A regional daily journalist with a lifelong fear of spiders has undergone hypnosis in a bid to cure his phobia.
Arachnophobic reporter Alex Grove, of the Hull Daily Mail, was hypnotised to find the root cause of why he fears the eight-legged creatures.
Alex wrote a feature for the Mail on his experience, which saw him enter a deep trance during the session with hypnotherapist Diana Rushton.
Alex admitted to his phobia being “one that plagues me and makes me jump out of my skin whenever I see one”.
Alex with hypnotherapist Diana Rushton
He wrote: “When I was younger a spider crawled up on my neck as I was getting changed and I remember batting it off me and squealing like a baby. It still makes me shiver thinking about that particular moment but in the session, other pivotal childhood moments came to the surface, including my mum’s fear of spiders.
“This technique of taking me back to when I was a child is known as ‘past life regression’ and it encouraged me to talk with my former self and tell the 10-year-old me that I didn’t need to be afraid.
“This took up a large chunk of the session and put me into a deep hypnotic state to the point where, in the last 20 minutes of the session, I fell asleep. I woke up a bit dazed and confused, but also amazed that hypnotherapy had knocked me out cold, so to speak.
“When I came round, Diana explained how the fears stemmed from my childhood and how the close bond with my mum made me latch on to her trepidations.”
After being awoken, Alex was given a 20-minute recording of the session to listen to for 21 days in order to help him overcome his fear.
He added: “I’m now halfway through the 21 days and I’ve come to realise that my hatred of spiders came from childhood at a time when I was younger and more vulnerable.
“Admittedly, I’m still not entirely comfortable with seeing spiders but the aim of the session was never to make me fall in love with the creatures – but to make me realise that I didn’t need to be scared.”
Sign up for our free daily email bulletin
Follow HTFP on Twitter
Got a story? Email the Editor at
why is this considered news or of interest to anyone accessing a site about news or matters concerning the uk regional press?
People undergo hypnotherapy and treatment for all manner of phobias every day without being featured in a ‘news’ story which will only be of interest only to the person concerned
Slow HTFP news day?
Report this comment
Not at all. HTFP has always featured stories about reporters doing quirky things and then writing about them. Our most viewed story ever was not about job losses or newspaper closures but a tale about two reporters trying out the world’s spiciest burger.
Report this comment
I don’t think it’s a slow news day for HTFP. More like the HDM. Dull as ditchwater, no spark – could have been a fascinating feature, but just simple free advertising and clickbait.
Report this comment
Pointless piece which will be of limited interest to anyone reading it in Hull let alone across the uk
With readers being precious commodities and advertisers now having many and varied opportunities to reach an audience this type of space filler / click bait online piece will do nothing to help showcase the papers worth or its idea of content
Yes a slow news day all round
Report this comment
I wish it was that easy to get a ‘story’ past Jeremy Deacon, Tom Richmond and John Meehan in the days when I was at the Hull Daily Mail.
Report this comment