Cure That Phobia

By Claire Baylis, published in Sunday Telegraph, 4 May 2003

Don't let phobias hold you back. Hypnotherapy has come a long way since swinging watches, reports Claire Baylis.

Terrified of tall buildings? Paralysed by panic when you're asked to address the board meeting? Get sweaty at the mere thought of stepping into a tiny office lift? If you suffer from a phobia, chances are you will know all about it.

But if you think fear is something you really can't shake, think again. Hypnotherapy has been around for 5000 years, but it's still a good way to kick phobias. Often in just two sessions.
Dr Tracie O'Keefe says hypnotherapy is enjoying a resurgence because it delivers fast results in a society that loves a quick-fix. "It's the quickest therapy for curing phobias," says Dr O'Keefe, a Sydney-based clinical hypnotherapist, therapist, counsellor and author of several hypnotism books. "Alternatives such as analysis and medication can be long-winded, often without producing the results."

Fear of the future
Dr O'Keefe says a phobia is basically an "inappropriate reaction" to a stimulus, which can be anything you see, hear, feel, smell or taste. Certain phobias, including fear of flying, small spaces or large crowds are more common than others and some are a modern phenomenon. "Since September 11, there have been a lot of clients suffering from fear of planes," says Dr O'Keefe. "Public speaking is another very modern phobia; a lot more people, especially in the major cities, are required to give presentations these days."
And with more of us working at home or dealing mainly with computers, Dr O'Keefe says social phobias are on the rise, too. "As a result, some people may lose social skills and become afraid of going out," she says.

Whatever it is you're frightened of, hypnotherapy may help. "Hypnotherapy is particularly fast at treating phobias because we access the root cause of the phobia, rather than talk around it," says Dr O'Keefe.
"Hypnotherapists are trained to put people into trances," explains O'Keefe. "We lower the resistance of the conscious mind where defensive mechanisms live and access the unconscious mind where the programming lives. Then we help clients change the internal programming at a deep-rooted level."
In other words, if you are claustrophobic, you will be "retrained" to feel and react differently when you step into small places. Arachnophobes will learn to like spiders, if only from a distance.
The best thing about hypnotherapy, when it comes to getting rid of phobias, is its success rate- although this does depend on your commitment to the process.

Strange habits
"I had one lady who suffered from agoraphobia, so her boyfriend did the shopping, took her everywhere in the car, did everything for her," says Dr O'Keefe. "Now, if she lost her phobia, she'd have to take care of herself and run the risk of losing the boyfriend. It was safer to keep the phobia, stick to the status quo." She claims others clients who have been genuinely dedicated to moving on have become classic success stories. "I had one guy who had a phobia of flying. He got it cured. Last I heard he was flying as a commercial pilot."

If you are keen to give hypnotherapy a try, it's wise to shop around. Dr O'Keefe, for example, charges $165 per hour but fees vary dramatically. Ensure your therapist is well-qualified and belongs to a respected professional association such as the International Association For Doctors of Clinical Hypnotherapy.
Remember it's legal for people to advertise as therapists without any training; not the safest of mind-altering options. But find the right therapist and you could come away smiling. "Phobias can hold you back," says Dr O'Keefe. "And that's no good, you could be out there having fun!"

Hypnotherapy: tried & tested
While researching this story I tried some hypnotherapy to cure my own phobia. For as long as I can remember, I've had a phobia about pythons and other large snakes. As a UK-based journalist, this didn't pose too much of a problem; you don't encounter too many red bellied black snakes on the streets of central London. But all that changed when I moved to "snake-ridden" Australia. Within three months of arriving I'd had three terrifying encounters with snakes. I was left feeling nauseous and too terrified to move. Within 10 days of meeting Dr O'Keefe for a hypnotherapy session, I had a date with the Australian Reptile Park and a large boa constrictor. All I could do was hope the therapy did the trick...

The treatment
After arriving at Dr O'Keefe's Coogee-based practise, I was told to sit in a large comfy red chair and relax as she took a detailed personal and medical history. She then handed me a big book of snakes which I had to flick through, rating each picture according to how disturbing I found it: small worm-like ones got a low three while three big ones registered a resounding 10 out of 10. Dr O'Keefe says this meant my phobia was "snake specific". While she couldn't cure me of my phobia for all snakes, I could develop more "appropriate reactions" so I'd know how to act depending on which snake I encountered and in what location.

The actual hypnotherapy meant being taken into a trance state then completing a series of exercises. First, I had to think back to the earliest awareness of my phobia. I was about six and it involved handling my brother's pet glow worms - harmless but distinctly snake-like creatures that I couldn't stand.
I had to play this scene on a cinema screen in my mind, rewinding and repeating it on a loop, finishing with the incident blown up to IMAX size. Next, I had to imagine 10 snakes of various sizes, name them and then, incredibly, have a conversation with each one.

