Testimonials, Client Feedback, and Press/Magazine clippings
For Rob Kelly - Hypnotherapist, Consultant & Lecturer

The following unsolicited testimonials, are all genuine comments from real clients, and have not been edited in any way shape or form. These concern REAL experiences, from REAL people, who have undergone therapy with Rob.
The letters/cards/emails are all available for inspection at the Cambridge Clinic.
Most of the clients mentioned here, needed less that 10 sessions of therapy, which culminated in them resolving a (previously repressed) experience that was causing all of their symptoms.

For television clips and video testimonials about Rob Kelly, click here

May 2008:

I first approached Rob for some help with a crippling fear of flying; I know a lot of people don't like to fly but I had managed to avoid getting on a plane for 10 years! I have even backed out of holidays at the last minute and let my husband and sons go without me. When I forced myself to take a trip for the sake of my family earlier this year it was a truly miserable experience, with me not sleeping for weeks beforehand and able to think of very little else. The flight itself was ghastly with me physically sick and eventually being offered sedation by the crew... and my children very upset to see me in such a state. I was wrung out for days afterwards.

Talking to Rob about the phobia he explained that a "quick fix" to this sort of fear is rarely satisfactory in the long term. He explained that powerful and intense (and irrational!) phobias are related to feelings locked deep within a person. Rob seems to be a very good - slightly scarily so! - reader of people and within a short time of chatting with me pinpointed that I am generally very uptight, anxious, overly worried
about deadlines, standards, tidiness, lateness and so on. In short he saw through to the control freak that I thought I was keeping well hidden.

In fact not long before our meeting I'd had to seek medical help after after a severe panic attack over something that on the surface of it seemed totally trivial. As well as tranquillisers my GP had sent me on a course of counselling and while I had hoped this would be helpful the sessions left me tearful, confused and embarrassed. Unable to resolve the anxiety, I reverted to my usual coping strategies - make up on, big smile, work my self senseless to make it look on the surface that yes/, of course/ I'm okay!

Never for one minute could I have related any of this to a fear of flying but Rob explained that conflicting feelings "bubble up" as phobias. He suggested that I come to see him for a short course of hypnotherapy where we could look at some of the events in my past to see why I'd started to think and feel in such a rigid, controlled way.

I have to say I was very cynical - to the point of being hostile - to the idea of "therapy". Partly because I have been brought up to believe that talking about yourself is self-indulgent and partly because I honestly couldn't face up to how near I was to crumbling with anxiety. And the idea of being hypnotised... it's like a control freak's worst nightmare!

Rob was very sensitive to my nervousness and reluctance and we spent a good part of each session just chatting, like two ordinary people. It quickly became clear there would be little he'd hadn't heard, or dealt with before. And there was certainly absolutely nothing whatsoever to fear from the part of the session where I was hypnotised. Anyone who is worried that they'll be losing control of any part of themselves should be reassured that nothing of the sort happens. I felt deeply relaxed, probably the most relaxed I've ever been, yet totally aware of what was going on around me and everything I was saying. What was amazing was being able to remember events in my very young childhood with incredible clarity, as if I was there.

I want to say here that Rob does not "recover memories"; what the hypnosis did was allow me to review events I already knew about and examine how I /felt /at exactly that time. Throughout the process I must admit I remained sceptical about how stuff from way back could affect my thinking in the here and now - but the beauty of this process is that all you need to do is sit back in the chair and go with it, and not worry about how it works!

Despite being convinced from the outset that I would be resistant to this sort of help I walked out of the seventh session with Rob a totally changed person. It's hard to describe without talking in cliches what a transformation I experienced; feeling "light" and as if all my cares and worries had been taken away from me. Things I had stressed over for years were just no longer a big deal. Complicated relationship issues made sense: I had several lightbulb moments when I finally understood why certain people had treated me in a particular way. There was a sense of acceptance and peace I'd never had before.

