Fear of heights

Permalink Reply by John Cleesattel on January 31, 2012 at 6:51pm

The key is going to be the confidence in himself, that he is the one in control, and that he is the one that will prevent anything bad happening. There is safety equipment available should he feel he needs it.

That said; if he is used to climbing that 30ft ladder, take him up the 120ft one (via hypnosis) and see where and what the problems are, that should give you any issues you need to address.

I hope that helps

John

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Permalink Reply by Aino / Akpolarmom on January 31, 2012 at 9:10pm

How about anchoring "feeling very safe / confident/ good" then take the client up and down to the 120 feet enough times in hypnosis using the anchor, to associate the climb with feeling even more safe / confident / good etc the higher they climb...the better .... etc?

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Permalink Reply by David Harrison Enos C.Ht on January 31, 2012 at 9:16pm

There is a technique called "Circle Therapy". It works for fears and phobias. The process involves hypnotizing client, deepening and desensitizing the client to the stimulus. This is done by having the client think of a memory or a place that makes him happy calm and relax. Have client bring up the fear, you can do this by suggestion or have him bring up a memory of the fear. Use ideo-motor response by having client lift up finger when fear gets too intense. When the client lifts finger, tell him to pass that thought of fear and think of the positive memory or place. Repeat this until the client begins to notice less fear. What your doing here is desensitizing the fear stimulus and the client eventually is no longer sensitive. It is helpful as well to tell client during circle therapy that the harder he tries to be fearful, the more difficult it becomes. This works by the Law of suggestibility called Law of Reverse Action. The stronger portion of the statement or suggestion is the last part of the phrase- the more difficult it becomes. You can use some visualization too, have client imagine he see's a dial from 0 to 10 ten being the most fearful. Have client bring up fear and ask him from scale, what does he feel. Have client see the dial reduce to a slightly lower number. The valuable part of circle therapy is desenitizing. Especially in Hypnosis, the client is able to speed up process faster than a conscious state. The client will no longer be sensitive to fear stimulus, it just becomes accustomed to feeling. Its like when you first started hypnotizing new clients. You had that fear in your gut and worry. After you do it sooo many times, you become accustomed or "desensitized" to the fear.

Hope this helps

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Permalink Reply by Aino / Akpolarmom on January 31, 2012 at 11:10pm

David... this will work if and only if it is a fear ... Phobias is another beast ... HMI taught me that...lol. But I found Circle Therapy kinda tedious and why associate a client with his fear, if you can use the Fast Phobia Cure and have them dissociated from the start.

I think Richard Bandler was the one I heard saying "Once thru trauma is enough..!." I should have mentioned the FPC earlier in my first responds.

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Permalink Reply by David Harrison Enos C.Ht on January 31, 2012 at 11:30pm

The case here is a fear of heights so Circle Therapy would be good. But I agree that Fast Phobia Cure technique may be an awesome method. I suggest dealing with the feeling of fear until it is desensitized because you are dealing with the entire feeling and physical aspects of it. I think if you make suggestions about confidence, safety, etc, and the client is really experiencing something other than these things, he will still fear the heights when actually up there and may even be more of a dangerous situation due to his fear, responses, etc. Could you explain the Fast Phobia Cure, the procedure please? By the way Aino, HMI pal! Nice to meet you

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Permalink Reply by Barry Neale on February 1, 2012 at 12:29am

Hi,

You can do this easily with one of the following techniques.

1, collapse anchors. anchor fear on one hand, anchor resources on the other. fire both and hold the resource and then release fear anchor. Test and future pace. If any of the fear remains add more resources.

2, NLP movie theatre technique. This works really well with clients who are good at visualizing.

3. EFT

4. Eye movement integration therapy. (google this with steve andreas)

5 Logical levels of therapy and timeline therapy.

I could go on. Simple fears and phobias are as far as I am concerned are the easiest things we can work with providing the client WANTS to change.

have fun

Barry

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Permalink Reply by Edd Schultz on February 1, 2012 at 5:43am

Aino,

I, too,would like to hear more about the Fast Phobia Cure.

Aino / Akpolarmom said:

David... this will work if and only if it is a fear ... Phobias is another beast ... HMI taught me that...lol. But I found Circle Therapy kinda tedious and why associate a client with his fear, if you can use the Fast Phobia Cure and have them dissociated from the start.

I think Richard Bandler was the one I heard saying "Once thru trauma is enough..!." I should have mentioned the FPC earlier in my first responds.

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Permalink Reply by Edd Schultz on February 1, 2012 at 5:46am

My thanks to you all for this valuable information. I will use what I can, and still hope for more ideas, as I will be seeing this man several times before he begins his new job.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on February 1, 2012 at 5:59am

Hi Edd,

Consider the suggestion that: It feels wonderful to catch yourself reacting to an old fearful sensation and breaking the pattern as soon as you notice it-- in real time. It is one of the most pleasurable and satisfying experiences that we can have

Here's how one my clients reported her experience of overcoming her life-long fear of heights --

I have her permission and blessings to share her experience:

"Our group went to Boulder, Colorado to see the Flatiron Mountains, called such because they look like two old fashioned irons standing side by side. I was determined to climb up these mountains and, as I proceeded up the mountain, I had no problem at first because the trails were very wide. As we proceeded up the mountain trails, they became narrower, but I kept going.

