In her 70’s, Jane had developed a fear of stairs about two years ago after her husband died. She was able to go up the stairs in her house once in the morning to get dressed after breakfast and once to go to bed at night. She was unable to go up during the day so had to remember to bring down everything that she might need in the day. When confronted with stairs she would be gripped with fear, get a knotted stomach, shortness of breath, be rooted to the spot, and have an overwhelming sense of dread.
She dreaded going out in case she met some stairs and would not accept invitations to people’s houses unless she was sure they had a downstairs toilet. When setting up the appointment I asked her to make a list about five times when she had the problem that she felt held the most intensity for her. She was reluctant to come for me for the appointment even though I assured her there would be no stairs to navigate, so I agreed to visit her.
On the day I asked her if she could still remember the first time she had the fear and whether she wanted to address that incident first. She agreed, calling it “stair panic,” and after I explained the Freeway-cer process we measured the intensity (MIL) using her arm as an indicator where the hand resting on the knee was zero, no intensity and at shoulder height was 10, as bad as it can be.
She gave it an initial MIL of 10, then we did the RARP, circling with two fingers on the TP in the shoulder crease, saying “I accept myself completely and am now ready to let go of this stair panic and all its uncomfortable, limiting effects” three times with feeling, followed by a big yawn.
Then we did a round of FreewayCER stating the focus phrase “stair panic” at each point, followed by a big yawn. Then I raised her arm to about halfway between the knee and shoulder and got her to say “I was a five, where do I now feel it has gone down to?” She kept her arm there and said “five.”
It hadn’t moved so we did the RARP – circling on the TP again saying the RARP again three times with feeling, but with “less stair panic.” We then did another round of FreewayCER with “even less stair panic” and the new MIL was 3.
Then we did another round of FreewayCER and the MIL was still 3. I wondered whether she was actually thinking about the same topic while doing the FreewayCER so asked her. She said she was thinking about the stairs. I asked if she was thinking about the time when she first had the fear and she said no, she was thinking about the stairs as they are now.
So I asked her which held the most intensity for her and which would she prefer to work on first – the original incident or the stairs now. She decided it was the original incident and I asked her to keep that in mind when doing the FreewayCER. I asked if she wanted to change the focus phrase to help with that, but she wanted to stay with stair panic.
So we did another round of FreewayCER with the focus phrase “even less stair panic” and it went to zero. We then did the in-voicing procedure.
Aspect 2The next item on her list that she wanted to address was when she had been to a hotel in Llandudno the previous year and was frightened of going in the lift. The intial MIL was 7 and one round of FreewayCER with the focus phrase “lift at Llandudno,” followed by a really massive yawn, took it straight down to zero. We did in-voicing.
Aspect 3Now she wanted to deal with the time when she had gone on a shopping trip to Wolverhampton and in the shopping centre they at one stage had to go up to the next level. The choices were glass-enclosed lift, escalator or stairs and she was terrified of all of them. She chose the focus phrase “Wolverhampton Saturday morning” and gave it an initial MIL of 10. One round of MIL reduced it to 5. Another round (“less Wolverhampton Saturday morning”) reduced it to 1. I asked her if she wanted to take it to zero, of course she did and a final round of FreewayCER with “minute Wolverhampton Saturday morning” took it to 0. Then we in-voiced it.
Aspect 4Her son had taken her to a museum in Stoke a while ago and there were stairs. She was unable to go up them and visit the upper levels. She started with a MIL of 8 using the focus phrase “museum at Stoke”. One round of FreewayCER reduced it straight to zero, followed by in-voicing.
Aspect 5She had two more items on her list and I asked her which of them still held any emotional intensity for her. She said “none of them.” So I asked her how she felt about going up the stairs in her house right now. She said she felt reluctant, they were still a bit intimidating so I asked her if she would like to work on that and she agreed.
She chose the focus phrase “horrible stairs” and gave it a MIL of 8. After a round of FreewayCER it came down to 5. One more round (“less horrible stairs”) reduced it to 1. I asked if she wanted to take to zero, she agreed and a round with the focus phrase “minute horrible stairs” brought it to zero. Then we did the invoicing procedure and big yawn as usual.
