Adolescence is a time of profound change, where emotions intertwine with the challenges of daily life. When anxiety takes over, it can invade every moment — affecting the connection to the body, to the family, and to oneself.
Brief systemic therapy, combined with Ericksonian hypnosis, offers a path toward change that is both concrete, compassionate, and non-pathologizing. Through the story of Coline - a pseudonym used to preserve confidentiality - this article explores how systemic therapy can help defuse fear, restore confidence, and soothe family interactions often caught in the spiral of mutual anxiety.
Understanding Brief Systemic Therapy
La Brief systemic therapy is rooted in an interactional approach : a person’s behavior is never isolated but takes meaning within a relational system (in this case, the family and school). The issue lies not only in the symptom, but in the attempted solutions implemented by the patient and their environment.
Rather than searching for causes, this therapy aims to modify current interactions that maintain suffering.
The Model: Changing Interactions Instead of Seeking Causes
The system is viewed as a dynamic relationship between the individual and their environment, governed by mechanisms of perception and reaction.
The process often includes task prescriptions at the end of sessions, designed to gradually break the vicious cycles that generate suffering, relieve emotional overload, and introduce new ways of interacting.
Instead of analyzing the symptoms to provoke change, the therapist encourages the patient to experiment with new behaviors or ways of being, in order to better understand the symptom and what is at play in relationships.
Coline’s Story: When Fear Takes Control
Coline, age 13, came to therapy for a form of emetophobia (fear of vomiting). She had been living abroad with her family for three years.
Symptoms : food restriction, obsessive fear of vomiting, significant weight loss, anxiety attacks with hyperventilation. Her parents, understandably very worried, multiplied reassurance attempts and encouraged Coline to eat.
Our sessions revealed:
→ From Coline’s side : struggle against fear (“I must not vomit”), avoidance behaviors, intrusive thoughts, emotional overwhelm.
→ From the parents’ side : overinvolvement (“eat so you don’t get sick”), constant monitoring, overprotection.
Understanding Family Vicious Circles
These patterns fueled negative interaction loops :
the more Coline tried to control her fear, the stronger it became; the more her parents insisted, the more the symptom intensified.
The First Prescriptions: Facing and Letting Go
From the very first session, two main therapeutic directions were introduced :
- Facing vs. Avoiding : Coline was invited to deliberately confront her fear (“Mr. Vomit”) each day to reduce its obsessive grip.
- Letting Go vs. Controlling : The parents became co-therapists and were instructed to stop all questions or comments about food, in order to defuse the interactional loop.
These paradoxical prescriptions shifted the system :
fear ceased to be an enemy to fight, and the family stepped out of the controlling role.
In later sessions, new loops appeared :
the more Coline tried to control her emotions, the more she lost control; the more she sought help, the less confident she felt.
The symptom then evolved : from nausea to a broader difficulty expressing emotions.
The therapy then focused on expressing her inner distress : a writing task designed to bring the pain into words and release it.
The Contribution of Ericksonian Hypnosis
Several sessions helped build a strong therapeutic alliance. Ericksonian hypnosis, introduced later in therapy, served as an accelerator of change.
It helped Coline to :
- Reconnect with her body and sensations,
- Access inner resources through metaphors,
- Defuse anxiety triggers and rebuild bodily confidence.
Lasting Changes for Coline and Her Family
Within a few months, the progress was clear: Coline resumed normal meals, diversified her diet, regained her weight, emotional balance, and began expressing herself more freely.
The follow-up ended with a consolidation phase involving her parents, to prevent relapse and foster positive relational loops.
Coline’s story illustrates how brief therapy and hypnosis can be powerful tools for treating anxiety disorders. When faced with the challenges of a new environment, symptoms can sometimes overwhelm an entire family system. But by intervening on present interactions, modifying attempted solutions, and mobilizing systemic resources, rapid and lasting change becomes possible.
This approach — both pragmatic and deeply human — does more than “treat” a disorder :
it gives the patient back their freedom to act and the sense of agency over their own life.