Hypnosis and the Fear of Water in Adults
It is summer, and you have found another reason. It is a bit chilly, you are watching the bags, you have just eaten.
In reality you are the only adult sitting on the edge — and over the years you have developed a fine art of the excuse. What weighs most is not the water: it is everything you deploy to avoid it without anyone noticing, and the embarrassment of admitting at forty that you cannot swim. And it is far more common than people imagine: in France, 16.3 % of people aged 15 to 75 said they could not swim in 2016 — more than one person in seven.
Before anything else, a safety rule. If you cannot swim, your fear is protecting you. Work on the apprehension only makes sense if it leads you to learn to swim, never instead of it.
Is it your child who is afraid of water? See the page devoted to them instead.
The rule that comes before everything else
If you cannot swim, your fear is protecting you. Losing that fear without gaining the skill puts you in greater danger than you are in today, not less.
And the danger is greater for an adult than for a child, for a simple reason: nobody is watching you. People swim on holiday, in a lake, off a boat, sometimes after a drink, with no lifeguard ten metres away. The figures say it plainly: in Quebec, fewer than 1 % of drownings happen in a place supervised by a lifeguard. Almost all the rest happen where there is nobody.
Which is why the right goal for a course of work is often not where you would expect it — not being comfortable in the water, but managing to walk through the door of an adult swimming class. That is achievable, measurable, and it is what hypnosis genuinely does well.
The basic rules, which apply to everyone and not only to you. Swim in a supervised area. Tell someone, and never venture alone into an isolated spot — among adults aged 35 to 64 who drowned in Quebec, the person was alone in 57 % of cases. No alcohol before or during swimming: it was a factor in 36 % of drownings in that same age group. Get into the water gradually, especially if it is cold or you have been in the sun. And know your limits: fatigue, currents and the distance back to shore are all very easily underestimated. If you cannot swim, these are not tips, they are your only protection.
What we are talking about
Aquaphobia covers a number of fairly different fears, and telling them apart helps to know what to work on.
Being out of your depth. The most common one. Some people swim perfectly well as long as they can see the bottom.
Putting your head under, or water in the nose and ears. Often a sensation rather than a fear.
The sea, with a bottom you cannot see, waves that push, currents, and imagination doing the rest. Plenty of strong pool swimmers are affected, and that is not contradictory: the reference points are not the same.
And the fear of drowning, which can exist even in shallow water.
Where it comes from
Sometimes from one specific event: a fall, an unintended dunking, a wave that catches you out.
Often from a gradual build-up, and the mechanism feeds itself: fear, avoidance, immediate relief, and confirmation sent to the brain that the water really was dangerous. The more you avoid, the bigger the fear gets — it is the loop that turns any phobia into something that settles in.
Sometimes from what was handed down. A parent who was uneasy, family stories, and the film you saw too young: *Jaws* comes up remarkably often in consultation.
And often from a sense of losing control of the body: floating or sinking, no longer governing your own breathing. You tense up, which makes everything worse, floating included.
Two situations that belong elsewhere. After a serious event — a near-drowning, the drowning of someone close, an accident — this is no longer only a phobia: it may be post-traumatic stress disorder, and it belongs with a psychologist. Trauma-focused therapies are recommended first line there: trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy has the strongest evidence, and EMDR, recognised by the WHO since 2013, is another form of it. Those approaches are better suited than ours — tell us and we will point you there. And if you have panic attacks in the water or as you approach it, or if the fear spreads to other situations, speak to your doctor. Our hypnotherapists make no diagnosis and assess no disorder.
What it costs
Holidays, chosen differently, and activities turned down: boats, diving, canoeing, the water park with the children. Sport: swimming is one of the few activities with no impact on the joints, often recommended, and it stays out of reach. Being a parent, above all — not being able to go into the water with your child, and sometimes passing on your own apprehension without meaning to. It is the most common reason adults come to see us, and the most motivating.
Then the shame, which is what people talk about least. Many adults have never told anyone that they cannot swim, and the idea of signing up for a class strikes them as humiliating.
And safety, which is the heart of it. Not being able to swim is a real risk, and it does not go down with age.
