Four years ago I gave birth to twins, Joe and Ruth. They were born at 32 weeks gestation and although both good weights my daughter developed severe respiratory distress syndrome. She did recover, as did her brother, and after a difficult first year both thrived. However the experience took its toll on me and by the time they were 2 years old I had begun to despair of ever getting over it.

 

When Ruth was in the special care baby unit she was very poorly and I was told that she might die. I have a very visual memory and was left with very intrusive imagery of Ruth covered in tubes, gasping for breath, crying and oedematous in her incubator. I carried this image with me constantly and was desperate to stop seeing her in this way. Over a period of 2 years I tried psychotherapy (Jungian), acupuncture, talking to numerous counsellors and friends. I even visited the SCBU in order to confront the anxiety but these still didn’t shift the image and the feeling that went with it.

I was extremely sceptical about NLP but I did trust Henrie and was willing to give the trauma-cure a try. Immediately and to my absolute surprise I felt better. I just don’t recall that feeling in the same way, instead I can describe all the events that took place around her birth objectively and when I look at my Ruth now, all I see is my happy, healthy 4 year old.

 

From this experience, I am extremely interested in finding out more about NLP and how I can use these tools in my own work. I also hope to be able to collaborate on future research in the area of NLP and mental health.