What is a Phobia? A phobia is something a person fears to the point that they feel they have to change how they behave. One type of phobia, called specific phobia, can involve fear of an object (like a lift) or a situation (like public speaking) that poses little or no danger. Phobias can also involve fear of being embarrassed, looked at, or made fun of in social or work situations. These are called social phobias. With both of these phobias, the fear is extreme and hard to control. Without treatment, phobias can last many years and affect a person's career, relationships, and daily life activities. Both specific and social phobias are types of anxiety disorders.
It's important to know that when a person has a specific or social phobia, it's not his or her fault. And, it's not something a person can just "snap out of."
WHAT CAUSES PHOBIAS? It is thought that phobias can be 'caught' in one of the following ways:
Learning - ie from an authority figure when the person was young (typically up until the person is around 6 years old) e.g. a mother screaming when she saw an insect
Trauma - ie being bitten by a dog when young
Culture - certain races have specific issues e.g. fear of dogs
Specific phobias can be categorised into five main types:
Animal: such as rats/mice, spiders, insects, snakes, flying creatures, dogs, cats and reptiles.
Natural Environment: such as water, thunderstorms, heights, fire, and the dark.
Blood / Injury /Needles: such as injections, the sight of blood, dentistry, surgical operations, or other invasive medical procedures.
Situational: such as flying, lifts, driving, tunnels, bridges, enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), or being sick.
These fears relate to a fear of being trapped and unable to get away.Other: such as illness, germs, choking, vomiting.
We are born with just two natural fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. Any other phobias, fears or anxieties we might experience have been learned through either direct or indirect experience. Somewhere along the line, we have become 'conditioned' to respond in a certain way to a particular thing or situation.
Common examples are: Fear of flying           o Fear of spiders, snakes, rats, birds, heights           o Agoraphobia, Claustrophobia           o Dental and Medical anxiety           o Public speaking           o Fear of success / failure           o Fear of water
NLP methods allow phobias, anxieties and panic attacks to be eliminated quickly and comfortably, usually within a single session.
How Thoughts Become Reality Phobia Therapy can help? With Hypnotherapy for phobias, there are a number of powerful ways to get rid of silly fears for good. You can even feel great instead! Imagine the reaction of your friends when they next try to tease you. Our hypnosis for a phobia cure can depend on what the fear is, where it may have originated, what the effects are and your unique personality. You may wish to get to the bottom of the phobia, which in itself is often a good way of getting rid of it. Hypnosis for phobias with age regression would be useful for this, allowing communication with the subconscious. Alternatively, there are now many ways of dealing with the feeling itself, without even needing to talk about what it is you are afraid of. These largely revolve around dissociation, so that the fear is no longer associated to the trigger, and originate from the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Amongst an intuitive blend of techniques I am also trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) which has become a widely respected, researched and significant milestone in psychotherapy. Utilising the neurological organisation of the REM (rapid Eye Movement) stage of the sleep cycle, EMDR has been used to successfully treat phobias as well as emotional problems, post traumatic sress disorders, and even addictions. All in all, hypnosis for phobias using hypnotherapy is a highly effective, perfectly safe, rapid and easy option for phobia therapy. So unless you have a phobia for picking up the phone, you have no excuse!