Two months ago I felt like I was a slacker if I stopped for five minutes to have a cup of tea, and this morning I spent two hours downloading music to my iPod without feeling guilty for even a second! I can see that before the therapy I was driving myself into a breakdown and that my physical health had suffered. Since starting to see Rob I've slept incredibly well, stopped having the churning in my stomach I'd lived with for so long I thought it was normal, and I've hardly touched alcohol. Before I always needed to knock back several large drinks before I could give myself permission to enjoy myself.

In a funny way I'm grateful I had that terrible flight earlier this year because without it I would never have met Rob, and been through the therapy, and feel as brilliant as I do now. It's even better knowing it's the last rubbish flight I'll ever have... since then I've done two 10 hour flights and the worst thing I had to cope with was boredom! I've got another long haul trip in the summer and am looking forward to it hugely - now when I think of planes all I anticipate is a big chunk of downtime spent relaxing and being on my way to a lovely holiday.

Lesley Johnson, Cambridge

April 2008:

Firstly can I say what a special person Rob is with a special talent and ability!! Very warm, caring, humorous, patient and understanding. I cannot begin to thankyou enough for what you have done for me and my family. I came to you as a chap who put on a mask to the outside world that everything was fine and dandy, while underneath the surface I was drowning in emotions of guilt, nerves, anxiety, frustration and self hate. But thanks to your help, support, confidence and superb
therapy sessions, I have became so much more confident, guilt free, less frustrated, anxious, nervous and so much more happier with life but more importantly feeling so much more contented with myself as a person. I couldn't recommend this therapy treatment any more if I tried.
Thank you so much for helping change my life for the better!!!!

All the best Rob, take care.  
Dave D - London

March 2008:

'A repressed memory'....
Such an innocuous phrase for something that has affected my behaviour and choices for 40 years and burdoned my life.

I hesitate to explain the hugely profound effect that releasing/recognizing that it exists has had on me because words are inadequate. I had not been aware that it was locked by the venus fly trap power of my subconscious mind, now exercised by Mr Kelly.

It has not only changed who I think I am, thought I was, but my entire being. It has changed all my perceptions of the person I was/am. It has freed me from previously held notions of self loathing and guilt without ever recognizing why or, on occasion, that they even existed.

I now am able to reconsider memories of childhood without the shackle of disgust for myself that I held. Everything is viewed through a different lens.
On the surface – a bright, together achiever who deep down hated something about herself – despised herself for something and displayed this by useless over indulgence – drugs, alcohol, no ‘stop’ button – constantly thwarting any provocative emotion.

Mr Kelly managed to let the genie out of the bottle – I was made to face those things I couldn’t even begin to imagine, let alone accept as fact. My sense of relief and euphoria is overwhelming – the outpouring of bottled up emotion as powerful as giving birth, and indeed for me this is truly like the start of a new life.

Mr Kelly has broken into the cocoon and given me wings.

It has been a life-changing experience – an epiphany – I shall be eternally grateful for... Not least because I can now move on and face the future with confidence, but also because I can remember my past without sadness and shame.

Thank you so much
Karen Partridge, Lincoln

January 2008:

Hypnotherapy with Rob Kelly has changed my life. He has helped me to see the power of the mind and to better understand myself and how my mind works.   Rob's care and concern were apparent immediately  and  these coupled with his expertise, professionalism and commitment have produced remarkable results.  After 7 dreadful years of depression I can see a future. The road Rob took me along was bumpy but he guided and supported me.  He has shown me how to use my abilities constructively rather than against myself.  Thank you so much Rob.
 
Dr Caroline Hough, Consultant, General Practitioner, London

October 2007:

I can not thank Rob Kelly enough for the new life he has opened up for me!
I suffered from EXTREME social phobia/social anxiety, unable to speak to people in public, including shop assistants, or even hold my head up when walking down the street in case I should make eye contact, even dating... my mouth would become dry, my hands numb and I would begin to hyperventillate just thinking about doing ordinary things like popping to the shops or filling the car with petrol.
I had begun to put life on hold.

A work colleague had mentioned her success at stopping smoking using hypnosis with Rob - her enthusiasm encouraged me to make contact with him myself.
From the offset, Robs message was clear and encouraging about the benefits hypnotherapy with him, would have on me.