Finally, Dr O'Keefe took me into a state of deep relaxation and talked at length about how I should feel about and approach snakes (with a sense of intrigue and respect). She also discussed how I should react in an appropriate, safe way.

Brought back to a total "waking state" I could remember every word and it all seemed completely logical to me. I was then handed a therapy tape to listen to twice daily and told to learn as much as I could about snakes.

During my follow-up appointment, 10 days later, I rattled off my new snake knowledge then looked at the same picture book. This time, the snakes in it only rated twos, threes or fours. I was fairly confident the process had worked and I was ready to put it to the test.

The big boa test
The staff at The Australian Reptile Park in Gosford, NSW, do a lot of phobia work. If you're battling a snake or spider fear, it's the perfect place to do hands-on work and the staff can arrange a personal program to suit you. During my session, I was told I would be handling two snakes. The first was a small corn snake, a popular pet with kids, apparently. There was no panic, no stomach-churning, I held the snake without the slightest shudder. The keeper then replaced the corn snake with eight kilos of boa constrictor, draped around my neck and over my shoulders.

I wouldn't describe my initial reaction as blissed-out, but once I stopped wriggling, so did the reptile in question. With us both relaxed, I even began to enjoy myself, amazed at how this creature felt, looked and moved. Ten days earlier, I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it. Now I didn't want to hand him back, but did so with a real sense of satisfaction. My phobia had been well and truly blasted, hopefully for good.
To find out how The Australian Reptile Park can help your phobia, call (02) 4340 1022 or go to www.reptilepark.com.au For more information on Dr O'Keefe's work, visit www.tracieokeefe.com.

Hypnotherapy - other uses
• pain relief If you're allergic to anaesthetic, hypnotherapy can ensure dentistry and even surgery remains pain-free.
• hypno birthing Want to stay awake when you have your baby? Hypnotherapy means you can remain conscious and yet deal with the pain.
• healing: Burns victims are put into deep trances via hypnotherapy, believed to raise the immune and cellular repair system.
• bad habits A 40-a-day fag habit will cost more than the sessions to get rid of it. Hypnotherapy can also be used to help combat eating disorders including over-eating and bulimia.

©Claire Baylis 2003. This article is reproduced here with kind permission of the author. No part or all of it may be reproduced or reprinted without the author's prior permission.

Gender Diversity

By Brad Court, published in SX Magazine 1 May 2003, Issue 118

Throughout this article I will be referring to the Sex and Gender diverse community, which are the people you would probably think of as Transgendered people - the "T" in GLBT.

By referring to the 'sex and gender diverse', I will actually be referring to over 100 different sexual identities - not just Transsexuals who may be pre-operative, post-operative, or non-operative. The term also refers to Androgynes (who identify as both sexes), Sinandrogynes (identify as neither sex), Hermaphrodites (born with a penis and vagina), and Intersex people (whose biological make-up belies their physical appearance and passing in society as either male or female, but has nothing to do with their sexuality. An example is a functioning male with XXY chromosomes, or a female with testes internally instead of ovaries, who is therefore gonadically male - a condition known as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome). The list goes on and on, and you are forgiven if you are initially confused.

Interview with Dr Tracie O'Keefe
Dr Tracie O'Keefe (Specialist regarding sexual diversity, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist, Counsellor, Author, Political Lobbyist, Professor of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality, and Post-Operative Transsexual) was on the frontline of gay politics 30 years ago. She is now on the frontline of politics regarding gender diversity, and sees many parallels between the struggle by gay people back then, and the Transgendered and Gender Diverse community now. Recently she also won the largest anti-discrimination case brought to court in Britain by a Transsexual person.

A major concern to Tracie and others on the front-line, is that people who do not identify as the standard male or female in society are marginalised because there is no satisfactory legal definition, or recognition of their sexual identity. Non conformance to the norms of sexual presentation (ie: the gender they present themselves to the world as) means these people are without legal identity. For example, they have M or F on their passport and birth certificate, although they do not identify as that gender.

Through her work with SAGE (Sex And Gender Education Australia) Tracie is lobbying the NSW and Victorian governments for the ability to change documents such as birth certificates, therefore "allowing people to move freely in society as how they want to present themselves." In her capacity as a member of SAGE, she also presented at the Amnesty International Global Human Rights Conference about understanding Sex and Gender Diversity. This conference was part of the Sydney 2002 Gay Games program. In addition, she is lobbying for the rights of people when they are imprisoned, and is campaigning for the acceptance of Transgendered people by religious faiths.

