Try hypnosis

On impulse, Stephanie looks into Dr Heynes' eyes.

"That's right..." says Dr Heynes in a very soothing voice, gentle but confident. "Remember, Stephanie, hypnosis cannot make you do anything you wouldn't normally do. It is entirely your choice to allow me to guide you... down into that relaxed state..."

Stephanie tries to silence a part of her mind protesting that she is not making this choice. Of course this is her choice...

“I want you to focus entirely on the sound of my voice,” says Dr Heynes. “Keep your eyes open, although you’ve had such a long... tiring... day and you must want so very much to close your eyes and get... comfortable with me... but I want you to resist as long as you can..."

Stephanie keeps gazing at her therapist, feeling her eyes straining, battling a growing urge to close them.

“Just like that... listening to my voice... You are doing so very well, Stephanie, I am so proud of you... so happy... knowing... you trust me so completely... I am so pleased that you are able to be... so relaxed and comfortable with me... You’re so very comfortable with me that as long as you don’t think about how wonderfully relaxing it will feel... when your eyes are closed, you’ll obey all my commands... to keep them open for me, but if you think about it too much… you’ll be unable to resist.”

Stephanie finds herself losing track of the psychologist's halting run-on sentences. She cannot help thinking how wonderfully relaxing it will feel when her eyes were closed, but she strains in determination to keep them open.

"Now Stephanie, you may choose to enter a state that is very… deeply relaxed... deeply comfortable... deeply suggestible... It is totally your decision as to whether you choose to... enter that deeply relaxed state... because as long as you don’t yet… close your eyes... although you're so very tired... you could choose to stop yourself… sinking down into that deeply relaxed state...”

She feels her eyelids flicker as all the words wash over her, and her doctor gets a confident gleam in his eye.

“Or if you prefer, you can just… drift deep down… into that happy place when you... just give in... to that overwhelming need to... rest your tired eyes... Feel free to do that, now…”

Stephanie’s eyes fall shut and her head begins to bob.

“That’s right…” says Dr Heynes soothingly, placing his hand on her exhausted head and gently guiding it down. “Drifting down... deeper and deeper. You’re falling into that deeply relaxed state...”

Stephanie finds this really is making her feel better after such a long day. She feels so in tune with her doctor's voice, that he is connecting with her on a very deep level.

“Relaxing more and more… So… relaxed. So… deep. So.. comfortable. So… suggestible. So... trusting. So... submissive. Listen... to your Doctor... Trust... your Doctor. It feels… so good… to submit... to your Doctor... doesn't it, Stephanie?"

"Yes, Doctor," Stephanie agrees. "Feels so good..."

"You are such a... good patient... so comfortable... so safe... totally under control... You feel so comfortable with me, don't you Stephanie?"

"So comfortable."

"So safe."

"So safe."

"Totally under control."

"Totally under control."

"Good patient. Now Stephanie, I want you to drift back into your past... back to the year 1978... back to your sexual trauma... visualize how it began... and tell me as much detail as you can remember..."

Stephanie vaguely registers the sound of a zipper unzipping, but dismisses it as irrelevant to what she is focusing on: the blackness of her eyelids dissolving into a vivid memory of her surroundings, as if she is reliving the event…

TO BE CONTINUED