20+ years ago my mental health deteriorated suddenly and wildly. My wife arranged - with my permission - course of hypnotherapy, paying week by week. The guy doing it said it typically takes 4-5 sessions to get to the heart of any issues.

First session was unremarkable. Second session he touched on my childhood which spooked me but it wasn’t that bad. The third session though…..

“I want you to imagine yourself as a young child. You are walking though a forest and you come across a clearing. In the centre of that clearing is you, you the way you are today. I will count to three, and on three you will now be the grown you, looking back at the young you. 1 2 3 And it happened. I was now in the centre looking at schoolboy me.

Then he said “What would you say to the younger you?”

“It’ll be alright”

And I suddenly and silently had tears pouring down my cheeks. He brought me back from wherever I had been, said “Okay, see you next week” and I left. I’m walking along the street to get to the bus stop, still flooding tears and the next few days were really bad. That so-called therapist had taken my mind to a place where I not just said those words but also reacted negatively. He gave me no acknowledgement, no talk to help me deal, nothing. He just let me go.

I did not go back.

It took months to get over that.