I asked her how she felt now about going up the stairs. She said OK, so I said why not give it a try. So up she went. She said she hasn’t been able to do that for two years. I said why don’t you do it again just to check that it wasn’t a fluke. So she went up the stairs again and came down with tears in her eyes. Job done.
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Peggy, a 72-year old woman, had had two hip replacements in recent years and about six months before had fallen down and dislocated her shoulder. The hospital had put it back in but the muscle had torn and the bicep was no longer attached to the shoulder so she couldn’t lift her arm up. A couple of weeks earlier she had also cut her leg on the car door and had to have stitches. Over the last couple of months she had developed a “horrible feeling” that she is going to fall over whenever she went out.
She explained this to me on the phone before the appointment and I asked to her to bring with her a list of all of the times she can remember when she had this. I asked her to read the list out and explain to me what she felt each time. It seemed to me that the items (about 20 of them) fell into two categories – one being the fear of falling over and the other being “getting worked up” when faced with the prospect of having to go anywhere.
I asked her which of these she would like to work on first and she chose the fear of falling over. After explaining the Freeway-cer process I asked her which of the things on her list she wanted to work on first.
Aspect 1aShe chose to address the time a few weeks ago when she had gone on holiday and had to walk from the check-in desk to the gate at the airport. There was a big space to walk through with no seats nearby, so she was scared that she would fall and have no chance to sit down. She felt safer when seated it seems.
I asked her what she wanted to label this experience in her own words and she said “airport space panic.” We did the MIL, where holding her hand on her knee was zero, no emotion, and at shoulder height was 10, as bad as it can be. She gave it an eight.
We then did the RARP, circling on the TP and repeating three times with feeling: “I accept myself completely and am now ready to let go of this airport space panic and all its uncomfortable, limiting effects.” This was followed with a big yawn.
We did a round of FreewayCER, tapping on each point, saying “airport space panic” and finished with a big yawn. We tested the MIL again, with her saying “I was an eight, where do I now feel it has gone down to” and letting her arm drop a little way. She said “five.”
With the new focus phrase of “reduced airport space panic” another round of FreewayCER brought it down to 2. I asked if she would like to take it to zero, which she did. Another round with “smaller airport space panic” reduced it to zero for her.
We did the in-voicing, repeating three times with feeling.
Aspect 2aNext she wanted to work on the time when she had been sweeping leaves outside her front door when a neighbour came over to talk to her. She had an overwhelming sense of panic, had to hold on to her husband for support and burst into tears.
She called it “sweeping leaves panic” and gave it a MIL of 10. One round of FreewayCER reduced it to 8. Another round with “declining sweeping leaves panic” reduced it to 4. One more round with “tiny sweeping leaves panic” reduced it to 0. We did in-voicing.
Aspect 3aShe now chose to work on the occasion when she was walking through the local shopping centre, she came out from the market building and the feeling came on. She had to dash to find a seat. She called it “shopping seat panic” and the initial MIL was 8. One round of FreewayCER reduced it to 5. Another round with “lesser shopping seat panic” reduced it to 2. She wanted to take it to 0, which was accomplished with a further round having the focus phrase of “diminishing shopping seat panic.” We did the in-voicing.
Aspect 4aThe fourth aspect she chose to work on was similar to the third one but at a local café when she had gone for a coffee with a friend. She called it “café seat panic” for the setup and focus phrase. The initial MIL was 8 and the first round of FreewayCER brought it down to 5. A second round on “lesser café seat panic” reduced it to 2, then a final round on “minute café seat panic” brought it to 0. We did invoicing.
Aspect 5aThe next thing she wanted to address was when she went to her exercise class a week after having stitches in her leg and was standing “one person away from a seat.” She had the “overwhelming” feeling and had to leave the class.
The RARP/focus phrase was “exercise class panic,” the initial MIL was 5 and the first round of FreewayCER reduced it to 3. The next round with “reduced exercise class panic” reduced it to 1. We did a final round (“tiny exercise class panic”) to reduce it to 0, followed by in-voicing.