The beauty of hypnotherapy for me (I had a course of Pure Hypnoanalysis) was that I didn't have to see the other persons reactions to what I spoke about, as would happen in conselling, for example. I was aware that Rob was in the same room, but he was able to make me feel relaxed and free from 'judgement', although he is of course using his extensive skill and knowledege to analyse what I revealed, but most importantly he made me feel safe.

Through sessions with Rob I discovered the very root of my reluctance to connect with people... it was a REPRESSED MEMORY: an experience so painful, that made me feel so guilty and shameful, I had completely buried it in the back of my mind - I had no idea this had ever happened before I saw Rob.

Once I had 'released' this experience (let out all the emotion) I felt an extreme sense of relief wash over me. I would never have been able to access that memory by myself - it needed Rob and his exceptional ability as a hypnotherapist, to release me from my 20 year rut. Very quickly I noticed my life changing for the better, as did my thrilled family! I am at last able to value and love myself. I welcomed new friends, started smiling hello to passers by, and I flirted with the sexy guy who I'd had my eye on - who is now my boyfriend!!

I have made many positive changes to my life, and I now look forward to the future.
Rob Kelly has made this possible. Thank you so much Rob

Jane Metcalf, Bank Worker, Cambridge

 

"Hypno help - to beat the weed"

Extract from the Cambridge Evening News, 8th March 2000
"Nicotine is not addictive and giving up smoking is easy" - these are the controversial words of Robert Kelly, a Hypnotherapist with one of the best success rates in the country.

"Getting people to give up smoking is about the easiest thing I do," he said. And to prove it, he promised to hypnotise News' Sue Green, a serial smoker who has tried every method in the book to give up the dreaded weed. In a lengthy consultation from his Cambridge practice, Mr Kelly talked through his beliefs, about why people smoke - and why they find it hard to give up.

"It's my belief that it is a fallacy that people are addicted to nicotine," he said. "Smokers do not crave nicotine while they are asleep. You just need to go into any drug rehabilitation clinic to see heroin addicts banging their heads against the wall in the night - because if you are truly addicted to something, you need it in your bloodstream morning, noon and night. People have different personality types and those who smoke are Oral Compulsives - if it is not smoking, it is food, or nailbiting, or drinking. It is not a question of will power, of lack of self confidence, it is all about anxiety and stress".

"When people feel anxiety or stress they feel they need to restore confidence by smoking (or drinking, or eating). The reason why so many people fail to stop smoking is because there is no real incentive to give up. People usually feel that they have given up something for nothing i.e. there is no 'tangible' or immediate reward / benefit."

"What I do is offer people something in return. Every time they do not smoke they will feel a buzz (reward) far greater than the one they ever got from smoking."

Mr Kelly also uses positive suggestion to make sure his patients do not turn to another oral substitute, such as overeating. To hypnotise Sue, Mr Kelly used a combination of suggestion therapy, visualisation and positive thinking.

Hypnotherapist Robert Kelly has seen between 250-400 smokers a year for the last ten years. Last year, of the 400 smokers he saw, only 18 returned for a second session because they had gone back to smoking.

Mr Kelly, who is based at The Beechwood Practice, in Hills Road, Cambridge, has studied hypnosis, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis for over 11 years, and since setting up practice in Cambridge eight years ago has seen over 3000 patients.

As well as smoking cessation, he has also successfully treated people suffering from phobias, migraines, sexual problems, depression and insomnia.

Mr Kelly offers a free introductory consultation to people who would like to find out more before they embark on therapy. For more information contact Robert Kelly on 01223 301577.

"A patient's eye view"

by Sue Green
I'm not crabby and I'm not smoking - but it's early days. It's been more than 48 hours - and I haven't had a cigarette. No big deal? It is for me. And I feel completely relaxed about it. That is the big difference.

Before this latest, and hopefully final effort to beat the weed, colleagues and family would have experienced the less attractive side of my nature - the short-tempered, unreasonable, sometimes hysterical side that has accompanied every other attempt at giving up.