What exists, and what you should know about
Beginner swimming classes for adults are the most useful thing on this page. They exist almost everywhere, in municipal pools, and they are full of adults in exactly your situation — which is usually the first surprise for anyone who signs up. In Montreal, the first level of adult swimming is aimed explicitly at "people who want to overcome their fear of water and learn to swim". On top of that there are aquaphobia programmes, openly named as such by many swimming centres: the public pools in Angers, France, list an "Aqua Phobie adults" course, described as a gentle, gradual approach in a suitable pool. Small groups, shallow water, very slow progression, instructors trained for precisely this. Ask at your pool: the word "aquaphobia" surprises nobody at the desk.
And in France there is a free scheme, but read the condition carefully. "J'apprends à nager", run by the French swimming federation, offers courses of at least ten hours — to children aged 4 to 12 and to adults over 45 only, with priority given to designated urban and rural areas. If you are thirty, it is not for you: go through a municipal pool or a club.
- A psychologist, particularly after a serious event.
- Exposure therapy, the reference approach for specific phobias: you climb a ladder step by step, starting from whatever causes the least anxiety.
- And the basic rules set out above, which are not negotiable.
Hypnosis is added to that list, and most often upstream of those steps. Not in their place.
What Hypnosis can offer
It will not teach you to swim. It replaces neither a swimming instructor nor a psychologist when the situation calls for one. It guarantees no result.
What a course of work aims at, very concretely:
- Getting you to sign up. That is often the real goal, and it is anything but modest: the highest step is not the water, it is the door of the pool, the changing room, the imagined looks of other people.
- Breaking the avoidance loop, which reinforces the fear every time you go around it.
- Setting up an anchor of calm, usable at the edge and in the water.
- Defusing one specific memory, when there is one.
- Working on the tensing up, which is a genuinely physical matter: a tense body floats less well, which confirms the fear.
- Rehearsing the stages in imagination before living them: the changing room, feet, waist, shoulders.
- Seeing the programme through, which is probably the most underrated contribution. Plenty of people sign up and drop out by the third session.
The right way to combine them
Hypnosis is useful before a real-world exposure programme, then during it. The mental preparation removes the obstacle of signing up, and the follow-through helps you not to give up.
In other words the sensible sequence is simple: hypnosis to dare, swimming lessons to learn, hypnosis to keep going.
What the research says
There is no study specifically on hypnosis and aquaphobia. The best documented approach for specific phobias remains gradual exposure — which is exactly what a good pool programme does.
And we should be clear about the rest, because the two sources do not say the same thing. A review published in *La Presse Médicale* in 2016 concludes that the evidence is negative or insufficient to establish the efficacy of hypnosis in chronic anxiety disorders, phobias included. A 2019 meta-analysis of seventeen trials reports, for its part, a large average effect on anxiety — but on anxiety in general, not on specific phobias, and better as a complement to other approaches than used alone.
What we take from that, and it is this page's position: hypnosis sits alongside learning to swim, never in its place. We go through this on our page what does science say about hypnosis.
An example: Sophie's case
Sophie (name changed) tells it herself. "Just the sound of the water in friends' pools set off a lot of stress. I was ashamed of not swimming, I made excuses. And when my children were playing around it, it turned into panic. In hypnosis I worked mostly on relaxing and on positive images, so as to manage to stay calm when my children were around a pool, especially as they can swim. Then on getting into the water where I could stand, which was a real victory, and in the end a pleasure. I have still not got as far as actually learning to swim. We'll see."
This account describes one individual experience. It predicts nobody else's. Pace and results vary, and no course of work can guarantee a result. *Published with Sophie's written consent, kept on file.*
How a course of work unfolds
The conversation. What exactly bothers you, whether you can swim, whether you have already tried to learn, and what you want to be able to do. That last question steers everything else.
A concrete and cautious goal. Not "stop being afraid of water", but: sign up for the Tuesday class, get into the shallow pool, see the programme through to June, stay calm at the edge while my children swim.
The induction, then the work itself: the anchor, rehearsing the stages in imagination, working on the tensing up, sometimes on one specific memory.
The follow-through. A self-hypnosis exercise you can use at the poolside on the day of the class — that is usually where it earns its keep.
How many sessions? That is discussed at the first appointment. Nobody can know in advance.