I asked her to look down the her fear of falling list of items and say which still held any emotional intensity for her and she said that none of them did. So we turned our attention to getting worked up list.
Apect 1bThe first thing she wanted to work on from the getting worked up list was when she was going the chemists for her prescription and was nervous about walking, then she bumped into a woman in the street, which gave her “jelly legs.”
She chose “chemist nightmare” for the RARP and focus phrase with an initial MIL of 7. The first round took it to 5. The next round with “smaller chemists nightmare” reduced it to 2. She wanted to take it to zero and a final round with “minute chemists nightmare” reduced it to zero. We did the in-voicing.
Aspect 2bNext she wanted to address the time a week ago when she had gone for her computer lesson at the local library. She started to get out of her chair but a man had stood right there and so stopped her as she stood up. Her legs were “stuck to the floor like lead” and she couldn’t walk without help.
She called it “computer lesson lead legs” and gave it an initial MIL of 8. The first round brought it right down to 3, then a second round (“smaller computer lesson nightmare”) brought it to zero. We did in-voicing.
Aspect 3bThe next incident she chose was when she was in the doctor’s waiting room after cutting her leg on the car door. She was frightened to move out of the chair and couldn’t walk straight. She felt “like I was drunk.” Calling it “doctor’s waiting room anxiety” with a MIL of 5, she reduced it to 3 with the first round of FreewayCER, then to zero with another round (“less doctor’s waiting room anxiety”). Then the in-voicing as usual.
Aspect 4bShe said there were no other incidents that had happened that held any more emotional intensity for her. However, she still had some nervousness about the thought of just walking down the road where she lived. So we decided to work on that.
She called it “my road anxiety” with a MIL of 8, which was reduced to 4 with the first round of FreewayCER. Another round with “smaller my road anxiety” took it to zero. In-voicing as usual.
She phoned later to thank me because she felt so good, all her fears were gone and she had walked down the road no problem. It was a very long session but most gratifying to have helped make such a positive difference in someone’s life.
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Jenny, in her 40’s, would “lose her ability to be rational” when confronted with a height. She has always been like this and it has become worse over time. She was unable even to look at pictures of people in high places. A few weeks earlier she had attempted to change a light bulb at the top of the stairs in her house, but could only put her foot on the bottom rung of the step ladder and was frozen with fear.
She had no trouble coming up with a list of about 15 occasions that she could recall and still held emotional intensity for her.
First aspectThe first aspect she wanted to work on was from 1998 when she went on an outward bound team building course in the peak district and was unable to take part in a simple rock climb of a few feet with ropes and harness.
Her chosen focus phrase was “team building terror.” We measured the MIL with her arm where hand on knee was 0, no intensity, and shoulder height was 10, as bad as it could be. She gave it a 5.
Then while gently circling two fingers on the tender point (TP) in the crease of the shoulder she said the RARP phrase three times with feeling: “I accept myself completely and am now ready to let go of this team building terror and all its uncomfortable, limiting effects.” Then we did a big luxurious yawn.
Next we did the change energy routine (CER) with me tapping on myself and she copying my actions. I would correct her as needed. She said “team building terror” while tapping each point.
Then we did a big yawn and the MIL. Holding her arm about halfway between her shoulder and knee (a 5) I got her to say “I was a five, now where do I feel it has gone down to?” She dropped the hand slightly and gave it a four.
As that was quite a small drop, we did the resistance ambivalence reversal procedure (RARP) – basically repeating the RARP phrase three times with feeling again, but with the words “lesser team building terror,” while circling on the TP. Then we did the CER, a yawn and the MIL again. This time it was a 2.
I asked her if she wanted to take it down to 0 and she did. She tapped using the focus phrase “mini team building terror,” then another yawn and the MIL. This time she gave it a zero, no intensity at all.
Next we did the in-voicing procedure. With hands over both ears so she can feel it resonating around her head she said with feeling: “I have now let go of this team building terror forever, on all levels of my being, and through all times, past, present and future”. Then another big yawn.