When I arrived at Robert Kelly's office, I was anxious; I could not sit down in the waiting room. I paced. I was not convinced that I could be hypnotised, and thought the hypnotherapy approach would be, at best, ineffective. I am not weird, and not often wacky, but I can spot both characteristics a mile off.

Robert's office was normal (no couch, no odd time pieces to swing in front of my eyes) and Robert was normal too (no particular hairstyle, no wild eyebrows, no glint of madness behind the eyes). He was charming and professional and I soon felt more at ease. Maybe there was something to it after all.

His statistics speak for themselves - a 90% plus success rate and very few clients needing a second dose of this particular kind of medicine. We chatted, I unwound. Robert was straight with me throughout. During my initial consultation, he said, he can weed out those he is unable to help, and I was a perfect subject.

Robert sat me in a comfortable chair and used his voice to induce me into a state of hypnosis - this did not feel like anything I had expected. I knew I could open my eyes at any time. I could hear him. But I felt calm, warm, safe and very, very relaxed.

I came away with an impression of Robert as a favourite teacher. I liked him, I liked his approach and enthusiasm for his subject, I like the fact that he was normal.

As well as wanting the therapy to succeed for all the right reasons, there is an added incentive - part of me doesn't want to let him down. He was so sure the therapy was going to work on me. I was, after all, an ideal subject.

As so far, so good. I'm not smoking and I'm not crabby, but it's early days....

"It's goodbye to smoking"

Extract from the Cambridge Evening News, March 30 2000

It's goodbye to cigarettes after 25 years and one Hypno session News assistant chief sub editor Sue Green gave up smoking in time for National Non Smoking Day after visiting a Hypnotherapist but that was more than three weeks ago.... It's been three whole weeks since I went to the hypnotist and I haven't smoked since. This has amazed me and it has astonished my family and friends who, in the past have been subjected to the extremely short-tempered outbursts which have always accompanied previous "I've packed it in" attempts. I can't say I haven't missed it.

There were times when I was sorely tempted but I have not experienced the gnawing cravings of the past. I had just one session with hypnotherapist Robert Kelly, who sees his clients at the Beechwood Practice in Hills Road, Cambridge. He said at the time I was an ideal subject and one session would be enough. It seems he was right. I posted a daily bulletin at work during the first week, letting colleagues know how things were going; Day 1 No I haven't Day 2 All is well Day 3 Cruising Day 4 Still clean but tricky moment while watching the TV that night, which was overcome by the consumption of chocolate biscuits Day 5 I'm Okay The first weekend my children conspired against me and I nearly buckled.

The second week was much as the first. There were a couple of times when I really missed the habit but I resisted. Now, here we are in week four and still all is well. I think about smoking less than I did and, in fact, I'm feeling quietly pleased with myself. I can't believe how different it has been this time. During the past 25 years, I have 'given up' more times than I can remember. I was only ever successful during pregnancy, and even then I cheated.! I know it's still early days but I have been to a pub and too a party and I haven't smoked.

My children have all been monsters and I haven't smoked.

My colleagues are still smoking - and I'm not.

I've got this feeling I might have cracked it this time!!!

"Hypnotism and the demon weed"

Extract from the Cambridge Evening News, October 23 1999

Alternative therapies are being used by an increasing number of people, and next weekend the Natural Healing Exhibition comes to Chilford Hall in Linton. Lisa Millard spoke to Graham Lee, who has given up 40 cigarettes a day with the help of Hypnotherapy. Graham Lee has smoked 40 cigarettes a day for most of his life. The 51 year old car salesman from Quy started smoking when he was 12 and all attempts to give up the demon weed had failed.

"As well as forty fags a day I'd smoke five or six cigars as well" says Graham "I've tried patches and gum but they did absolutely no good at all. And they are expensive. And the gum tastes horrible." Graham says his £120 investment in nicotine patches did not pay off and his 40-a-day habit was costing him about £140 per month. He does not describe himself as a man who is particularly open to the world of alternative therapies and admits to a certain amount of skepticism. But when he heard that a couple of his friends had given smoking with the help of Hypnotherapy, he decided to give it a go.