Tracie has yet to find a religion which is accepting. She advised that "the greatest rebuttal we come up against is the religious lobby. Rationale can go out the window when religious beliefs come into it… Just earlier this year, the Roman Catholic church made a proclamation that Transsexual people are an aberration against God, and they should not be able to transition. When Rome makes proclamations like that it sets a lot of people on the ground floor back twenty years". It is an unfortunate reality, adds Tracie, that "sex and gender diversity is often mistaken for sexual deviancy".

This sort of bigotry and misunderstanding is something she has experienced first hand. Until 1997 she had been successfully living her life as a woman for 30 years and ran her own clinic in London. She "was perfectly accepted as the Dyke Therapist in Harley Street" for all those years. In 1997 she published a book in which she outed herself as a Transsexual woman. The Guardian picked up on the story and life became very difficult for her. She was astounded that she was then ostracised by her colleagues - Therapists, Psychologists, and Psychiatrists - the very people who should have known better. Her practice was at that time listed on the Central Register Of Advanced Hypnotherapists in England, and she was also on the National Health Register, which is similar to Medicare here. Her business was sabotaged and she was excluded from registries and boards. In effect, she was unable to practice. Her colleagues turned against her, and in a business in which you live by your referrals, she was forced to discontinue her work in the UK, and moved to Sydney 2.5 years ago to start again.

For the past six years she has been suing the Central Register Of Advanced Hypnotherapists in Britain. The result was the largest win for an anti-discrimination case brought before a UK court by a Transsexual person.

It hasn't been all plain sailing here, either. Tracie advised that the NSW Medical Board has been sending prejudicial letters to her, objecting to referrals for patients who wish to undergo sex
re-assignment surgery. She puts this down to the fact that she works with sex and gender diverse patients in ways which Australia is not used to. Her training as a Psychotherapist is based around psychology, biology, and philosophy. Her work is focussed on the philosophy angle whereby she "helps people get where they want to go, or resolve issues which are outstanding for them". She advised that Psychiatry has a stranglehold here in this area, and people are often still classified as ill or disturbed, in much the way that gay people used to be diagnosed many years ago. She doesn't diagnose people who are sex and gender diverse. Rather, she "helps them discover a place that is comfortable for them." Some clinicians also deny treatment to patients because they make judgements as to whether the patient has physical attributes which may make it difficult for them to pass in society as their desired gender.

With regard to surgery, she recommends that people should not rush in - whether their options be partial surgery or full re-assignment. The same applies to hormone replacement therapy. These are extremely dramatic changes that anyone could go through, and it must be carefully considered. If they do decide that surgery is the right option for them, and it is appropriate, she then works in conjunction with Endocrinologists and medical doctors. The patient stays under her care during the transition process, receiving therapy.

Following the transition process, people have varying degrees of success in passing as a man or a woman. The February 2003 "Kevin and Jennifer" case where the Family Court of Australia created a precedent here by declaring valid, the marriage of a female-to-male Transsexual with a woman, is an example. Kevin was also awarded custody of the children of that marriage. Tracie explains that "Kevin perceived himself to be male. He underwent removal of the breasts and vagina, the creation of a neo-phallus, takes testosterone, and was accepted into society as a male. (On the other hand) suppose that he's very small and feminine and doesn't pass very well as a male. What would the court then have done?"

Incidentally, that case was won on appeal, and there is talk that the government is preparing another appeal to nullify the decision. The case was profiled at the 13th Commonwealth Law Conference held in Melbourne in April during a session entitled "The Dilemma of a Transsexual: What Sex Does the Law Say I Am?". The conference looked at how a consistent approach to the question of how to determine a transsexual's sex can be adopted. The session was commentated by The Hon. Justice Richard Chisholm - the Family Court Judge who declared the marriage of Kevin and Jennifer valid.

Tracie advised that Australia is slowly moving forward, with piece-by-piece wins. A few countries such as China have a thriving program, and New Zealand is ahead of every other country in the world with regard to laws and equal rights for people who have transitioned. Infact, New Zealand has the world's only Transsexual Member Of Parliament, who is a Maori woman named Georgina Bayer.

Unfortunately, there are stories of people who have not been so successful transitioning - particularly those in the lower socio-economic groups where they are unable to access the same levels of treatment (therapeutic and surgical). This can lead to ghettoisation, high levels of unemployment, stereotyping,
and compound depression aswell as other emotional problems. Even those who are highly educated often find gaining employment extremely difficult if they don't present so well as the gender they are trying to pass as.

Like the rest of the community she represents, Tracie looks forward to the day when a transitioned person presenting and declaring themselves to society as a particular gender, is accepted fully and allowed to get on with their life without interference or prejudice.

©Brad Court 2003. This article is reproduced here with kind permission of the author. No part or all of it may be reproduced or reprinted without the author's prior permission.

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