Fear of Water

Question
have a fear of water and would really love to be able to swim, drive near water etc. I have been attending hypnotherapy and seem to be getting worse instead of better. Please can you advise me if there is something I am doing wrong. Dear Del, I have a very hard time going into swimming pools. I never go in the deep end and very rarely go underwater. I'm an adult now and am tired of living with this fear. I missed out on a lot as a child. I have a child now who is at the age where he will be learning to swim this summer. I don't want him to see my fear and I wish I could be a part in this learning experience for him. I am claustrophobic and am wondering if my fear of the pool has something to do with claustrophobia and if I can ever be rid of this.

Answer
I'm sorry you are having trouble with hypnosis helping you with this problem. I can't really answer the question of what is wrong--the one thing I know is that it has nothing to do with you "doing" something wrong yourself. Certainly, not deliberately. If the hypnotherapist you have hasn't been able to break through whatever resistance your subconscious mind has, related to the swimming problem, perhaps someone else could help you--there is nothing wrong with changing therapists, if you haven't been able to break through. Sometimes a new approach can be helpful. I don't know enough about the therapist you have to help you make that judgment, but if he/she hasn't tried to get to the source of your fear, then I would suggest you find a therapist who does have the skills to get to the source of the fear. If that doesn't help, then perhaps your deeper self is not ready to deal with it, for some reason. What I wrote to the other person applies here. First of all, you need to get to a hypnotherapist, yourself, especially one who knows how to get to the source of the problem and release it. I think the possibility you raise of "claustrophobia" can well be involved. Both being under water and being in closed spaces raises, for some people, the fear of not being able to breath properly. Whatever the case, hypnosis can help with either fear or both, at once.