Hypnotherapy for Fears, Phobias & OCD
Clinical hypnosis in Newcastle for fear that doesn't listen to logic
On this page
What You’re Living With · Why This Helps · What Might Change · Working Together · Science Behind It
You can explain, calmly, why the thing isn't dangerous — and still feel your body react as though it is. Flying. Needles. Heights. Enclosed spaces. Driving. Dogs. Public speaking. Or the loop of an intrusive thought and the urge to neutralise it.
A fear doesn't have to make sense to feel completely real. Hypnosis lets us work with the automatic reaction directly, at a pace you control.
If this sounds familiar
You avoid, plan around, or dread a specific situation
The physical reaction hits before you can reason with it
It's limiting travel, work, health appointments or daily life
Talking yourself out of it hasn't touched the fear
You'd rather not be forced to "just face it" head-on
How hypnosis helps
1. Calms the automatic alarm — lowering the body's fear response so it stops firing on cue.
2. Rehearses a new reaction — gradual mental exposure, so the feared situation starts to feel manageable.
3. Works at your pace — no flooding, no being pushed; the speed is yours.
4. Builds real-world confidence — that holds up at the airport, the clinic or the podium.
What Might Change for You?
Facing the thing you've avoided without panic taking over
The automatic fear reaction settling before it hijacks you
Getting back to travel, driving, appointments or everyday situations you'd started avoiding
Feeling calmer and more in control where you used to feel gripped
A sense that the fear no longer runs the show — you do
What to Expect in Sessions?
Let's be open and honest — clarify the specific fear, phobia or OCD-related concern, and what you'd like to be different.
Plan the pace — often a few focused sessions, moving only as fast as feels safe for you.
Run mental rehearsals — hypnosis that gradually walks you through the feared situation feeling calm and grounded, never flooded.
Give you simple tools — brief practices to use in the real moment: the flight, the appointment, the situation you've been avoiding.
Next steps
You don’t have to just “put up with it”.
Book a Free 15-Minute Discovery Call – ask questions, feel the fit.
Or Book Initial Consultation to discuss your health challenges, goals and form a Hypnotherapy based treatment plan.
Or Book a Hypnotherapy Session if you are ready to begin preparing for your surgery.
Gentle, Deeply Relaxing
Evidence-based
Research
1. 3. Coelho HF, Canter PH, Ernst E. The effectiveness of hypnosis for the treatment of anxiety: a systematic review. 2007.
4. Kaiser P, et al. Efficacy of hypnosis on dental anxiety and phobia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. 2022. PMC9138388.
5. Hypnotically facilitated treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: can it be evidence-based? PMID 17365073.
1. Pelissolo (2016) — Hypnosis for anxiety and phobic disorders: A review of clinical studies
Type: Systematic review.
This is an important honesty/reference paper. The author found very few controlled studies and concluded that evidence was insufficient to establish hypnosis as an effective treatment for chronic anxiety disorders including phobias.
PubMed — Pelissolo review
2. Wolf et al. (2022) — Efficacy of Hypnosis on Dental Anxiety and Phobia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Type: Systematic review/meta-analysis.
Useful because dental phobia is a specific-phobia context. It found heterogeneous and conflicting hypnosis results, while CBT had stronger evidence. This is still one of the better direct reviews involving hypnosis and a defined phobic problem.
PubMed — Wolf et al. 2022
3. Steenen et al. (2024) — Interventions to reduce adult state anxiety, dental trait anxiety, and dental phobia: systematic review and meta-analyses of RCTs
Type: Recent systematic review/meta-analysis of randomized trials.
Useful for understanding hypnosis within the broader treatment landscape for dental anxiety/phobia rather than examining hypnosis in isolation.
PubMed — Steenen et al. 2024
4. Spiegel (2014) — Current issues in the treatment of specific phobia: recommendations for innovative applications of hypnosis
Type: Clinical/research review rather than meta-analysis.
Very relevant conceptually. It explicitly recognises exposure therapy as the established treatment of choice and discusses ways hypnosis might be integrated with established phobia treatment—for imagery, resistance, relaxation and exposure-related work.
PubMed — Spiegel, specific phobias and hypnosis
5. Spiegel et al. — Hypnotic responsivity and the treatment of flying phobia
Type: Long-term observational follow-up, 178 patients; not an RCT.
Interesting clinically: patients underwent a single session using hypnosis plus problem restructuring and 158 were followed for six months to more than 10 years. Hypnotisability predicted better reported treatment impact. Useful background evidence, but I would not use it as your primary efficacy citation because of the study design.
PubMed — Flying phobia study
For OCD, what we offer is supportive help with the anxiety and distress around obsessive-compulsive patterns, alongside proper clinical care.