traffic phobia (Kraft, 1965a), showed how aversion therapy could be utilized in the treatment of sexual perversions (Kraft, 1967), and used a combination of systematic desensitization and methohexitone in the successful treatment of premature ejaculation (Kraft & Al-Issa, 1968a). Tom introduced the concept that social anxiety was often connected with and the cause of drug abuse and alcholism (Kraft & Al-Issa, 1968b; Kraft 1969b; Kraft 1971b; Kraft, 1976). Further, in 1970, Tom showed that psychotherapy—specifically psycho-dynamically orientated psychotherapy—and behaviour therapy were not diametrically opposite (Kraft, 1970b).

Tom used Wolpe’s (1958) principle of reciprocal inhibition, using a graded hierarchy of increasing anxiety-provoking situations and pairing this with the relaxation in hypnosis. Tom used systematic sensitization in the treatment of heat phobia (Kraft & Al-Issa, 1965b), frigidity (Kraft & Al-Issa, 1967a), alcoholism (Kraft & Al-Issa, 1967b; Kraft, 1968; Kraft & Al-Issa, 1968b; Kraft, 1969c; Kraft, & Wijesinghe, 1970), cigarette addiction (Kraft & Al-Issa, 1967c), sexual disorders (Kraft, 1969), agoraphobia (Kraft, 1973), claustrophobia (Kraft, 1973), sea sickness (Kraft, 1984a), injection phobia (Kraft, 1984b), balloon phobia (Kraft, 1994) and driving phobia (Kraft & Kraft, 2004), cannabis and chocolate addiction (Kraft & Kraft, 2005), and hyperhidrosis (Kraft, 1985; Kraft and Kraft, 2007). Tom also employed all the sensory modalities in the hypnotherapy in order to re-create the experience as vividly as possible (Kraft, 1970a; Kraft, 1984a). He used systematic desensitization and combined this with psychotherapy: he found that the support that was given in the psychotherapy was essential in the treatment programme. He also used this integrative approach to help symptom relief for patients suffering from cancer (Kraft, 1991; Kraft, 1992; Kraft 1993a) and successfully treated patients with chemotherapy phobia (Kraft, 1993b), injection phobia, (Kraft, 1984b), stuttering (Kraft, 1994b), IBS (Kraft & Kraft, 2007b) and snoring (Kraft, 2003).    

Final Thoughts

Tom did not stand still. He continued to refine his work and challenge medical practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists. Early on in his career as a psychiatrist, he affectively stopped prescribing drugs because he felt that it was important to find the source of the problem and the psychodynamics responsible for the condition. He also felt that it was extremely important for patients to make their own decisions and that they should exercise control both in the consulting room and in their everyday lives. He continued to re-evaluate his thoughts from day to day, and he discussed these ideas and theories with his colleagues and with his son, David Kraft, who, having been essentially trained by Tom, has continued his work as a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist in private practice. Tom was a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1959, and attended many lectures run by the Section of Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine; he also trained students attending the Applied Hypnosis course at UCL; he gave many lectures on behalf of BSMDH and BSECH and was influential here as well as in private tutorials. He was a member of the BMA, an honorary member of BSCAH and a member of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI). In 2005, Tom was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Tom was a man of great integrity and was intrinsically caring and non-judgemental both in and outside the consulting room. Tom was an innovator and a pillar of strength. His influence has been profound both in the literature and as a teacher. For those that knew him, he was a source of knowledge with an incredible memory for detail; he was generous and kind; he had an infectious laugh and a warm aura about him; he was never arrogant, and, when you were with him, you knew you were always in safe hands. Tom will be missed by many people, but particularly by his family.

References

Al-Issa  & Kraft, T. Personality factors in behavioural therapy. (1967) Canadian Psychologist, 8a: 218-222.

Kraft, T & Al-Issa, I. The application of learning theory to the treatment of traffic phobia. (1965a) British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 277-279.

Kraft, T & Al-Issa, I.Behaviour therapy and the recall of traumatic experience: a case study. (1965b), Behaviour Research & Therapy, 3, 55-58.

Kraft, T & Al-Issa, I. Brief behaviour therapy for the general practitioner. (1966) Journal of the College of General Practitioners, 12, 270-276.

Kraft, T & Al-Issa, I. Behavior therapy and the treatment of frigidity. (1967a) American Journal of Psychotherapy, 21, 116-120.

Kraft, T & Al-Issa, I. Alcoholism treated by desensitization: a case report. (1967b) Behaviour Research & Therapy, 5, 69-70.

Kraft, T & Burnfield, A. Treatment of neurosis by behaviour therapy. (1967) London Hospital Gazette Supplement 70, No. 2, 12-16.

