Snake Phobia Cured in 1 Session

Ever since I could remember, I was afraid of the dark. I wasn’t just afraid of the dark, though. I was afraid of the snakes I saw when the lights went out. The wrinkles in my bed covers would morph into the darkest, scariest snakes. They would show their long, venomous fangs and stick out their skinny little tongues and hiss at me. When I looked toward the light switch, desperately wishing the lights were back on, they were crawling all over the walls and floating in midair. My entire room was covered with them. It was like my room had turned into a huge pit of snakes, and I was stuck in it. I was frozen in fear; all I could do was cry, scream, and yell.

My Parents had no idea what was wrong. I was too young to find the words to describe what was happening to me. As soon as they turned on the lights, I was fine. At first, they thought I was afraid of the life-size clown seated on the chair in my room, so they removed it and then turned off the light. As soon as I was in complete darkness, the snakes returned. This resulted in me screaming and sobbing again. They put a night light in my room, but it was still too dark! I could still see the snakes. I insisted on sleeping with the lights on. Eventually, my Dad installed a dimmer switch, agreed to leave the hall light on, and let me open my door halfway.