The definition of a phobia is an ‘irrational fear of a specific thing or situation’.
A phobia is something a person fears to such an extent that they feel they have to change their behaviour to keep themselves ‘safe’. Phobias can be split into two main types – Specific phobias (fear of snakes / spiders / crowded places / underground trains / claustrophobia etc) and Social phobias (where an individual fears embarrassment in certain situations e.g. contributing in a meeting at work / public speaking / dinner parties etc.) The fear with both of these phobias can be quite extreme and leaves the sufferer feeling out of control.
“I was suffering with severe agoraphobia and could barely leave my house,
and guess what…this is me doing a charity sky dive!”
June
Phobias have their roots in early childhood memories. A baby, when seeing a spider for the first time is curious. He then wants to investigate and moves his hand towards the spider…his mother lets out a loud scream, runs across the kitchen and pushes his hand out of the way quite abruptly! A folder is then created within his subconscious that spiders are really dangerous creatures. As the child grows older, his conscious logical mind tries to rationalise his fear of spiders…however his subconscious rings alarm bells and reminds him of the actions of his mother from many years ago and convinces the conscious brain that he really is in danger. The more the intelligent logical conscious mind tells you that you are safe, the more the subconscious fights to convince you that you aren’t.
Hypnosis is a treatment that allows an individual to access previously hidden subconscious files and make them become available to work with. Whilst in a very relaxed state, a person is able to remember previously hidden memories… perhaps a specific incident from when they were very young
They ‘see’ the incident again and feel the emotions of that scared child but the difference this time is they comprehend as an adult. This then allows the person to put the correct interpretation on that scene rather than that of a scared young child, and equips them to handle future incidents involving the feared object or situation in a much more rational and intelligent way.
I am an award winning hypnotherapist with 18 years of experience in treating people suffering with phobias. Call now to book an initial consultation or just a chat to see how you can finally be free from your fear.
