the truth about fears, anxiety and phobias

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Permalink Reply by John Cleesattel on May 24, 2009 at 8:03am

Let me start by saying that I have found the difference between a fear and a phobia to be the amount of perceived danger associated with it. With a fear, you perceive possible damage and in the extreme, possible death. With a phobia, the perception is mainly imminent death, not just a possibility, but an impending event.

Both are learned behaviors that are reacted to with a survival mode reaction. To remove them, means to either reduce the perceived threat by repetitive exposure without any negative incidents (fast phobia cure), or regression to the initial learning (ISE) and changing the outcome to one that is not threatening.

Anxiety is a symptom of fear. It is the body in survival mode. Often times the client will not even know what the problem is other than they are feeling "stressed out" to the max.

Anxiety can be removed in an alternative way by overloading the feeling. feeding it back on itself until it literally "blows up" and is gone, the feeling associated with the fear is anesthetized and is no longer felt. This "blow out" technique as it is called is a very quick and effective means to eliminate anxiety.

Irrational fears are my favorite issue to work with. No one should have to live in fear. I usually take only one session to remove one, unless there are other contributing events that are reinforcing it that need to be dealt with also, that surface later.

I hope that helps your understanding
John

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Permalink Reply by Donna Carter on May 24, 2009 at 9:30am

My list of ailments when I first had hypnotherapy:
anxiety, fears, phobias, panic attacks, agoraphobia, hypochondria...just to name a few.
oops...is that too much information? haha

One session and it knocked ALL of them so far down that...although there was a hint of my old self on the edges... it changed me.
I could leave my house. I could drive my car. I could take an Advil for my headache.
I can't even name all the things that it helped - the list is too long.
And the beauty? My hypnotherapist didn't know the cause - heck, he didn't even know I had half of these problems. I originally asked him for help because I wanted to get in my car and drive past the stop sign at the end of my block without having a panic attack. I was afraid to leave my house. (actually...I asked for a miracle - I wanted to drive to Montana to visit my family, I reside in California ~grin).

So, the moral to this story:
If you know the cause of these issues, I am sure that would be helpful but it isn't a requirement.
Also, from experience (personal and helping others with it) - how many sessions it takes depends on the client and the problems. I had miraculous change in one session and I have had more sessions to battle things as they come along. I still have anxiety on occasion, however...it doesn't rule my life. (if it looks like it might try to...I can call my hypnotherapist! haha)
I believe all of these issues listed are built upon each other and hypnosis is a great tool to weaken the foundation. If you tap into one that is holding them all up - they all can come tumbling down.

~D.

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Permalink Reply by Bridget McKenna on May 24, 2009 at 10:22am

I use the NLP approach, and I seldom encounter a phobia (spider, heights, elevators, flying, etc) that won't break in one session - it's all down to you and the client and what you decide to apply to it. The "fast phobia cure" is an example of what works best (for me) to break phobias: changing the qualities of the internal pictures people associate with the phobic object/experience. This can be done as a formal process (part of the "ritual" aspect of changework), and also conversationally. And using that method it's easier to do the change while the person is exposed to the phobic object / experience, and suddenly they're flying, or riding in a lift, or whatever, and not afraid.

The "fast phobia cure" developed from interviewing people who had had phobias and overcome them on their own. There were certain patterns the hundreds of people interviewed for this project (Bandler & Grinder, 30 years or so ago) had in common, and they could be described as "seeing the phobia differently." They had all dissociated from the phobia (phobics tend to be VERY associated into their fear), taken a look at themselves doing that behavior from "out there," and decided it was ridiculous. So dissociation is an important element, and so is laughter. So is any changing of the qualities of their internal pictures to create "another way of looking at it."

That's the short version, anyhow. It has worked time after time for me. Others' mileage may vary.

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Permalink Reply by Blankfrost on May 24, 2009 at 7:33pm

i was also wondering if anyone has ever overcome a serious phobia or fear without the help of a psychologist. either through there own knowlege of psychotherapy of maybe they just had a certain realization i am not sure

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Permalink Reply by John Cleesattel on May 25, 2009 at 5:23am

Blankfrost said:

i was also wondering if anyone has ever overcome a serious phobia or fear without the help of a psychologist. either through there own knowlege of psychotherapy of maybe they just had a certain realization i am not sure

Umm.. other than what we have already talked about here, that did not include a psychologist at all? Realizations don't change irrational fears.

I personally had a severe fear of heights for about 25 years. It was so bad that I had serious issues just going over freeway overpasses. I knew I was in no danger, I knew I couldn't fall out of the car, I didn't want to be terrified like I was, but it didn't stop the way I felt.

(Remembering about this also cemented the concept of the 3 mind model I use. Analytical mind saying no danger, Judgmental mind not wanting to react that way and beating me up because I was scared, and Reactive mind not caring about what the other two, and turning up the fear, full force.)


It was removed during my hypnosis training when I volunteered for a demonstration of fear removal techniques. I still marvel sometimes as I go over a high bridge and remember the anguish I used to go through, and now there is no issue.

John

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Permalink Reply by Donna Carter on May 27, 2009 at 6:46am

The more education on fears/phobias, the better a person will feel about their problem. A justification, maybe, that they are not alone and that they are not about to kick the bucket. An understanding that their feelings are normal body functions happening because of a false trigger. This might give some extra comfort on the surface of it.
In the last 20+ odd years that I have suffered with anxiety and panic - I can say... cognitive behavior therapy and the like...did not touch my problem. I have seen NUMEROUS doctors and clinical psychologists; with no results. Nothing against them personally... their methods just didn't give me what I needed. I am of the opinion - if a person isn't seeing results... it is time to look for a different approach.
Hypnosis?! haha
A person can opt to find a good self-hypnosis script and record it for themselves...which may do wonders.
Personally, though.... there is nothing better than paying your money to get a nice soothing voice (session and cd?), a voice you can sink into, one that...takes you away. It is worth 10 times the amount you will pay. It is like a good keepsake, increasing in value over time.

~D.
"neurons that fire together, wire together"

Blankfrost said:

i was also wondering if anyone has ever overcome a serious phobia or fear without the help of a psychologist. either through there own knowlege of psychotherapy of maybe they just had a certain realization i am not sure

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