"I went to see Robert Kelly in Cambridge. I wasn't nervous about it but I certainly didn't think it would work. Nothing else had - so why should this?" He turned up early for his appointment at the Beechwood Practice so went and had a coffee at the café around the corner from the Hills Road surgery. "That's where I smoked my last cigarette," says Graham who has not lit up now for more than two weeks. "I was there for forty minutes and he just talked to me about how I didn't need to smoke and how I was not addicted."

"I sat in an armchair and closed my eyes but it wasn't like you see on television. I didn't go into a trance and I could hear what he was saying to me all the time. He told me that I just didn't need cigarettes." When the session , which cost £90, was over, Graham says he felt a little bit strange but knew exactly where he was. "I walked into that room a life long smoker, and walked out a non smoker. My friends thought I was barmy. They offered me cigarettes and I would just say "no thanks, I don't smoke".

Graham has not given up his regular visits to his local pub where he drinks with his friend who continues to be a heavy smoker. And the presence of his 25 year old son, who is "lighting up all the time" and works in the same office, has not caused Graham to reach for a cigarette. " When they first light up and I get the smell I think that would be nice - but the urge only lasts for a few seconds" Graham says that his wife, who doesn't smoke, is pleased that he has finally given up and that he is even developing typical non-smoking traits. "I can really notice how my friends who smoke, really smell of it. It is a horrible smell but I never noticed it before because I smelt like that myself." "I would definitely recommend anyone try Hypnotherapy. Giving up smoking is hard for anyone but it is definitely easier with Hypnotherapy "

"Long live the King!"

Extract from the Cambridge Evening News, March 16 1994
Mike Traynier is ready to re-live the life of Elvis on stage - thanks to a local Hypnotherapist. Before he could imitate the king of rock, he had to get rid of his stage fright Now after a visit to hypnotherapist Robert Kelly, he is ready to don his blue suede shoes and re-run Elvis's life from the age of ten - at the Labour club in Romsey, Cambridge. Mr Traynier, of Darwin Drive, Cambridge, said: "about three years ago I went on holiday and was forced on to the stage to sing - it was the fear of looking stupid that made me do it, I suppose". "My family and the other people there couldn't believe it, they couldn't believe how good I was".

"I went to see Rob Kelly for some Hypnotherapy because I wanted to have the guts to get up and do it again, but without the fear" Mr Kelly said: "there are two types of Hypnotherapy. The first is Analytical where you establish the CAUSE of a problem, and release the emotion. The second is suggestion therapy - which I used on Michael". "Here you get people to relax and you suggest to them for example, you don't want to smoke and you are going to give up - and with smoking cessation I claim a 92% success rate".

"It was the same with Mike; I just suggested to him that he would not be afraid to go on stage and he would have the confidence to do it - it was a big step for him". "I have never heard anyone who sounds as much like Elvis as he does - I can't believe how good he is" Mr Traynier will be performing on March 26th at 8.30pm.

Katy Edwards - East Anglian Daily Times - March 2002

ROB Kelly is the kind of man who makes you want to spill your innermost secrets within minutes of saying hello. With his sparkling, laughing blue eyes and casual jeans and a t-shirt he waves his clients in without so much as a hint of judgement.
Nothing you could say would shock him.

It is all part of his act - or should I say profession (I am, as yet, still very unsure whether to remain cynical on this one). Rob Kelly is a hypnoanalyst and hypnotherapist by trade - the therapy comes later, once he has identified the root of the problem.
His alluring image, together with his warmly decorated consulting room and huge leather chair (for the client), contrives to put his subjects at their ease before they can be induced - by Rob's deep, mellifluous voice - into a hypnotic state for treatment to begin.

Rob, an administrator for the International Association of Hypno-analysts with a practice in Cambridge, pitches his methods as a panacea for everything from sexual problems, phobias and obsessions to smoking, nail-biting and bed-wetting. He claims to have cured up to 95 per cent of the 5,000 or so smokers who have turned to him for help quitting their habit. Although he admits the smokers pay his bills, it is the more complex analytical hypnotherapy that really fires him up - unearthing the often deeply buried and long, or deliberately forgotten, roots of psychological problems through hypnosis. Whereas hypnotherapy, or suggestion therapy works by introducing ideas such as 'you are now a non-smoker' while the client is in a super-relaxed state and can be effective almost immediately, hypnoanalysis takes far longer - sometimes up to eight or 10 sessions.