When I reached a point on the mountain where I had a spectacular view of Boulder University, I stopped and was able to sit down and drink in the beauty of it all. The view was unobstructed as I was higher than the trees. The ledge at this point was about five feet and, as I realized where I was, a twinge of the old fear came back to me.

At this point I was beginning to form a cold sweat. However, I said to myself, Oh No! that's not going to happen to me anymore. I stood up, swung around and felt a feeling of exhilaration and accomplishment at overcoming a lifelong senseless fear of heights. I have taken pictures of this accomplishment and will gladly show them to one and all."

Session Breakdown:

My focus is making it reasonable for my clients to believe that they CAN reach their goals and as soon as this client indicated that she felt it was reasonable to believe hypnosis was going to help her I utilized the rest my pre-talk suggesting that she will really, really, enjoy her hero's journey and set her up for looking forward to experiencing something very,very special. It feels wonderful to catch yourself reacting to an old fearful sensation and breaking the pattern as soon as you notice it-- in real time. Once she was psyched for success - I eased her into the hypnotic ritual-- I collapsed her fear related anchors using the Ellner/Barsky Detox (Below) with the suggestion we would be reducing or eliminating the negative emotional charge that drives her fears. The hypnosis ritual part of the session was over in less than ten minutes. After collapsing the anchors - I guided her into a safe place and had her seeing herself standing at the edge of the highest peak, feeling totally exhilarated by her mastery and accomplishment in overcoming her senseless fear of heights. My post-hypnotic suggestion: "When you say no to your fears -- You will immediately feel "it" and "it" will feel grrrrrrreat!" several times. Her "homework was to focus on this "Power Image" first thing in the morning and just before going to sleep and whenever she had a moment or two for self-empowerment.

I then guided her back, with the assurance that the seeds for overcoming her fear of heights had been planted and would bear fruit whenever she was ready to test them.

During our post-ritual conversation - I dramatically -- told her that: **Many of my clients reported having a very powerful and liberating moment when they said --NO! to their fears! They all used words like "thrilling", exhilarating" and "life-changing" to describe the pleasure and satisfaction that can only be experienced by saying NO to your fears! ** Within moments - I reinforced my post-Post-hypnotic suggestion: "When you say no to your fears -- You will immediately feel "it" and "it" will feel grrrrrrreat!" several times... She was off and practicing saying no to her fears and feeling fantastic!!!

Within months of our 15-20 minute session, my client and her husband went to Colorado and headed for the mountains. I'll repeat her account of what happened:

"Our group went to Boulder, Colorado to see the Flatiron Mountains, called such because they look like two old fashioned irons standing side by side. I was determined to climb up these mountains and, as I proceeded up the mountain, I had no problem at first because the trails were very wide. As we proceeded up the mountain trails, they became narrower, but I kept going.

When I reached a point on the mountain where I had a spectacular view of Boulder University, I stopped and was able to sit down and drink in the beauty of it all. The view was unobstructed as I was higher than the trees. The ledge at this point was about five feet and, as I realized where I was, a twinge of the old fear came back to me.

At this point I was beginning to form a cold sweat. However, I said to myself, Oh No! that's not going to happen to me anymore. I stood up, swung around and felt a feeling of exhilaration and accomplishment at overcoming a lifelong senseless fear of heights. I have taken pictures of this accomplishment and will gladly show them to one and all."

**

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Permalink Reply by Barry Neale on February 1, 2012 at 6:07am

here's the steps to the nlp fast phobia technique from my NLP practitioner manual

Eliminating Fears and Phobias

The Fast Phobia/Trauma Relief Technique

This technique neutralizes the powerful, negative feelings of phobias and traumatic events.

Remember: most people learned to be phobic in a single situation that was actually dangerous, or seemed dangerous. The fact that individuals can do what psychologists call “one-trial learning” is proof that a person’s brain can learn quite rapidly. That ability to learn rapidly makes it easy for you to learn a new way to respond to any phobia or trauma.

The part of you that has been protecting you all these years by making you phobic is an important and valuable part. We want to preserve its ability to protect you in dangerous situations. The purpose of this technique is to refine and improve your brain’s ability to protect you by updating its information.

With your eyes open or closed, imagine you’re sitting in the middle of a movie theater and you see a black and white snapshot of yourself on the screen.

Now, float out of your body and up into the projection booth. See yourself sitting in the movie theater seat, and also the black and white photo on the screen. You may even wish to imagine Plexiglas over the booth’s opening, protecting you.

Now, watch and listen, protected in the projection booth, as you see a black and white movie of a younger you going through one of those situations in which he/she experienced that phobia/trauma. Watch the whole event, starting before the beginning of that incident. Observe until you are beyond the end of it, when everything was OK again.

If you are not fully detached, make the theater screen smaller and farther away, make the picture grainier and stop and start the film so that when you’re done viewing it, you’re completely detached. End the movie after the phobia-causing event, with a freeze frame of yourself.

