Driving Test Nerves

Debbie made an appointment for driving test nerves. Her next exam was due in less than a week and because I didn't have time to arrange more sessions with her, I suggested that we arranged her session for the afternoon before her exam (which was scheduled for about 8:30 a.m. the next morning).

Debbie seemed a fairly confident woman. She wanted to pass her test mainly because her husband worked away most of the time and she had two young children and felt it would be nice to be free to take them places and also to shop without the hassle of having to take buses or taxis.

She told me that she had already taken her test 11 times and failed, not because she was not a competent driver, but because she panicked each time at the slightest mistake.

After her first couple of failures she began to have panic attacks several days prior to her next forthcoming test. She couldn't sleep the night before and was even physically sick on several occasions.

Debbie had already 300 hours of driving experience and knew all the examiners (including the ones who'd left or died) and they all told her that they were sorry they had to fail her for mounting that kerb so many times (and other things) and they knew she was a good driver but they simply couldn't pass her.

I think I was her last hope and I really believed that she was going to pass this time. Maybe it would have happened without hypnosis but Debbie had already decided that she was going to panic yet once more.

On taking her history she told me that she'd been hypnotized on stage once and was a good subject. She was intelligent enough to know that she wouldn't be doing anything to make herself look ridiculous and she also had a wonderful imagination and an interest in spiritual matters (which is often an indicator that someone has a degree of 'higher intelligence').

I used my favourite induction, which rarely fails - (always adapted slightly though to suit the client of course) - and took her down a beautiful stairway and through the door of time - the door to tomorrow - the day of her driving exam.

We went through an imaginary journey of her (forthcoming) test where she felt so confident and competent - she was given several anchors to reinforce this confidence and projected to the end of her test to enjoy the experience of knowing that she had now earned her license to freedom.

When the session was over I asked Debbie how she felt. She reported that she KNEW she was going to pass this time. I really wanted to wish her luck but didn't because I thought that might seem as though it was leaving things to chance so I simply asked her to phone me after the exam and let me know how it went. She said - "I'll phone you to let you know that I've passed".

At exactly one o'clock the following day the phone rang. It was Debbie - she said - "I've passed - thank you so much".

It certainly made me feel good - not because I want to chalk up points on the successes that I've had but Debbie had already spent a couple of thousand pounds on driving lessons (she could have earned a pilot's license in the time that she'd spent trying to pass her driving test) - it's just so nice to feel that you have really made a difference to someone's life (albeit - even though they do it themselves - they get by with a little help from their Hypnotic World friends).