Book an appointment
Tell us whether you can swim or not: it completely changes how the work is organised. Ask us a question or book an appointment. Wherever you are in the world, video consultations suit this subject particularly well, since it all happens in imagination and no session takes place at the edge of a pool — here is how it works. And if it is your child who is afraid of water, see the page devoted to them: hypnosis and the fear of water in children.
Where would you like to consult?
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Frequently asked questions about Hypnosis and the Fear of Water in Adults
No, and it is the most important point on this page. Swimming is learned in the water, with a professional. Hypnosis can get you as far as the door of the class and help you not to drop out. That is already a great deal, and it is something else.
No safer than today, as long as you cannot swim. And potentially less safe, if you go towards the water more readily. Your fear is protecting you; the skill has to take over.
That is the main obstacle, and it is very widely shared. Beginner classes for adults are full of people in exactly your situation, and the instructors are used to it.
That is common and not contradictory. A bottom you cannot see, waves, currents: the reference points are not the same.
It depends on your situation and is discussed at the first appointment. Nobody can know in advance.
See a psychologist first. Cognitive behavioural therapy or EMDR are better suited to that kind of situation.
That is an excellent reason, and probably the most motivating one. Children learn a great deal by watching, and working on your own apprehension is often what unlocks theirs fastest.
Yes, since it all happens in imagination. No session takes place at the edge of a pool.
Sources and references
On adults who cannot swim
- Pédrono, G., Richard, J.-B., & Thélot, B. (2017). *Capacité à nager des 15-75 ans de France métropolitaine*. Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire no. 18 (in French) — 16.3 % of 15 to 75-year-olds say they cannot swim, rising to 35.3 % among 65 to 75-year-olds.
On adult drownings
- Drowning Report, Quebec, 2024 edition — Lifesaving Society, coroner's office data 2016-2020 (in French). Fewer than 1 % of drownings in supervised settings; 76 % men; alcohol involved in 36 % of cases among 35 to 64-year-olds, the person alone in 57 % of cases.
- Drownings in France, summer 2024 — Santé publique France (in French). Nine out of ten fatal drownings involve adults.
On swimming rules and learning to swim
- Swimming safely — French Ministry of Sport (in French). Supervised areas, no alcohol, gradual entry, tell someone.
- Safe behaviour in rivers — Lifesaving Society, Quebec (in French). Never venture alone into an isolated spot.
- J'apprends à nager — French Swimming Federation (in French). Free courses, children aged 4 to 12 and adults over 45.
- Aqua Phobie adults course — Angers Métropole public pools (in French), an example of a dedicated public programme.
- Swimming, 15 and over — Sports Montréal (in French). The first level is for people wanting to overcome their fear of water.
On phobias, trauma and Hypnosis
- Specific Phobias and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder — MSD Manual, professional edition. On the anxiety-avoidance cycle and on trauma-focused CBT.
- Is EMDR really effective for post-traumatic stress? — Inserm, Canal Détox, 2023 (in French).
- Pelissolo, A. (2016). *Hypnosis for anxiety and phobic disorders: A review of clinical studies*. La Presse Médicale, 45(3), 284-290. Evidence negative or insufficient in chronic anxiety disorders, phobias included.
- Valentine, K. E., Milling, L. S., Clark, L. J., & Moriarty, C. L. (2019). *The Efficacy of Hypnosis as a Treatment for Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis*. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 67(3), 336-363. doi.org/10.1080/00207144.2019.1613863 — seventeen trials, a larger effect as a complement to other approaches.
Hypnosis as practised by the members of Solutions Hypnose is a complementary support approach. It is neither a medical act, nor a diagnosis, nor psychotherapy in the regulatory sense, and it in no way replaces a consultation, follow-up or treatment prescribed by a health professional.
Our practitioners do not assess and do not treat mental disorders or illnesses. They never ask for an ongoing treatment to be stopped or changed: that decision rests exclusively with your doctor.
No result can be guaranteed. The testimonials and examples presented on this page describe individual experiences and do not predict what you will experience.
In case of significant distress, unexplained physical symptoms or suicidal thoughts, contact a doctor, emergency services or a helpline without delay.
Page written by Ghislain Lepage
hypnotherapist
partner at Solutions Hypnose.
English version reviewed by David Veilleux