Second aspectThe next aspect that she wanted to deal with was the fear she had when putting up a trampoline for her kids in the garden about two years ago. She had to get up on the trampoline to put the poles up that would support the safety net around it, but was convinced she was going to fall off and kill herself.
We measured the MIL and she gave it a 4. We did the focus phrase using the words “trampoline net terror.” I encouraged her to use her own words if she wanted, but she was happy to stay with the standard phrase.
We then did the CER with the focus phrase “trampoline net terror.” After one round we did the MIL again and she felt it had gone down to a 2. She said she wanted to take to zero, but another round of CER with the focus phrase “lesser trampoline net terror” only reduced it to a 1. So we did the RARP again, followed by another round of CER with the focus phrase “mini trampoline net terror.” Now the MIL was zero. We did the invoicing and yawn.
Third aspectJenny is always putting herself into fearful situations, thinking “I’ll be all right this time, I can do it.” She is brave, but inevitably the fear takes over. The third aspect she wanted to work on was when she decided to have a go on the trampoline after erecting it for her kids. She made one jump and was so scared she had to crawl off on her hands and knees and have someone help down onto the ground.
She called it “trampoline bounce fright” for the setup and focus phrase and gave it an initial MIL of 4. With one round of CER it went straight to zero. So we did the in-voicing and yawn.
Fourth aspectNext she wanted to work on the time she had visited Table Mountain in South Africa. She had been able to get up the mountain but stayed well away from the edge, clinging to a rock. She chose “Table Mountain freeze” for the RARP and focus phrase, giving it an initial MIL of 7.
After one round of CER the MIL was 1. She wanted to take it to zero and that was accomplished with a further round with the focus phrase “mini Table Mountain freeze.” We then did the in-voicing and yawn.
Fifth aspectA few days ago some friends were telling her how close they came to sliding off the edge of a mountain road in the alps and had a narrow escape. She had become gripped with fear just listening to their story and had difficulty breathing.
She called it “car slide breathlessness” for the RARP and focus phrases, giving it a MIL of 3. One round of CER brought it to 1 and she wanted to take it to zero, which a further round with the focus phrase “lesser car slide breathlessness” accomplished. We followed that with the in-voicing.
I asked her if any of the other times that she had listed still held any emotional intensity for her and she said that there was one, although she wasn’t getting a very strong reaction any more. I asked her if she wanted to work on it and she said she did.
Sixth aspectNext she chose to work on an occasion from when she was a YTS co-ordinator back in 1988 and had to accompany some young people on an abseiling course. She had forced herself to do it but was in “absolute terror” the whole time.
She called it “Massian abseil terror” for the RARP and focus phrases, giving it an initial MIL of 5. A round of CER took it down to 3, a second round with the focus phrase mini Massian abseil terror reduced it to 1. She wanted to take it to zero, which a further round with the focus phrase “minute Massian abseil terror” did. We did the in-voicing.
Seventh aspectNone of the remaining incidents on her list held any further emotional intensity for her. I showed her the pictures again and she was fine with all of them except one, a photo of a man on a tightrope between two buildings, which made her feel a little tight in the chest. I asked her if she wanted to work on that and she said she did.
She called it “tightrope tightness” for the RARP and focus phrase with initial MIL of 3. One round of CER took it to zero. We did in-voicing. She was adamant that there were no other aspects that she could think of that held any emotional intensity for her. I asked her if she wanted to go up the stairs and look down from the landing. She did this with no problem whatsoever and said “I would never have been able to do this before.”
The session had taken about two hours. She left and phoned me later to thank me and say that she had now been up the step ladder at the top of the stairs to change the light bulb and had been on the kids’ trampoline and had quite enjoyed it.
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CASE STUDY 2: JEANETTE . M: 29 YEAR OLD FEMALE:
DATE: 4th JULY 2008:
PRESENTING PROBLEM: LACK OF CONCENTRATION, UNABLE TO FOCUS ON WORK:
FIRST CONTACT: REFERRED BY FORMER CLIENT:
LENGTH OF SESSION: 2 HOURS:
OCCUPATION: PHYSIOTHERAPIST
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Case Studies
