Achluophobia, novercaphobia, verbophobia… what DOES this word “phobia” mean? A phobia is a fear. There are literally hundreds of “phobia” words which describe the different forms of fear and anxiety people hold. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of failure. Fear of relationships, fear of success or unsuccessful-ness, fear of action, fear of spiders, fear of heights, fear of people, space and circumstances. Last but not least, tropophobia: a fear of change. If you suffer from a phobia, consider phobia hypnotherapy and scientifically proven psychological strategies to help you regain your life. Everyone has the power to overcome their fears – some people just need a little help finding it.
What many people don’t realise is that phobias aren’t “just the way I am”. Phobias are more often than not rooted in some event from a person’s past which had such a strong, lasting impression that they develop a phobia to in response. This is similar to one-trial learning, for example, someone might get food poisoning from a fish and in the future just the smell of fish can be enough to make them feel ill, meaning they avoid it. Similarly, phobias can occur from just one incident but they can also stem from repeated incidents in someone’s past. The difference is that it’s easy to avoid eating fish without a serious impact on the quality of life.
Phobias, on the other hand, can seriously degenerate a person’s ability to lead a full and active life as part of society. Hypnotherapy and other mind techniques are effective ways of combating and overcoming phobias. Phobias can limit where we go, what we eat, what we wear, and what time of day we leave the house… Even the relatively simple fear of heights can affect our ability to work in an office building. The list is potentially endless as the fear and anxiety felt by each individual makes its presence felt indifferent ways.
When I have a patient who wants to overcome their phobia, the first thing I will do is use phobia hypnotherapy to discover the past event from which their phobia stems. The object of the fear and anxiety may be the cause of the phobia developing, or it could be mentally associated with the cause. Once pinpointed, I will desensitise the patient from the event. A common way to o this is to associate your phobia with something good, where in the past it has been associated with something negative. This is a type of learning which psychologists refer to as “classical conditioning”. As far back as the 20s, American psychologists Watson and Rayner were conducting experiments to teach “Little Albert”, an 11-month old boy to fear a white rat. They did this by banging a sheet of metal behind the baby whenever they gave him the rabbit.
Little Albert soon began to show fear reactions to the white rat even when the loud noise was not made, and extended this fear to a white rabbit. Today, this is considered extremely unethical but the principal is similar to one method of overcoming phobias that we use today. To classically condition people out of phobias, many therapists have developed exercises to slowly associate a phobia with “good” (such as a desert) instead of bad. This can be successful even to the stage that a person with arachnophobia can eat a cake with a spider on the table in front of them. The aim is always the same: to desensitize the patient from their fear by creating a warm, safe, rewarding environment and gradually introducing the phobia to it.
When this desensitization has been achieved, I will begin a program of hypnotic suggestion, metaphor and possibly Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Metaphor, hypnotherapy and NLP are techniques which will help the patient to establish a new template to see the previously feared situation (phobia), object or circumstance in a different and non-threatening light – they literally gain a new perspective on the situation, one which eliminates the need for fear. NLP is a strong psychological tool to use whenever you are in a situation when you feel your phobia might once again overcome you.
With phobia hypnotherapy and including the use of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), I am able to create with my patients a new fear free way of looking at the world until their fear of heights is so far behind them they can sky dive. Let me show you the easy way you can release yourself from the uncertain world of fear to start a better future and live in a fulfilled and outstanding life!
Don’t underestimate the powers of hypnotherapy, or yourself to confront your phobia. The object of your fear may seem like the most powerful force in the world but with some willpower and help along the way, I can show you how to diminish your phobia and see it for what it truly is: an obstacle between you and a happy, fulfilling, outgoing, exciting and adventurous lifestyle! Take action now and be your own MOMENTUM MAKER in only one single session!