Transforming Performance Anxiety Treatment

Elizabeth Brooker is an experienced professional musician, qualified hypnotherapist, EMDR practitioner and neuro-linguistic programmer. She has an MA in Music Psychology from the University of Sheffield and a PhD doctorate from the University of Leeds where the focus of her research was reducing anxiety experienced in music performance.

Elizabeth Brooker’s book of case studies provides further indications that attachment ruptures underlie severe forms of music performance anxiety. It is encouraging to observe that therapists are now seeing beyond the overt symptoms of performance anxiety to the core issues that promote faulty schemata. This revised focus directs practitioners to broaden their therapeutic pallets to include treatments such as EMDR and clinical hypnotherapy that directly address these core problematic factors. Dianna Kenny, Professor of Psychology/Music, The University of SydneyThis book makes a strong case for the use of psychodynamic therapies in the treatment of performance anxiety across a range of domains including music, sports and public speaking. The concisely written reflective case studies, which are informed by years of therapeutic practice and underpinned by academic research, highlight the uniqueness of people’s experiences with anxiety and the potential of cognitive hypnotherapy and EMDR as interventions. The book is a must read for researchers, practitioners and the general public who wish to understand more about the role of dynamic therapies in the treatment of anxiety. Dr Alinka Greasley, Associate Professor of Music Psychology, University of Leeds'A fascinating book providing an in-depth account of the effective use of hypnosis and EMDR to tackle music performance anxiety. Highly recommended reading for performers, teachers and therapists to enhance understanding of the anxiety condition and the revelatory results of the therapy, even after a few therapeutic sessions. 'Dr Renee Timmers

• ContentsList of figures, tables and appendices Preface AcknowledgementsPART I Performance anxiety and the use of psychodynamic interventions1 Exploring performance anxiety Challenging the dogma of preferred therapies in current use2 Cognitive hypnotherapy Changing negativity and anxiety 3 Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing Transforming trauma and the emotional mind PART II Nine case studies4 Reflective case studiesMethod and procedure5 ADHD, perfectionism and fear of failure A link to music performance anxiety?6 Scepticism regarding treatment for piano performance Why randomly selected therapy may not work7 An adult beginner’s fears The spectre of a piano examination8 Letting others down in clarinet performance Ghosts from the past9 Trauma when singing in a performance situation The past need not predict the future 10 Anxiety in the sports arena The one-incident trigger 11 IBS, anxiety at work and in the sports arena A life-changing experience post-therapy12 Confidence in presentationsHypnotherapy makes it so13 Presentations no longer feared post-therapy An exciting experience14 Future directionsThe future is not set in stone IndexFigures, tables and appendicesFigure 1.1The four components of anxiety (based on Miller and Chesky, 2004)Table 4.1Case conceptualisation and therapeutic change methodsAppendices5.1 Self-Report Questionnaire pre-therapy treatment 5.2 Self-Report Questionnaire post-therapy treatment 7.1 Log of musical experiences post-therapy treatment