Hypnoanalysis works on the assumption that every symptom - fear of flying, nightmares, lack of confidence, paranoia, compulsions etc., - must have a cause. Rob believes the symptoms will be cured once the cause has been identified and accepted by his clients. Through hypnosis, patients confront memories that have been locked away for a lifetime, often because they are too horrific for the conscious mind to deal with, or because the guilt associated with them is too strong to bear. His sessions often culminate in highly emotional moments of recollection.

Rob argues that other forms of treatment for phobias and anxieties, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which provides patients with coping mechanisms, or pharmacological remedies, remove only the symptom, not the cause of the problem. He added that psychotherapy also fails because it encourages the mind to intellectualize the problem, thereby making false links between symptoms and causes, whereas hypnoanalysis taps into the unconscious mind, beyond thought. He said: "Neither my nor my client's intellect is involved in the process. Whatever we think is important doesn't matter. If I was to make a judgement about whatever I thought was significant, or asked him what he thought was important, all we would have would be intellectualized nonsense. It has to come from somewhere deeper than that."

He asks me why I am dressed in black. I admit, rather embarrassed, that I think darker colours are more slimming. He jumps in: "There is always a reason why we are the way we are. If we were to start with that presumption we might be working from entirely the wrong basis. It may be that you have an unconscious association with death or a problem getting over your grandfather's funeral. It may not, but it would be wrong to start therapy based on a falsity." To demonstrate his method, Rob encourages me to join him in a word association exercise, surrendering our intellectual faculties in favour of spontaneity. We go the usual cup-saucer, sky-sea route. "If you are open and honest and say the first thing that comes into your head, it is very difficult to intellectualize," he explained. "We do the same in therapy, except we do it with memories.

To do that you have to trust and believe in your therapist, he must be likeable and professional and you need to feel safe and secure. "I'm not an authoritarian sitting here in a suit. I'm not putting up any barriers. I'm relaxed and open. I don't pretend I'm a doctor with any great insight. I let my clients do the talking." So there is no swinging pendulum, no mind-control, no barking like a dog or hopping around on one foot. I am quite disappointed. A little part of me wants a Svengali. Can't he make me do the Birdie-Dance just for fun? Apparently not. "There is no question of being controlled or manipulated, or even induced into a deep trance state," said Rob.

"A person in hypnosis is not asleep, they are often more aware of what is taking place than usual and their senses function more efficiently." As an example of a non-intellectually verbalized memory Rob retells the story of an elderly client who had been afraid to fly her whole life. "She kept remembering her grandfather's funeral, at the grave site. The whole experience was about how far down the hole was. Eventually we got the correct link - she had been pushed down a well as a child. The claustrophobia, the fear of flying was all linked to this very early feeling of being out of control. "She had had those anxieties for more than 60 years. It was all bottled away at the back of her mind. After six sessions we had got rid of all that emotion, we'd found the cause of the problem."

He has supreme confidence in his art. Speaking of a client he had seen earlier the same day, who had a terrible, irrational fear of being sick - Emetophobia - leaving him unable to eat in public, he said: "I've got further with him in one session than he has progressed in 10 years of psychotherapy. Give it another two sessions and his problem will have completely disappeared." I ask him how he can tell his methods are working. His answer was unequivocal. "Experience. I can tell when the psyche is making the appropriate links that the therapy is working correctly. You know when you have got there because all his emotions will come out. The person might start trembling, blushing or crying. "By the end of therapy this person's phobia will have disappeared. His life will have changed completely. How good am I going to feel then? There is no better job satisfaction than that."

