One of my favorite metaphors for the care a clinician, teacher or parent can provide came about during a visit with a young teenager. Trevor had been struggling with anxiety and depression and chronic health problems for years, but had found very little help available to him.  Even as he was learning hypnosis, Trevor doubted himself and his ability to find a healthy new normal.

From my earliest days in medicine, I had almost daily opportunities to see how symptoms could be worsened by anxiety and fear, but it was a patient named Paul who opened my eyes to the possibility that an entire field of care for these children — perhaps for most children — was being ignored...

Monica, a thin, blond, 9-year-old young lady, came to my Center because of her asthma.  Once I finished evaluating her, I recommended that she begin therapy with an inhaled medication.  “This medication comes in two flavors,” I explained to her.  “Yucky, and mint yucky.  Which would you like?”