Kraft, T & Al-Issa, I. Desensitization and reduction in cigarette consumption. (1967c) Journal of Psychology, 67, 323-329.

Kraft, T. Behaviour therapy and the treatment of sexual perversions. (1967) Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 15, 351-357.

Kraft, T & Al-Issa, I. The use of methohexitone sodium in the systematic desensitization of premature ejaculation. (1968a) British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 351-352.

Kraft, T & Al-Issa, I. Desensitization and the treatment of alcohol addiction. (1968b), British Journal of Addiction, 63, 19-23.

Kraft, T. Experience in the treatment of alcoholism. (1968) In Progress in Behaviour      Therapy (Edited by H Freeman) Wright: Bristol (Pp 25-33.)

Kraft, T. Desensitization and the treatment of sexual disorders. (1969a) Journal of Sex Research,      5, 130-134.

Kraft, T. Psychoanalysis and behaviorism: a false antithesis. (1969b) American Journal of Psychotherapy, 23, 482-487.

Kraft, T. Alcoholism treated by systematic desensitization. A follow-up of eight cases.

(1969c) Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 18, 336-340.

Kraft, T. Systematic desensitization using emotional imagery only. (1970a) Perceptual and Motor Skills, 30, 293-294.

Kraft, T & Wijesinghe B. Systematic desensitization of social anxiety in the treatment of alcoholism: a psychometric evaluation of change. (1970) British Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 443-444.

Kraft, T. Psychotherapy and behaviour therapy: a combined technique. (1970b) London Hospital Gazette, October, 8-12,

Kraft, T. Social anxiety model of alcoholism. (1971).Perceptual and Motor Skills, 33, 797-798.

Kraft, T. The treatment of phobias by systematic desensitization: a follow-up of three cases. (1973) London Hospital Gazette, October, 2-6.

Kraft, T. Behaviour therapy and personality change. (1975) International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 21, 111-116.

Kraft, T. The combined behaviour therapy-psychotherapy approach. (1976) Projective Psychology, 23,15-29.

Kraft, T. Systematic desensitization in a patient with poor visual imagery. (1984a)

Proceedings of the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis, 5, 45-47.

Kraft, T. Injection phobia: a case study. (1984b) British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, 1, 13-18.

Kraft, T. Successful treatment of a case of hyperhidrosis. (1985) Proceedings of the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis, 6, 11-13.

Kraft, T. Hypnotherapy for the terminally ill: the Edenhall experience. (1991) Proceedings of the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis, 7, No 5, 21-24.

Kraft, T. Counteracting pain in malignant disease by hypnotic techniques: five case studies. (1992) Contemporary Hypnosis, 9, 123-129.

Kraft, T. Using hypnosis with cancer patients: six case studies. (1993a), Contemporary Hypnosis, 10, No 1, 43-48.

Kraft, T. A case of chemotherapy Phobia: an integrative approach. (1993b), Contemporary Hypnosis, 10, No 2, 105-111.

Kraft, T. The combined use of hypnosis and in vivo desensitization in the successful treatment of a case of balloon phobia, (1994a) Contemporary Hypnosis,11, No 2,71-76

Kraft, T. Successful treatment of a case of stuttering, with a 10-year follow-up. (1994b) Contemporary Hypnosis, 11, No 3, 131-136.

Kraft, T. Treatment options for snoring. (2003) Journal of The Royal Society of Medicine 96,  No 9. 473.

Kraft, T & Kraft, D. Creating a virtual reality in hypnosis: a case of driving phobia (2004), Contemporary Hypnosis. 21, No. 2, 79 – 85.

Kraft, T & Kraft, D. Covert Sensitization revisited: Six Case Studies (2005) Contemporary Hypnosis, 22, No. 4: 202-209. 

Kraft, T & Kraft, D. An integrative approach to the treatment of Hyperhidrosis: Review and Case Study (2007a) Contemporary Hypnosis, 24, No 1: 38-45.

Kraft, T & Kraft, D. Irritable Bowel Syndrome: symptomatic treatment approaches versus integrative psychotherapy’ Contemporary Hypnosis (2007b), 24, (4): 161-177.

Wolpe, J (1958). Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Royal Society of Medicine

On the 6th of June 2011, the Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine Section was at the centre of the news because of claims that the NHS could save money–a huge amount of money–if hospitals employ fully qualified therapists to use hypnosis in treatment. The overall message of fellows of the society was that hypnosis is a very powerful tool that can be used on its own or in conjunction with medical treatment, but that patients should be protected from, as Jacky Owens, president of the section calls them, ‘hypno-cowboys’.

