How Natasha was “afraid of drowning” A true story from my practice. Published with the client's permission. Names, ages and other means of identification have been intentionally changed. Any coincidence with anyone is excluded. Natasha, 36 years old, married, child, came with a request to get rid of panic attacks. She spoke in detail about the attacks. It turned out that the main fear is the fear of stopping breathing. Breathing is the most important thing for a person, so this fear is “fear is a locomotive” that drags along other symptoms - “squeezed temples” and “rapid heartbeat.” I started therapy, I need to cling to the “analogue.” - Tell me, Natasha, Is there anything about which you feel terrible fear? - she thought, and answered - This is the fear of water... - there is anxiety on her face... - Please remember the situation when you experienced this fear - I asked her, she, after thinking, nodded - Look with your inner eye at this fear and describe how it looks like - This is a “gray-black fog” in the chest area... - Now remember what the fear of suffocation looks like during moments of panic attacks? She was plunged into memories of fear, and after a while she answered, “Oh, he’s the same, the same “gray-black fog.” How is it Marat asked me in surprise - are they the same? “It seems so,” I answered smiling. I understood that direct access to the reasons for the fear of suffocation was closed. Sometimes, in such cases, I “cling” to a similar fear. In this case, the fear of suffocation and the fear of water are identical. “Let’s see where this “fog” came from,” I suggested, she agreed. “Holding fear, begin to slide through the years into your past, trust what will happen, let yourself go…. Let your subconscious lead you to the moment of fear... Natalya, closing her eyes, went into her past. Quite a long time passed before she spoke... - I’m 7-8 years old, and I’m somewhere in the second grade... The guys and I, these are my classmates, are walking past the pond... I see that there are a lot of people near the water, a kind of ringing silence, we are coming closer... A girl my age is lying on the sand - she drowned. Algae on the face... not breathing...She looks a lot like me.... – the client was breathing deeply and trembling. Panic! - What do you want now? - I asked “eight-year-old Natasha” - she answered hesitatingly - I don’t know, I want to cry, scream... I can’t cry, I’m ashamed in front of my friends.... - What does your fear look like there, on the pond? – asked her – This fog is only getting blacker and bigger. I’m very scared... - she continued - We passed by the pond..., it seemed to become calmer... I couldn’t allow myself to calm down - Natasha, rewind the time a little back, to the place where you were still on the pond - she breathed deeply again, her body trembled... - Now get lost from your classmates - I suggested going beyond the “ban on tears.” - Yes, I’m walking along a dusty road, I’m scared. Before my eyes there is a drowned woman... - tension - Some boys are coming to meet me, I’m afraid that they will beat me... They passed by... - Natasha, get off the road, there is no one there, no one will come.... - And now - CRY!!! - Marat, me – I’m bursting from the inside..., now, now it’s as if it’s going to tear me apart... I am in maximum attention - her chest is heaving... her breathing is compressed... her body is tense... And... she burped! Crying close to howling in the office and on the “dusty road” - she sobbed, she freed herself! I complicit with her and at the same time inserted “therapy” " - "Cry with all of yourself, girl... cry with your heart, cry everything from all the “secret corners.” She cried out for loneliness, fear, pain... She was leaving her childhood! The liberation lasted long enough. When she opened her eyes, I asked how she felt - Marat, it’s as if I was born again calmly and easily! - Tell Natasha, what is this lightness like, what can it be compared to? - I asked her, I needed to “fix the resource” - It’s like heaven - she smiled. I also needed to impose “sky” on her whole life and I continued - Now go back to your eight years, but with “sky” inside... .and start living your life again. Go through different situations, feeling the “sky”…. Natasha closed her eyes, her breathing was even and calm... After 10 minutes she