Anne, an attractive bright 19 year old came to see me originally to treat her panic attacks. Further investigation revealed a fear of being unable to breathe, a fear of travelling away from home and also a fear of death. Over the years she had endured many attempts to fix her of these issues with little or no success. This included visiting her local GP who suggested that she hold her breath for as long as she could and time herself with a stopwatch! Her panic attacks were becoming more frequent and also increasing in severity with the after effects of the attacks sometimes lasting for days.

The first regression session took place about two weeks later, Anne having had time to practice self-hypnosis exercises that I had given her. Issues that were raised during this session included a fearful feeling having witnessed a young child fall off a swing in a playground; as a very young child seeing her mother burn her hand on the cooker and subsequently scream and also witnessing her mother shutting her hand in the car door. All of these incidents raised a degree of emotion but relatively minor compared with what was to come in future sessions.

Anne’s second regression followed the next week. She immediately went into a very deep trance and found herself as a 3 year old child in bed. She was having a coughing fit and blood was being sprayed across the walls. Her mother and father were both in the room and panicking at the sight of the blood – later after the session, she told me that she had burst a blood vessel in her throat with the coughing fit and had coughed up a quantity of blood.

Later in this same session she found herself on a bed. There were people fussing around her, male and female and she felt that she was in a hospital. She felt very nervous and her heart rate was rapid and also her breathing rate. She couldn’t move her body and felt that she was ‘tied down’ by her upper arms and head. She was aware of something moving backwards and forwards across her face – some sort of machinery with a light. She was becoming very panicky and experiencing very strong feelings that she was about to die. After the session, she explained that she had suffered form a serious virus as a child and needed a brain scan at the age of four. Prior to the regression she had very little memory of the procedure as she was under general anaesthesia for the duration of the scan. Speaking to her mother following the session, she explained that here was no way that Anne could have seen the scanner or been aware that she was strapped to the bed as this had taken place once she was fully under the effects of the anaesthetic. (Because of her age and not wishing to panic her, it had been decided to give her a general anaesthetic).

Regression three was to prove the most dramatic so far. Anne found herself in a dark place, unaware as to how old she was. She felt closed-in and very nervous. She could hear a lady screaming and this was making her even more uneasy and her heart rate was soaring. She felt herself being pulled around, pains in her head as if someone was ‘drilling into her skull’ and gradually came out into the light. She was handled quite roughly and felt herself being rushed down a passage with bright lights above her. She then felt herself being laid on a table and had a sudden feeling of being very cold. She then heard someone counting 1..2..3 and then again 1..2..3. For a brief moment she found herself looking down on herself from the ceiling – a baby on a ‘platform’ type table with doctors and nurses working on her. Whilst in this state, she heard someone say “She is very ill”. She then found herself back on the table in a very traumatic state and being rolled around and handled roughly. Her next feeling was of being given to her mother and being cuddled – her heart rate and breathing quickly settling down to normal.

Following the session she said that what had come up in regression wasn’t true as she had never been resuscitated in her life and must have ‘made it up’. I asked her to discuss it with her mother and let me know. Within minutes, Anne called me back to say that she had discussed the regression with her mother and that her mother wanted to talk to me about Anne’s birth. Speaking to her mother she revealed that she had almost died whilst giving birth to Anne. The only details she knew about the birth (which had never been discussed for fear of her reliving that traumatic incident) was that she had lost four pints of blood and that the baby nearly died too and had to be delivered very quickly. To her knowledge, Anne had never been in that much danger and certainly never resuscitated.

Moments later, the telephone rang again, it was Anne saying she had just called her father, who had been present at the birth, and for the first time he had revealed exactly what had happened on that day. Immediately after birth, Anne had been taken away from her mother and rushed to an ante room where she was resuscitated. The delivery had been made by forceps and was quite forceful. It was quite a while before Anne was reunited with her mother but once together, she calmed down considerably. Her father had never revealed what he had seen on that day to anybody, believing that there would be no benefit for either mother or daughter to be made aware such a traumatic event. However through the use of regression hypnotherapy, Anne was able to recall this terrifying time, the traumatic birth, being manhandled into this world, her brush with death, panicky feelings of increased heart and breathing rate.

In the few weeks since Anne first came to see me her progress has been quite dramatic. She was able to travel in a car for a three hour journey – unheard of before her therapy. She had been out with friends and drunk two glasses of wine – once again something that she was unable to do before her therapy (wine makes you feel dizzy and then you have a panic attack and your heart starts beating rapidly – according to the pre-therapy Anne). She also has been going to the gym and exercising on the treadmill – this was probably the most significant development as she was able to get out of breath whilst exercising without bringing on a panic attack in the belief that she was going to die.