As a therapist with many years of experience working with functional and anxiety disorders I have used hypnotherapy for shy bladder syndrome and pee shy clients many times. Often shy bladder presents as a secondary symptom to another problem such as social anxiety, or irritable bladder.
Very little research done into therapy for Shy bladder syndrome. However, a study of 101 people with shy bladder who underwent a weekend course of exposure therapy. These people were found to have significant benefits when followed up a year later (Soifer, Himle & Walsh, 2010).Personally I’ve found that most patients respond well to therapy. So what might I do to help?
Therapy approaches for pee shy / Shy bladder syndrome?
There are a few technique which I’d consider for Shy bladder syndrome. I would take a case history from the patient and based upon this make some decisions as to what techniques to use. Sometimes a patient identifies a starting point to the problem or identifies that their internal voice is pressuring them. In these cases I consider what are called psychodynamic approaches.
Psychodynamic approaches in hypnotherapy for shy bladder syndrome
These are approach to resolve an internal conflict or address an unhelpful early life learning. This type of work could include such techniques as:
- Inner child work.
- Parts therapy.
- Regression to childhood.
- Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR).
Sometimes the original cause of the problem is no longer relevant, but the behaviour has become habit. When this is the case, a therapist can move to techniques which help to retrain the mind and body.
Therapy for direct change to habitual behaviours for pee shy patients
Such techniques may include:
- Systematic desensitisation – this is an approach in which the patient is mentally walked through going to pee in a public place whilst the therapist induces deep physical relaxation. In effect this retrains the body to be relaxed in a previously tense situation. This is similar to the graduated exposure therapy used by Soifer, Himle & Walsh, 2010 in their research, but many consider systematic desensitisation superior as it actively looks to retrain the body to be relaxed.
- Relaxation cues – A hypnotherapist may give suggestions to be relaxed as soon as you get in to position to wee.
- Flow visualisations – there are various visualisations which a hypnotherapist may use or teach. Typical examples may include such things as mentally seeing the urine flowing comfortably. A visualisation may be more abstract such as picturing the flow of a gentle mountain waterfall as its flows downhill.
- Amnesia suggestions – Light amnesia may be given for peeing so that you forget that you are in public or that there are people around you. These will be carefully crafted to fit the specific circumstances which affect you.
- Privacy visualisations – The therapist will come up with imagery specific to you which will allow you to feel more private when in public toilets.
Homework for Pee shy clients
Homework is likely to be a large part of therapy. Typically, homework would be negotiated with the patient. Mostly homework would involve:
- Practicing relaxation and self-hypnosis techniques.
- Using public toilets.
I hope this guide has helped you to understand what sort of things you may encounter if you presented to a therapist for hypnotherapy for shy bladder syndrome. To find out more or book in a free consultation please contact Dr Matt.
The author
Dr Matt is a hypnotherapist based in Birmingham (UK) with a specialism in functional disorders. He is a member of both the NCH and BSCH.
References
Soifer, S., Himle, J., & Walsh, K. (2010). Paruresis (shy bladder syndrome): a cognitive-behavioral treatment approach. Social Work in Health Care, 49(5), 494-507.