Eleven-year-old J. came to see me with his mother. About a year previously, around the time of his SATS exams at primary school, he had changed from an easy-going relaxed young man to feeling generally anxious and panicky, sleeping poorly, with attacks of claustrophobia. He found himself getting very anxious being left with a sitter when his parents went out, worrying about accidents, illness, germs and other disasters. School assemblies and church services became an ordeal, and he had to sit near the door to lessen the feelings of panic. His parents had been worried enough about him to ask their G.P. for a psychiatric referral, which was now in the pipeline.

I gave J. four treatments. After the first treatment he felt an increase in energy and released a lot of anger. A similar picture followed the second treatment. During these two weeks he had no panic attacks, and felt a reduction in anxiety about being away from his parents. Assembly had become less of an ordeal, and after the second treatment his parents were aware of much improvement on an emotional level. After the third treatment there were only small pockets of anxiety remaining, and when J. came for his final treatment, his mother told me he was so much improved that she had decided to cancel the coming psychiatric referral.

Nine-year-old A. came with her mother, complaining of feeling anxious about school, having nightmares, difficulties with concentration, and making odd repetitive movements with her arms which other members of the family were finding irritating.

Sessions one and two produced considerable improvement in general anxiety and behaviour. By the third session she looked much happier and more relaxed. School friends commented on how much better she was concentrating in class, and she herself found she was able to get on with schoolwork much faster. After five sessions, all odd arm movements had stopped; she was sleeping well and rarely having bad dreams.

I first saw little T. a year ago, when she was three. She is a delightful little girl, very determined and full of fun.

T. has cerebral palsy, with a mild left-sided hemiplegia. Her left arm and hand are somewhat slow and clumsy, and her left leg is marginally shorter than her right, with erratic muscle tone.

T. was managing pretty well, but fell over more than the average, and was prone to more tantrums and outbursts than most three year olds. Her parents were concerned to do all they could to get her off to the best start they could.

It has been a very gradual process of gaining T's confidence through games, tiny rewards, and general fun and nonsense in the treatment room. She was initially very reluctant to leave her parent's laps. I did tiny treatments in situ, or on my lap, as and when I could.
Very quickly improvement was seen in general behaviour and the number of tantrums decreased. As time has gone on, she and I have become the best of friends; she will now lie on my couch and remain still for treatment. We hope that as time goes on, regular treatment will help prevent complications with her left ankle, which inverts slightly and has an erratic tone.

She now verbalises well, is friendly, confident and outgoing, and showing every sign of being ready to make a smooth transition to school in a few month's time.

R is 15 years old, and came to see me recently with her mother. As an infant, from 1 year old, she had much trouble with glue ear, with resultant problems of hearing loss and trouble with speech development. At 4 years old she had grommets fitted, and the problem gradually resolved itself.

However, a bad head cold at 14 years started the problem again, much to everyone's dismay, and the GP could only recommend specialist referral in 6 months time if there was no improvement. Mother and daughter were both very upset at the thought of having to go through "the whole grommets thing" again, and worried about the effects of a long-haul flight that R was soon going to have to cope with on the holiday of a lifetime to Barbados.

R had 5 treatments with me before her holiday. She quickly started sleeping through the night for the first time in her life, and her mother reported that she had also started sleeping without making a lot of snorting and snuffling noises in her sleep, which she had done since a baby, and which they had both come to think of as normal for her. By the time of her flight she no longer had popping or discomfort in her ears, and her hearing was back to normal. I saw her after her holiday, and she had no problems with the flight either way, and her hearing was still normal. I now see her every couple of months, to ensure she has no recurrence, and all is quite normal.