Banana Terror Cured

23 year old Scottish woman Paula Ross, as a toddler was made to eat fruit, much like any other kid, but she had a major problem, that blighted her life for 20 years, because she was banana-phobic, terrified of the yellow fruit that is the third most popular in the world, her fear so bad that being in the same room as bananas terrified her, and the distinctive smell always made her nauseous.

Suffering school torment, bullies chasing her, and brandishing banana skins around the playground, was an everyday occurrence, and it was not until she underwent a program of hypnotherapy that she was cured enough to now be is eating the fruit often. The ridiculous thing about this plucky young lady is that she does not scare easily, normally.

From Kilmarnock, Paula competes in martial art Taekwondo in her spare time, but in spite of facing some toughest competitors in the ring, she had real problems with her allergy until she got help, being treated through the use of a specialist psychotherapy technique called Neuro-linguistic programming.

The therapist teaches the patient how to disassociate specific things from bad memories, substituting them for positive ones, and it worked brilliantly for her. Before the treatment she would hyperventilate, seat and get sick to her stomach at the very thought of a banana, just as English woman Fran Dando, 21, who is also a sufferer, along with Australian Stand-up comic Jim Jefferies.

Due soon to start a bioscience university course, in hope of becoming a teacher of biology, Paula says she will be eternally grateful to her therapist, John Bruce, of the Paisley based Epilepsy Connections.  He can, these days, go out to meals without a dread feeling in the pit of her stomach, and live a normal life again. Nature has some unbelievable quirks, don’t you think?

All images used with permission