Whereas modern psychoanalytical theory may ascribe emotional problems and phobias to cumulative trauma - a build-up of many distressing events - Rob insisted phobias were always caused by a very specific, single event, nearly always experienced in childhood. "If you fail your driving test a few times, you might be nervous about passing, but it would be unlikely to give you a phobia about driving," he said. "To have a phobia, or anxiety symptoms, you have to have bottled up an awful lot of emotion for a very long time." Rob was anxious to point out that the root may not always be sexual - a common misconception in therapy........ He explained that with ordinary distressing events, such as the death of his own father three years ago, a person releases a measure of emotion every time something prompts them to think of their bereavement. "The amount would diminish each time," said Rob. "I would think of him less and less until I could finally remember him without pain.

The cup, once full of emotion, is now empty.

We only have a finite amount of emotion about things. It is a natural predisposition to be able to resolve emotional trauma. If we couldn't, we would all be suicidal by the time we were 40." He claims that especially traumatic memories can remain fully intact and locked away for an entire lifetime, causing any amount of psychological damage to the key-holder.

Rob abounds with enthusiasm for this side of his work and his faith is catching. I am beginning feel there is something in all this. We all want to believe in the power of the mind, the mystery of the subconscious, the intangible and unproven truth that therein lies the root of all our problems, personality defects, phobias and maladies. It is nice to be told we are complex. Flattering, almost. What better way of soothing the self-absorbed hysteric, the neurotic, the hypochondriac? The happy symbiosis of the therapist feeding the paranoia and the paranoid quite literally feeding (clothing and housing) the therapist. Shouldn't we all stop wallowing and get a grip? Now I am being too cynical.

Rob claims he can spot obsessional clients a mile off and refuses to be corrupted by the promise of easy pickings: "I try not to treat them, I don't get involved. You don't tend to get a good reaction with them, they can't give themselves totally to the therapy. They are so preoccupied with it they can't relax enough to resolve their problem." Rob, now 34, first became interested in hypnotherapy and hypnoanalysis aged 19 when a hypnotherapist helped his grandmother to stop smoking. Rob has treated 3,000 people with anxieties, from across the UK and abroad, together with his impressive record for smokers. He said: "I haven't met a person yet whose phobia couldn't be cured by hypnoanalytical therapy. There must always be a reason why we think anything, or have certain emotional responses to anything." He also believes "normal" people can benefit enormously from hypnoanalytical therapy. "It can make you feel calmer, more successful in emotional terms and less susceptible to illness and anxiety," he claimed. Classing myself, very roughly, in the "normal" category, I thought I might take him up on his offer, starting with my first session this week.

I will keep you updated on my progress, but as I warned Rob - I am a hard nut to crack. My cynicism may be more deeply rooted than my childhood traumas.

A Fear of Flying - GONE!

Hi Rob
I can't believe I've done it!
Having always had such a phobia about flying and even more so since Sept. 11th, I really didn't think I would ever be able to fly again.

Although I was determined not to let it mess up my life, I really could not have faced getting on a plane without your help. Prior to my coming to see you I had cancelled two holidays due to my absolute terror of flying.
My husband was none too pleased as you can imagine, but unfortunately he was very understanding. Having tried various other alternative therapies without success, you were my last resort.

I found it extremely helpful to have the session with you the day prior to my decision to 'have a go'. A friend suggested that I started with an internal flight, only an hour there and back, which as it turned out was ideal. I informed the airline check-in desk that I was a "nervous flyer" and they in turn advised the flight crew, who were extremely kind and understanding throughout. I must admit I did have a moment of panic as I was being escorted towards the plane, I could feel myself starting to shake and my hands were very sweaty!. However I managed to pull myself together, remembering you telling me how proud I would feel of myself when I had achieved my goal, and I must admit it really worked.

So now I've flown twice in one day, which is a huge step for me.

I don't think I shall ever get over feeling anxious about flying, and I shall still need some help for the next couple of times, but at least I now know I can do it!.

From an Ex-nervous flyer

An Ex-SMOKER

Dear Rob

Twelve months ago today I came to you to quit smoking.

I am delighted to say that I have not touched a cigarette since. Thank you so much for releasing me from this bad habit. The money I spent on your session has been "saved" many times over since I saw you!!.

Best regards, Martyn, a non-smoker.