Hypnotherapy for Phobias
Phobias and fears are produced by internal anxieties that become associated with particular situations. Some may seem to serve a genuine purpose (fear of heights, fire, spiders etc) – mostly however, they appear to be completely irrational! such as buttons, oranges or even ballons – But do not be fooled! All phobias do have a cause and all phobias do, or perhaps did, serve some purpose – otherwise they couldn’t and wouldn’t exist! Our Hypnotherapy for phobias programme looks for these causes and deals with them.
Hypnotherapy for phobias – The cause.
The most common cause is some forgotten incident (a sensitising event) from one’s youth that provoked overwhelmingly powerful emotions. So powerful and intense are they that ‘nature’ or the powers that be within that psyche decides enough is enough. The incident and associated emotions are therefore conveniently buried or bottled up and tucked away out of reach, at least, out of conscious reach. Phobias that respond particularly well to analytical hypnotherapy include:
- Aerophobia fear of flying
- Acrophobia fear of heights
- Agoraphobia fear of open spaces
- Arachnophobia fear of spiders
- Claustrophobia fear of enclosed spaces
- Emetophobia fear of being sick
- Hydrophobia fear of water
- Ophidiophobia fear of snakes
- Pyrophobia fear of fire
- Spheksophobia fear of wasps
- Xenophobia fear of strangers
There are hundreds more. We have even treated clients with a phobia of boiled eggs. This related back to a time in her childhood where she ate a hard boiled egg that was off. Did you know that there is even a ‘fear of phobias’! Yes, you’ve guessed it, phobophobia! Our hypnotherapy for phobias programme is very flexible and can deal with virtually any phobia.
It is these hidden away or repressed memories and emotions that can and often will, sooner or later, create a phobia. So the phobia then continues to serve as a warning of the approach of some potentially similar and ‘un-faceable’ incident. In our hypnotherapy for phobias therapy, we can find and release the emotions which originally caused or created the phobia. And with the release of those old, bottled-up emotions, the phobia itself just disappears.
How many sessions will it take
Normally phobias can be dealt with in a couple of sessions. Nowadays our techniques have advanced so much that for most people the phobia can be removed on the first session. Some of the common phobias we deal with are :-
- Heights
- Injections dental
- Flying & lifts
- Driving
- Technology
- Insects small animals
- Vomit and illness
These are just a few of many that we deal with.
Some phobias tend to be more complex such as claustrophobia and white coat phobia (fear of hospitals and all things medical). See our anxiety page for further information.
We DO NOT expose clients to the object of their phobia. That is always done by the client when they feel ready to do so. We do not keep spiders or snakes etc at the Institute.
It’s important to realise that we understand that when the client comes to us for a phobia that they are still frightened of the particular item. We will not traumatise the client in any way.
Hypnotherapy for phobias – Facts about Phobias
Do you have an intense fear for animals, driving, heights, blood, spiders, planes? Would you rather climb ten flights than to get into a lift? If so, you may be suffering from a phobia.
All people have fears or situations they would rather avoid. It is part of everyday life and it’s an important natural process that helps to keep us safe. Some people are frightened by interviews. Whilst some are uncomfortable to be home alone at night. Most people manage to control their fears and go about their normal activities.
But for some people, anxieties and fears are overwhelming and persistent. Normal coping mechanisms don’t work, and the need to avoid the objects or situations that cause anxiety can be so intense that they drastically interfere with daily life even though they know the response is inappropriate. Sometimes people may make important career or personal decisions to avoid a phobic situation. Others may refuse to go to the doctor for fear of having blood drawn.
Phobias are more than extreme fear, they are irrational fear. Adults with phobias realise their fears are irrational, but often facing, or even thinking about facing, the feared object or situation brings on a panic attack or severe anxiety.
Phobias often begin in childhood or adolescence, but many adults find that their lives are impaired by phobic symptoms. Many phobias are more common in women, but some (e.g. fear of blood) are more common in men.
The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy runs the hypnotherapy for phobias programme at all their clinics.
