Over the course of your life, you will go through quite a bit of research and have gone through some research. It starts when you are a baby. Every few weeks and months you are checked to see if you are developing properly. This is to spot problems in time so doctors can do something about it. Very useful if you have a genetic predisposition for something, later in your life examinations have more to do with age-related ailments and diseases. At some point you may find that you are afraid of those examinations.
There are several studies you may be afraid of, or parts of the study. Those fears and what you can do about them will be explored in more detail with this blog.
Fear of needles
One of the most common fears related to medical examinations is the fear of needles. After all, many examinations involve pricking blood, which hurts for a while. That is not the only thing, some people also do not like it when they see their blood and may even faint from it.
So the fear of needles can include a fear of pain, of blood, or perhaps even of the lack of control, and that, of course, is very unpleasant.
In the case of fear of the pain of an examination, hypnotic sedation can do much to reduce the fear of the examination. Before the examination or before the needle is stuck in your arm, you are put into hypnosis and given suggestions that help you numb the sensation of the prick.
If you don't have a hypnotherapist on hand during a test in which blood is drawn, you can first go to a hypnotherapist to learn self-hypnosis that will help you numb yourself.
Click here to read what you can do about fear of blood.
Fear of blood pressure screening
For a blood pressure test, you get a band around your arm that is inflated and then used to examine your blood pressure. This is not as painful as a needle prick, but it can feel uncomfortable. This is something that can cause you to have anxiety about the blood pressure examination, but of course you can also have anxiety because of possible results and what this is going to mean for your life.
After all, when you find out you have hypertension you often get advice to change your lifestyle or take medication.
Lifestyle change, for example, involves losing weight if you are overweight, eating less salt and maybe even less meat or fast food or something similar.
Those changes can feel too big to resolve on your own, and that can make you anxious to explore.
In that case, it is good to know that you can get help for this kind of change and that step by step change is also allowed.
In addition, this fear also says something about your confidence that you can change your life or the control you can exert over your life. With this, hypnosis can also help you.
This can be done by repeating hypnotic suggestions, such as:
"I am strong."
"I can do anything I set my mind to."
"Step by step is also good."
"I may ask for help."
These are just examples. Depending on your fears and concerns about examinations, a hypnotist can help you with other techniques or suggestions.
Fear of Population Screening
There are a number of population screening programs in the Netherlands, namely those for breast, cervical and colon cancer.
Cervical Cancer
When screening for cervical cancer, your doctor takes a swab from your vagina. This is then tested for cells that may indicate cancer or an increased risk of cancer.
The fear of the cervical cancer exam can be for the results, of course, but also for the procedure itself. Perhaps you have a male doctor and are not entirely comfortable with that or you find it annoying anyway when someone outside your intimate circle can look at your intimate parts. The cotton swab is very long, so you won't really be touched otherwise.
In this case, you can ask if a female doctor or assistant can help you. Doesn't that solve the problem? Then a hypnotist can help you figure out where that fear comes from and, for example, use a guided visualization to make sure you can stay calm for the examination.
You may also have anxiety about the results, especially if you don't have children yet because cervical cancer treatment can make you infertile.
Breast Cancer
A population screening for breast cancer involves taking X-rays of your breasts. Depending on the size of your breasts, this examination may hurt more or less because your breasts are photographed as flat as possible.
For this process, hypnosis can help as much as fear of needles or a blood pressure reading to make it a little more pleasant.
Then, even with breast cancer, you may have the fear of the outcome and what it will mean for you. Perhaps you fear changing your appearance, especially if it has become an important part of your identity. In that case, hypnosis can help you figure out what you can hang your identity on just as well and even better. Then it is helpful if your identity is not just about your appearance.
Bowel Cancer
Men and women are invited to the colon cancer survey. For this study, all you have to do is prick your stool with a dong at home and you can send it back for the study. So this examination itself is somewhat less invasive than breast or cervical cancer screenings for which you still have to go to a location.
Even with this study, you can be especially anxious about the results, because colon cancer is obviously no fun.
Fear of the rash
When you're afraid of tests, it's often not just the fear of the test, but mostly the results of the test. Maybe your appearance is going to change, maybe you need to change your lifestyle or even take it much easier and then what?
Especially if you think you cannot possibly change yourself, this can cause a lot of anxiety or if you think you are going to be judged by those around you if you need to change things.
If you have a fear of the consequences of the rash, hypnosis can help in several ways to find out where that fear is coming from, except for rashes that could simply mean death because that, of course, is a very real fear. Even then, hypnosis can help you still take pleasure in life.
When it comes to conditions that are not directly terminal, but for which you need to modify your lifestyle, hypnosis can be very helpful. For example, hypnosis helps very well for people to quit smoking.
In addition, you can use hypnosis to find out and change blocking beliefs if they prevent you from living a healthy lifestyle.
This is done, for example, with regression. With regression, you are first put into hypnosis and then suggested to go back to the first moment when you felt something belonged a certain way, which is now blocking you from doing healthy things.
Because you are currently in hypnosis, your subconscious will quickly send a thought to the surface. This is then often the moment when that belief arose, often these are moments from your childhood so don't be alarmed if this is a young memory of yours.
Then the hypnotist will help you look at this moment from multiple angles and with your adult knowledge, allowing you to interpret the situation very differently than you initially did. This can cause you to realize very quickly that you can live a healthy life and do the things that will help you show more positive results on the next examination.
Want to know how hypnosis can help you and how it can help other people? Then come to a hypnosis playshop or enroll in one of the training courses of the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands. The playshop and trainings are given in Zwolle and Wormerveer. The training can also be followed online.
Also pin this handy infographic as a reminder:
