Imagine that you’re in a cold, clear place on a winter’s day. You take deep, calm breaths and enjoy the crisp, fresh air. Time passes, and now it’s spring. Keep breathing steadily and carry the pleasant sense of calm with you. Imagine that you’re breathing deeply, calmly and with pleasure, since you know that you’re safe now and will remain safe. It does you good to breathe so calmly and peacefully. Imagine that it’s spring, and you’re walking in a meadow past blossoming birch trees with the same sense of calm and the same deep breaths, and perhaps you’re even surprised that you feel so good. You breathe deeply and steadily. You feel no fear, and you enjoy this feeling. Imagine walking up to a birch tree, and having the wonderful idea of hugging it – and behold, it is very good.

A method of systematically desensitising hay fever through hypnotic suggestion can also be found in Hans A. Abraham, based however on the medicinal desensitisation of allergies, i.e. an unreal placebo, rather than the desensitisation of phobias. Gibbons suggests that the very small quantities of pollen present in the air or on objects during the colder months of the year act as a desensitising vaccination for the client. Abraham 1990.

(From: Stefan Hammel: Handbook of Therapeutic Storytelling. Sories and Metaphors in Psychotherapy, Child and Family Therapy, Medical Treatment, Coaching and Supervision, Routledge 2019)