She said,

“Conditions such as depression, pain and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affect millions of people in the UK and a great cost to the NHS. But hypnosis can often work where other treatments have been unsuccessful”.

Hypnosis is, at long last recognised by NICE as an intervention for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and Peter Whorwell in Manchester has shown that his gut directed approach is significantly effective in treatment. However, there are many other conditions that have been treated effectively with hypnosis including depression, phobic anxiety, agoraphobia, psychosomatic pain, OCD, sleep disorders, eating disorders, anxiety, grief, chemotherapy-induced nausea, PTSD amongst others.

Amongst other specialists, Dr David Kraft gave a lecture on the use of hypnosis for smoking cessation. He gave a detailed account of a case study: the client was a man in his early 30s who had smoked over 25 cigarettes for about 20 years. Dr Kraft used hypnosis and a number of techniques which he described for the audience. He showed that it is possible to use hypnosis and help people give up smoking in one session. In one hour.

David Kraft is a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine Section. He is also a member of the British Society of Clinical & Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH) and on the General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR). He has written and co-written over 10 peer-reviewed articles in academic journals in England and Australia and has given lectures at the Royal Society of Medicine of four occasions. David has spent a great deal of time treating people with phobic anxiety, but has recently also had a lot of success helping people give up smoking. He uses covert sensitization (aversion therapy) in his approach and has even help people to reduce their cravings to a minimum.

Smoking has a deleterious effect on almost all of the organs in the body and is responsible for many deaths each year.

To give up, phone Dr Kraft on 0207 467 8564. Now!!!

On 6th of June Dr David Kraft will be giving a presentation on his approach to smoking cessation. Smoking has a deleterious effect on nearly every organ in the body. Dr Kraft has spent a considerable time helping many people give up smoking; many individuals that have given up smoking say that they feel the immediate effects of being a non smoker. David has had a considerable success helping people to give up smoking and many have given up in one session. The smoking cessation programme is a complete abstinence programme. It is important that clients work together with the therapist and make a verbal contract that they will never smoke a cigarette again. The treatment is a powerful one. It reduces or, in some cases, eliminates cravings, and the use of aversion is a particularly helpful strategy. Dr Kraft also uses a split screen imagery approach which encourages clients to choose the healthy option, and to give up smoking.

David Kraft is a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine Section. He is also a member of the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH). David has a diploma and an advanced diploma in clinical hypnosis and a diploma in clinical psychology. He has published several articles in the field of hypnosis and integrated psychotherapy in both international and national journals. David runs a successful practice in Harley Street.

Do you Want to have Hypnotherapy Stop Smoking?

Hypnotherapy is a very powerful tool for the treatment of psychological disorders, but it can also be used to help individuals give up unwanted habits. Hypnotherapy has been used to help people stop smoking, drinking, fighting, and other antisocial behaviour; it has also helped nail biters and cannabis smokers.

What Technique is Used to Help me Stop Smoking?

Aversion Therapy. Dr David Kraft has had a lot of success treating clients in this way; it is a very powerful and intense technique. The benefits of this technique is that it is long lasting, and, also, the effects are instant. Some clients give up smoking in a couple of sessions.

What is Aversion Therapy? How does hypnotherapy help me to Stop Smoking?

Aversion Therapy is a technique by which clients, during hypnotherapy, are given an unpleasant sensation associated with the smoking–for instance, the therapist might suggest that, before you feel like taking a cigarette, you will feel ghastly, sick and nauseous. The idea is not to actually make you sick but to stop you picking the cigarette up in the first place.

IMPORTANT!!

If you want to get hypnotherapy just to prove to a friend that you have tried everything and you still can’t give up oryou want to prove to a friend or, indeed, the hypnotherapist, that hypnotherapy doesn’t work then don’t book a session. Save your money. When you are ready to be a non smoker, then make that telephone call–it will save you a lot of money in the future.

How much Money will it Save Me in a Year? 

If you smoke 20 Marlboro Light a day, the cost per year is £2, 190. £2,190 minus 3 sessions (average number of sessions) at £160= £1,710.

But it might save your life or, indeed, thousands of pounds worth of medical bills, too, in the future!

How Do I Book a Session?

All you need to do is to phone London Hypnotherapy UK for an appointment. The telephone number is 0207 467 8564. London Hypnotherapy UK is located at the Cavendish Square end of Harley Street.

What Other Essential Information Must I Have?

This is a complete abstinence programme. In three months’ time, you cannot say to yourself, ‘Oh, I will just have one cigarette” This never works. You stop now.  

The full address is:

London Hypnotherapy UK, 10 Harley Street, London, W1G 9PF