PHOBIAS - WHAT CAN YOU DO?


'Just about everyone I know suffers from a phobia of some kind.'

Some people are scared of flying, some have a phobia of spiders or snakes, some people have a phobia about going to the dentist or a fear of heights. There are the agoraphobics, who become more and more isolated as their fear of the outside world gets stronger. There are the obsessive, compulsive types, who are phobic about germs, I could go on and on ..... we all fear something. Fear is a natural state for us to experience ON OCCASION.

But there is the whole crux of the matter. Fear is something we should feel, when we are threatened. Fear keeps us safe, it prepares our fight or flight response, which can keep us alive.

The problem with a phobia, is it takes an initial event, which may have been quite concerning or even frightening at the time, and perpetuates that feeling forever and ever! Sometimes, people cannot even remember what it was that scared them in the first place. They just know they have a phobia now.

The sub-conscious mind, where our phobias and fear originate, works in a very black and white way. Either something is safe and okay for you, or it is not. There is no grey, no thinking 'Well, on that occasion I was actually in danger but I am not this time.' The sub-conscious just works to protect you at all costs and once it registers something as negative for you, it sets up a nice little phobia to keep you away from that situation in the future.

As an example, someone who experienced a particularly turbulent air flight may well develop a phobia of flying. Now this is fine if you never want or need to fly again! However, if you have holiday plans for the following year, this may prove a problem!

Likewise, a fear of spiders may, historically, have been well-founded. At some point in our history a spider bite may well have been extremely dangerous, or even fatal for us. Fear of spiders would have kept us away from them, thus keeping us safer. However, the spiders we have in this country today are pretty harmless and on a conscious level we know that they cannot harm us. However, many people live in absolute terror of encountering one of our less- than- beautiful eight legged friends. I, myself, do not seek out their company and have been known to get from 0-60mph in a single bound when a particularly well-muscled specimen dropped on me! Yes, I know its ridiculous but no matter how much someone tells me that they are more scared of me, I know they are not!

Here's where I tell you about the good bit .....

Whilst the sub-conscious can create a phobia, using the power of hypnosis (or hypnotherapy - using hypnosis in a therapeutic way) we can undo these phobias. Hypnotherapy can reverse the phobia, so it no longer exists. No matter what the phobia, it can respond very well to hypnotherapy. All you have to do is want to be free. If you have a phobia about African tree frogs, you can probably live with this without too much trouble, as you are unlikely to encounter many of these in your day to day life. However, if a phobia is affecting your life then it is time to stop it.

Wishing you peace and happiness

Heather Emberley
Hypnotherapist/Maidstone/Kent/Phobias