Phobia - A Case From Practice

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Phobia. Case study (published with the client's permission)

At the initial appointment, the client told that she was afraid of butterflies (!). She is afraid to the point of "half to death", and hates summer, because in the summer from butterflies, in her expression, "do not hide, do not hide" …

During the meeting (session) it became clear that the reason for asking for help and a visit to me was a visit to the Archaeological Museum, in one of the halls of which there is an extensive collection of butterflies … Entering this ill-fated hall, the client was speechless and almost lost consciousness. She had never experienced such fear! It seemed to her that all these butterflies would fly up in a second and sit right on her … She would not be able to breathe, and these Monsters would crawl over her even after her death, and scoff, disgustingly rustling their wings …

This story was interrupted by periodic sobbing, and phrases:

“It was so awful!.. Nobody understands me! Everyone laughs at me when I start talking about it …"

I first encountered this kind of phobia, and was somewhat discouraged …

“Panic fear of such fragile creatures as butterflies is a very mysterious phobia. And it is given two names: Lepidopterophobia and Mottephobia, separating them by small differences. - some onlooker.

But the point is that not one or two unique people suffer from such a wondrous ailment, but a much larger number of people. They even set up several sites on the Internet for communication and mutual support. "©

To the question: "How did you deal with manifestations of fear of butterflies?", The client replied: "No way … I just avoided these monsters all my life …"

We worked with the feelings that the client still experiences after “that tragedy” and entered into a “therapy contract”. In addition to the prerequisites in therapy, there was one more important thing in it - to keep a diary of self-observation: to describe your emotions, memories, fears, those events that were significant, but were not discussed at the sessions, and what I would like to discuss at the meeting.

The diary turned out to be very useful, and for about 3 sessions, the girl remembered and told in detail about the first meeting with the Beast!

“I was about 6-7 years old. For the first time I stayed overnight with my relatives in the country. At night I felt an urge to go to the toilet, there was no central sewerage system in the house, and I went to … you know, a wooden blockhouse. There was also a heart on the door … For some reason, the light did not want to turn on, and when I was about to go out, something attacked me! I screamed, rushed to run, waving my hands away … sobbing, choking, and finally, brushed it off!

Uncle and his wife rushed out of the house to meet me, held me in their arms for a long time, stroked my head, soothed me. And when they nevertheless calmed me down and showed the already dead Beast, I could not believe that I was frightened by a large moth … The next day my uncle with a laugh told my parents about my "night adventure". Dad and Mom laughed all the way home at me! And then, for a few more years, they remembered this incident"

From this turning point, it became easier for the client to pronounce the word "butterfly" itself. But, she still did not trust me, and my (in her expression) equal attitude to her fear, and looked at me searchingly when she talked about this insect

In this situation, I faced 2 client fears: 1-fear of an insect, 2-fear of being ridiculed by another person, because of the same fear.

It turns out a certain formula in which fear multiplied by another fear together give a product - a phobia or the so-called fear squared….

In our sessions, we many times spoke of feelings of fear, panic, resentment, anger, abandonment, loneliness, irritation with ourselves.

They drew a lot, sculpted the image of fear, until the moment when the fear in one of the drawings grew into a certain image - a beautiful black swallowtail, the very one who caused the client's long-term phobia.

The next stage of work was the identification of the image of fear with the "culprit", already in reality. At that time, an exhibition of exotic butterflies came to our city, and I invited the client to visit it. She, at first flatly refused, and then, after thinking it over, called me after a while and said that she agreed to go with her husband.

I preliminarily held a consultation with the client's spouse, at which we discussed possible options for action if the client had panic or fainting. And also those words of support, attention that she needs.

In this story, the client needed exactly a close person who would not push away, would not laugh and make jokes, but would be there if suddenly fear “overwhelmed”. But at the same time, she will not lisp, and will allow her to make a choice herself: to leave or be alone with the problem, call for help or steadfastly withstand the flow of panic and horror. The client's husband agreed to such conditions, said that he would accompany his wife, and if something happened, he would immediately call the ambulance and me.

The trip to the Monsters turned out to be more successful, and when she came to the next meeting with me, the woman incessantly talked about her feat!

I remember her words:

“When I entered this room, I saw many faces of people I did not know, who simply held THEM in their palms and smiled … They were not afraid of them! Imagine! We were not afraid! …"

Further, she described what was happening:

“I carefully stood in the corner. The husband left with a guide to inspect the "living exhibits". And they rolled over me: now suffocation, now trembling all over my body, now an attack of nausea when another Monster flew past me. At some point, I was already going to run away, cursing you and this whole venture

But a child came up to me. He turned to me with a request: get him a piece of orange from a high table. And proudly declared that it was not for him, that he would feed the butterflies … I was taken aback, wanted to refuse. But the baby still did not leave, and asked me to help. I grabbed an orange, put it in his palms, and wanted to run, but stopped … Apparently, smelling the orange scent, a small butterfly sat on his hand! The boy laughed, and then held out the orange along with the butterfly to me, saying: "Now it's your turn, aunt!" I don't know why, but mechanically I stretched out my hand, and the butterfly migrated into my hands. I don't remember if I was breathing deeply, as you told me, or if I stopped breathing and moving altogether. I froze. Frozen! And at the same time I felt that the fear was leaving. It evaporates from me!..

When my husband came up to me, I was still holding the fruit in my hand, already with 2 butterflies. They peacefully drank juice with their proboscis, and I stood and cried softly … I felt so calm in my soul … My husband was saying something, I don't remember what exactly, stroking me on the shoulder, probably calming me. And I came to my senses only at that moment when that boy came up to me again and said: “Now it's my turn! And he took the orange with butterflies for himself …

We met this client one more time, a month later. This was the final 7th session in our therapeutic relationship. She thanked me, bragged about her success at work, in the family. She shared that she signed up for painting courses, and butterflies became her favorite topic for working with paints!

How did the "cure" of the phobia come about?

I acted according to the principle: "Always follow those experiences (themes) where the client's psychic energy is now." O. E. Khukhlaev

This is why I introduced a self-observation diary into the therapy contract. Also in the process of work I used the following methods: art therapy, lifestyle changes (“going where it’s so scary”), the use of behavioral therapy techniques.

My first task was to demonstrate how fearless I am before the Beast: I listen, support, pronounce a dangerous word, and gradually, the client herself begins to say instead of “insect” - the word “butterfly”. Next, I suggest drawing your fear; then sculpt it; take a metaphorical card with the image of a butterfly in your hands, work with this image; then catch, "neutralize" for yourself, etc.

Slowly, moving from simple images (stimuli) to more serious ones, differing in the degree of danger to the client, we moved on to teaching relaxation techniques, and planning actions when a butterfly was found nearby.

Systematic meetings, discussions, training in methods of "fighting fear" led to a consistent increase in danger - a trip to the exhibition.

We have previously discussed the procedure, both with the client's spouse and with the girl herself, in order to reduce the risk of the danger of the situation.

And also, a child helped us a lot, whose act helped to destroy to the end those negative associations that were in the client's memory.