"The BRAVE MAN is not
he who does not feel AFRAID, but
he who CONQUERS that FEAR"- Nelson Mandela
FEARS & PHOBIAS
If you would like to book an appointment or find out more about Clinical Hypnotherapy contact Lorraine on 07968 449353 or Email.
I'M NOT SURE IF ITS A FEAR OR A PHOBIA- HOW CAN I TELL?
Hypnotherapy can cure fears and phobias and help you to lead a much more fulfilling life. Fear is just natural in certain situations and it’s valuable as well. It’s part of our “fight, flight, or freeze” response, and it’s what prompts us to avoid or overcome danger. Phobias, in contrast, are generally learned responses to events and objects that aren’t themselves threatening. In that sense phobias are irrational and exaggerated fears. The definitions might be important but a much more useful question is “So is this affecting my life?” and is it now time to do something about it?
Some people are disappointed with themselves, because they can’t use their intellect to overcome their phobia. In fact that’s yet another by-product of how our brains work. All of our sensory inputs to the brain travel first through the limbic system, where we attach emotional responses to them. These emotions are already present when we start to use our frontal lobes to think rationally about the situation. If we bear in mind that phobias are learned emotional reactions we can see that they need to be resolved emotionally rather than through reasoning.
EXPOSURE
The first stage in exposure involves teaching someone to achieve a strong sense of positive mood at will. Normally this is based on a memory, or a fantasy, of a situation where they felt whatever they want to feel instead of phobic. This might be calm, strong, relaxed, confident, or many other states. I teach people a very simple technique to invoke this state using an anchor – a word or gesture of their choice.
REWIND TECHNIQUE
The rewind technique is a very popular Neuro Linguistic Program (NLP) technique. It’s popular because it doesn’t require hypnosis, and it can have instantaneous results. It involves the person imagining themselves sat in the projection room of a cinema, looking at themselves simultaneously sat in the front row. The film then starts to be shown, and is rewound and shown at different speeds, and in different forms such as cartoons or old black and white films. Once the person feels comfortable they move to the front row, where the showings are repeated. Then when the person feels ready they step into the film and relive the event, but this time with all of its emotional associations erased. With these gone the phobia collapses, giving the technique it’s other name – fast phobia release.
Broadly there are three techniques that tend to be used when dealing with phobias.
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Regression
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Exposure
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Rewind technique
"You're transforming old patterns of your mind and letting go of thoughts you don't need to have around any longer"
Once the person is confident that they can attain this state at will we start to expose them to the phobia through mental rehearsal. Normally we start at the lowest point – for instance in fear of flying that might be when looking through holiday brochures and feeling slightly apprehensive. Using a anchor the person learns to dissipate this apprehension and feel how they wish to. With this established we move onto the next point – perhaps booking the flights online. The same technique is repeated through the entire process, systematically reducing cumulative stress. In this way clients learn to expect to feel fine and so behave appropriately instead of phobically.
Hypnotherapy individual sessions £75.00. Payment is required before a session begins and payment for block bookings is required before the first session begins. If you would like to book an appointment or find out more contact Lorraine on: 07968 449353 or email.