Next, leave the projection booth and slip back into the present you in the theater seat. Next step into the freeze photo of the younger you, who is feeling OK again, at the movie’s end. This is double dissociation. Now, run the entire movie of that experience backwards in color, taking two seconds or less to do so. Be sure to go all the way back to before the beginning. See, hear, and feel everything going backwards in those two seconds or less.

To test the process, attempt to return to the phobic state in any way you can. What if you were in that situation now? When will you next encounter one of these situations? If you still get a phobic response, repeat the steps 1 to 4 exactly, but faster each time, until none of the phobic response remains.

Since you were phobic/traumatized, you have stayed far away from those particular situations in which you used to feel phobic, so you haven’t had the opportunity to learn about them. As you begin to encounter and explore these situations in the future, we urge you to exercise a certain degree of caution until you learn to be more comfortable with them.

I dont know what happened the numbers in the above as I cut and pasted them over!

Heres a version of the collapse anchors technique in hypnosis.

With this technique, what we are going to be doing is we are going to change the response to the specific stimuli. So how are we going to do this? We are going to do this through the use of anchoring. So let’s look at the process.

Step 1 - is the pre-talk. This is where we dispel all the myths and misconceptions about hypnosis and we introduce the mind model. We also ask them questions about their specific phobia, when and where they get it, and also why they want to overcome the problem.

Step 2 - is to induce trance.

Step 3 – Use modified reframe technique

Step 4 - set up a powerful positive resource anchor. We do this in pretty much the same way as we did in the stop smoking course. What we want to do is to have the client recall a time in their life when they felt wonderful, when they felt in control of their own life and their own behaviours. We then set the anchor on one of their hands. If the phobia is a particularly powerful one then we might want to stack this positive anchor. We do this by having them recall several times in their life when they felt wonderful or in control or confident, and we then anchor on exactly the same spot on that same hand. You then test the anchor by first of all breaking the state, i.e. putting their awareness down to their shoes, etc., and then firing the anchor. As you fire the anchor, you should easily be able to see a response. Then we break state.

Step 5 - Anchor negative state. This we do by having them recall one of the last few times that they experienced the negative response. We then anchor on the opposite hand. So now we have a positive anchor set on one hand and the negative anchor set on the other hand.

Step 6 – Collapse the anchors. In this step, what we do is to have them imagine a time in the future, which, if it had happened in the past, would have caused the negative response. As they imagine it we fire the negative anchor and then almost immediately, whilst holding down the negative anchor, we fire the positive anchor at the same time. Then, we alternate between the two, firing one then the other several times, and say: ‘It’s kind of confusing isn’t it? First feeling one way, then another. But then all of a sudden you feel this way.’ And then you hold down the positive anchor.

Step 7– Hold down the positive anchor whilst future pacing the change. In this step, we hold down the positive anchor while having them imagine themselves in the situation which in the past caused the negative response, and to have them notice how differently they are responding now.

Step 8 – Testing with anchor. In this step we continue to hold down the positive anchor and then have them try hard in vain to bring back the negative state. If you’ve done all the steps properly up to now, this should be impossible for them to do. You want to repeat this process two or three times.

Step 9 – Test without anchor. In this step, you release the positive anchor and have them imagine themselves in the old situation and to again try hard in vain to find the negative feeling. Again, if you’ve done this correctly up until now, this will be impossible for them to do.

Step 10 – give suggestions. At this point we want to give positive suggestions to reinforce the change and then compound them in.

Step 11 – the colour red.

This technique is a very powerful technique and for the vast majority of people you see it will blow out their phobia in one session.

Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on February 1, 2012 at 6:43am

Questions:

Does any one think that a man who works on a 30 foot crane is afraid of heights?

Does any one think that having some fears and concerns about working on a 120 foot crane is phobic?

It is easy to walk across a board placed between two platforms 3 feet high - It is quite challenging to walk across the very same board when it is placed between two platforms that are 30 feet high. Same board but the experience is quite different... Now imagine crossing the board at 120 feet...

It seems to me we are assisting a client develop his confidence to overcome a REASONABLE fear...

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Permalink Reply by Barry Neale on February 1, 2012 at 6:55am

I once had an airline pilot that was scared of heights. He could fly at 40,000 ft but couldn't climb a ladder!

It's not the helght that is the problem. It's how they think about it that's the problem.

There's an interesting story in the book Provocative hypnosis where the author is working with a telecoms engineer who is afraid of climbing telegraph poles. The author takes him outside to the nearest pole and has him look at the pole. He asks him on a scale of 0-10 how scared are you right now. The guy says 6. He then gets him to climb the pole and when he reaches the top he asks him where on this scale are you now. The guy says 9. He then asks him to start to climb back down and as he is about halfway down he notices a state change and asks him where are you now, the guy says it's almost a zero because I know I am on the way down!

The author says to him, you were a 6 when you were on the ground and now you are half way up and it's nearly a zero. How the hell can it be the height?

It's never the height, its how they think about it so it is easy to see how someone can be ok at 30 foot but freaking out at 120.

barry

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