Or is there something odd about the Speakmans

[Miga1]

What's the story with the Speakmans? Something doesn't sit right with me... Their "therapy" is miraculously quick at "treating" people with phobias of many years. Today on This Morning they helped a woman with a huge needle phobia which was preventing her getting cancer treatment. The female Speakman commented on how long the treatment was taking and then mentioned it had been a whole "4 hours." Just doesn't seem right and they both look like I wouldn't buy a 2nd hand car from them...

@Yumpty how did your DH book a session with them?

Never heard of them until this thread.

But her eyes REALLY freak me out.

I agree I don't see how their therapies can work. Today with the woman who was terrified of spiders they tried to get her to change her way of thinking about spiders. I'm frightened too not as extreme as that woman. I know that they kill flies and bugs, are more scared us and they can't harm me etc.... but that's not going to change my mind about how I feel about them.

They remind me of an 80's Magician and his assistant.

Margay
And for the record, I haven’t had EMDR nor do I know anyone personally who has - but I’m convinced by the research which I have a professional interest in.

What does this even mean. Are you working for them?
Someone up thread said they do EMDR. Who am I to say they don’t.

@Dohorseseatapples

I don’t understand what you don’t understand, sorry? No I don’t work for the Speakmans, I can’t stand them. I was defending EMDR as a therapeutic tool, but pre-empting anyone who was going to say I must love EMDR just because I’ve tried it. I don’t think the Speakmans use it as they are constantly saying their own version of therapy is better.

They seem nice enough but I always know exactly what they are going to say.

For example if someone has a fear of lifts they will say 'what happened in the past in a lift because it is that you're scared of not the lift so why are you blaming the lift'. The person then says 'of course! you're right!' and are cured.

Change 'lift' for needles/birds/spider etc and 'not blaming them' seems the sum total of their advice. Its all about handling triggers isn't it yet they seem to make out like they're waving wands.

They remind me of the sort of couple that you would have met in a bar in Benidorm during the 80s.

The post you quoted, @Dohorseseatapples, was a follow-up to my post at 17:02.

I've never seen the Speakmans but they may well be genuine. An ex-colleague of mine was training to be an NLP practitioner and after spending about 5 minutes with me, 12 years ago, 'cured' me of an unusual phobia that was becoming increasingly debilitating and even dangerous. My family couldn't believe it after experiencing my suffering for nearly 40 years. So a miraculous recovery is definitely possible.

A few weeks ago I began to feel it's creeping back so I plan to run through the steps he went through to try and get back to normality.

Alison - no, we went on This Morning.

I wrote to The Speakmans and then Nik rang me up and asked whether dh and I would be prepared to go on live tv.

Dh didn't believe it would work and I felt terrible about putting him through it.

Well, it worked and it really has improved dh's life.

I'm still in touch with them and Eva and I speak quite often.

I think its the same with any miracle cure - for some people if you believe in it it works - sort of a placebo effect - that's good for the people who that works for but for some people it could badly backfire to the point of being dangerous

I really need help with a phobia, don’t want to get into details with it but it has impacted my life a lot!

I’ve just googled NLP practitioners but worried I end up with a fraudster. How can I find someone reliable? I’ve always wished I could be brave enough to contact this morning and be cured but I’m too self conscious to appear on tv

@dialmformarzipan is there any chance you could share the steps of recovery from phobia with me? I’ve suffered for over 25 years. I’ve had countless cbt sessions but nothing has worked.

@Alison421e you’d be better off with a qualified counsellor who offers Graded Exposure Therapy TBH.

Try Counselling Directory - they check the counsellors on there are all qualified.

They are odd and I agree they look weird, especially her. I guess because they have built up a successful reputation, willing participants absolutely believe in what they do.

@Margay thank you! Will check now

They seem to be very good at whatever it is they do 🤷‍♀️

I think it’s great that they seem to be able to fix entrenched phobias in minimal time. I’d like to know if the effect lasts.

Not keen on their style but hypnotherapy can cure phobias very quickly. 4 hours is not remarkable. Hypnotherapy isn’t magic but It’s results can seem unbelievable .

@niceupthedance they have cured emetophobes, I’m sure there would be a clip on you tube. I watched the This Morning episode where Eva spoke about the abuse she had suffered during a past relationship. I believe she has helped other women who have suffered domestic abuse. They seem to do good work so I won’t knock them. To the pp poster who said Eva’s eyes freak her out, lucky for you that your perfect eh

I’d use the BACP website to find a qualified and accredited counsellor to help with your phobia, @Alison421e. The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) are the regulatory body for reputable, trained professionals and they hold a register of names that should give you a starting point and help you avoid quacks.

Was he on this morning

I thought exactly the same about the 4 hours! I’ve never seen them before but it was very annoying how their advice to everyone was the same “no one is born with a phobia” ...

Thanks @JonHammIsMyJamm

Why would they have different advice for different people if they all have the same problem? I have seen a flying phobia course on tv. All the participants got the same advice because they were all being treated together.