Fear of heights

I'm seeing a client tomorrow (Wed) night about fear of heights. He currently works on a 30 foot crane, but is getting a transfer to where he will work on a 120 foot crane. I have some ideas, but would wlecome any suggestions.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on February 1, 2012 at 9:51am

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

ME: Cool, I learned to view this in a new way -- Thanks Barry!

Barry Neale said:

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

ME - I agree, my example of walking across a board placed between two platforms 3 feet high and walking across the very same board when it is placed between two platforms that are 30 and 120 feet high was attempting to make the same point: The board is unchanged - the major difference is how they think about it--

My point is/was most of the time we are assisting people with unreasonable fears - In this case, the fear of working 120 feet above the ground on a crane is reasonable fear.. The butterflies or however the fear manifests could be doing their job in letting him know that he is at risk-- Once he makes an informed decision that he is okay with taking the risk -- we can help him change the way he experiences the fearful sensations -- The butterflies can empower or inhibit depending on how we react to them...

michael

Barry Neale said:

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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Permalink Reply by Edd Schultz on February 1, 2012 at 10:28am

Thanks again for all the input. I will be seeing him at 6:30 tonight EST. I realize that what approach I take will depend on just how he articulates his situation/problem. Once I have that info, I will decide how to proceed. All of the information that you have shared will be part of the decision making process. Will let you all know the results.

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Permalink Reply by Angie Hernandez on February 1, 2012 at 11:42am

I think I would take him on a visualization of a hot air balloon. He must cut a sandbag away to rise higher in the air. The first bag he cuts away takes him to 30 feet. Ask for an ideomotor response that he is still very relaxed and comfortable. Reinforce that two emotions cannot exist in the body at the same time. If he is very relaxed, he cannot feel nervous or fearful; he can try but the more he tries, the more relaxed he becomes. Then ask for a verbal on what he sees from this height.

Then ask if he is ready to cut another bag away. Each time he does so, raise him 30 feet more and ask for the relaxed response. Then ask what he sees from this height.

I would continue this way until you reach 180 feet. He should be very relaxed throughout as you de-sensitize him at each height. When he is at this highest point, go ahead and give him suggestions of the other senses he might experience. He might hear the breeze and a hawk calling from far away. He might see a special blue in the sky. He might sense a feeling of excitement in his stomach. He might enjoy getting a new perspective on his life at this elevated place. He might feel like the king of the world!

Return him slowly to the ground and take him to his new crane. As he looks at it he may say to himself, "I felt so powerful at 180 feet in the hot air balloon, I can feel powerful 150 feet also." Take him up and at each 30 feet point, remind him of his words from the balloon as he told you what he saw at each height. Also get the ideomotor response that he is very relaxed.

I think this rehearsal would give him confidence and a sense of power and control.

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Permalink Reply by Edd Schultz on February 6, 2012 at 6:25am

Met with my client. After discussion, I'm not convinced it is a true fear of heights. Altho he hates to work on the 30 ft crane, he has been para-sailing and mountain climbing! He did have a fall from a roof at age 11, but I don't think that's the "cause."

The fear seems to center around climbing the crane, which he has to do every day. So, here's what I did.

1. Standard arm raise induction, followed by deepeners.

2. Took him to his "inner oasis" (special place, ideal place of relaxation, whatever). I call it an Inner Oasis because one of my clients once refered to her "special place" in that way, so I adopted it.

3. Gave him an anchor/post-hypnotic suggestion (similar to what I give all my clients), that whenever he took 3 deep breaths and as he exhaled mentally said Calm on the first exhale, Peace on the second exhale, and Relax on the third exhale, this would automatically bring to the fore the experience of calm, peace and relaxation that he had when in his Inner Oasis (I call this the "CPR Anchor").

That was basically it for the first session. I had suggested to him that 3 or 4 sessions would be appropriate. At the end of session one he was uncertain if he wanted to commit to more. He said, "I'd like to try this at work tomorrow and see how it goes."

I agreed. I called him two days later because I hadn't heard from him. He said, "I was just about to call you to schedule my next session. I tried it today and I was much better!"

Next step will probably be the movie theater to rehearse climbing the big crane, altho I have my own adaptation of that.

My sincere appreciation for all the suggestions. This is the kind of support that is very helpful to us all. Thanks.

Edd