insane in the brain
The human mind’s a funny and endlessly fascinating place. While many people seem unwilling and slightly fearful of delving too deep into their own brains, I’ve always been interested in understanding my own behaviour and that of other people.
My supremely amateur psychoanalysis is more cod-psychology than classic Freud but when it comes to myself I like to think I can often see where certain thoughts, moods and neuroses have sprung from.
Eastern philosophy teaches the importance of learning to sit back and observe your mind and its thoughts objectively. Every behaviour pattern, or ailment is – the sages say – a physical manifestation of an emotion or issue which needs to be dealt with.
I know many people are cynical about this but it is scary, once you really consider it, just how much of what happens is linked to one’s mental state and way of thinking.
Some people really do just attract negativity and drain people’s energy, and I believe this is frequently to do with their general attitude to life.
Another area which interests me is the issue of phobias and neuroses. I am petrified of heights, to the point that even a cartoon like Spiderman can give me sweaty palms and palpitations if the shot pans over a skyscraper.
Ridiculous, I know. I had to shut my eyes through the first few scenes of Casino Royale because the parkour bloody terrified me.
Anyway, I’m convinced all this stems from an incident where my dad and my six-year-old self went on a ferris wheel which seemed to break down when we reached the top.
It probably didn’t really break down but it felt like ages that we were stuck there and I remember feeling abject terror and both of us panicking.
I’ve long been interested to know whether this utterly irrational phobia can be cured through hypnotherapy and now the opportunity has arisen to find out.
I am undergoing a number of sessions in the name of work and will be writing something on my experience for a newspaper. So far I have had one treatment and it went fine.
Some people seem nervous of the idea of hypnosis and fear it could unlock doors which they then won’t be able to close. It’s not something which bothers me at all. I was very calm about the whole thing and more fascinated than afraid about what was happening.
The hypnosis itself followed a lengthy consultation with the therapist and didn’t last more than about 20 minutes.
I don’t quite know what I expected but the experience felt like a meditation and was more of an introduction than a treatment. Next week’s session will involve a regression to the incident in question, which will be interesting. I’m not expecting to be scaling tall buildings the moment it’s over but am quietly confident I’ll notice a change…