How Hypnosis Helps Phobias

People can be afraid of a wide range of things and what can be totally acceptable to one person can be quite panic provoking to another.

Some of the fears I see most often in my practice are:

Animals
Being alone
Blood
Small or enclosed spaces
Dark places
Death
Heights
Injections/Needles
Open spaces
Snakes
Spiders
Travel
Trains
Water

Some unusual ones:

Yellow (the colour)
Red cars
Men with beards
Apples

What is a phobia?

A phobia is any persistent fear of a specific stimulus object or situation. Phobia is from the Greek to fear or dread. It is more than a simple fear, or a being afraid. It is to be totally terrified of the stimulus. When presented with a phobia problem by a client, I always begin by finding out if it is a fear they have, or a phobia. If their problem is spiders for instance, then can they imagine themselves holding a spider on their hand if they are rewarded with 100? What about 500, and so on. If they could bear the spider for a large amount of money, even just for a few seconds, they do not have a phobia, but rather a fear. The person with a phobia of spiders would not be able to bear to touch one for any amount of money or any other reward. Some people are obsessive with their phobia. This means, they can t even bear to think of the stimulus and it will likely be totally controlling their lives.

Another complication is that a client can present with a fear/phobia of flying as an example. However, the skilled therapist, on exploring this fear/phobia with the client, may find the fear/phobia is actually about being enclosed, or locked in. Perhaps it might be a fear/phobia of dying, not being able to breath on an aircraft, or something else connected with the aircraft or leaving their own area/country etc, but not actually the flying itself.

What has caused the phobia?

A client will often say that nothing has caused the phobia they have, it just started, they ve always been afraid of dogs, etc. If one person is afraid of dogs and another isn t, then clearly there is a difference between the two. One person has either been exposed to some causal event which has been repressed in the subconscious mind, or has learned to be afraid from a parent or other authority figure at some time earlier in life. The causal event may not have been very traumatic at the time, but the young mind will have seen it out of the context that would be understood by a more mature mind in later years. It may have caused an emotional response and/or motor actions to be locked away, repressed, and the emotion and possible motor responses will have been locked away and anchored to the event. The subconscious mind can often set up a kind of false instinct, whereby any sign of the stimulus, or even something resembling it, or associated with it, may cause a phobic reaction, and then the body s flight or fight response will kick in and the individual may begin to panic panic attack.

Hypnotherapy to relieve phobias

The first thing the skilled hypnotherapist will do, is to work with the client to discover the causal event, and once found, to desensitise the client from it. Once this has been achieved, then hypnotic suggestion, metaphor and possibly Neuro-Linguistic Programming will be used to create a new template for the client so they can see the previously feared situation, object or circumstance in a new and non threatening light, through a new lens as it where. If the causal event, or events are not found and the emotion not released, then the phobia may just resurface later with more intensity than before if that is possible. The person with a phobia will need to be helped to find and review the trigger situation, to see it with an adult maturity and understanding, and to then see the cause in a different way and with a different and better understanding. The mind can be reprogrammed to see things in a different way and to accept situations as normal that would previously have been viewed as threatening.

How many sessions of therapy will be required?

How many sessions will be needed to release a person from their phobia will depend upon many things, not least, the clients personality type, maturity, desire to overcome the phobia, and of course, how deep seated the phobia is and how long it has been in place. However, the average for people I see is about 3-4 sessions. This can be much longer in some cases, especially where full blown panic attacks are occurring at seemingly random times and in diverse places.

For more information, please contact you local hypnotherapist. Most hypnotherapists will be happy to provide an initial free consultation for you in order to discuss your problem and to explain to you how therapy would proceed. This session will normally last about 45 minutes. My clients say that this short session often produces therapeutic results for them and helps them to feel confident about setting up a series of therapy sessions to overcome their fear or phobia.

Please always see your doctor first and foremost before you contact or visit any therapist and tell him/her about any symptoms you may have, such as, headache, soreness in limbs, racing heart, dizziness, sweating, blurred vision, a feeling of unrealness, etc. Although these are all common for someone suffering from a fear, phobia, or indeed from a panic attack, organic causes should always be fully checked out by a medical professional in the first instance.

When consulting a hypnotherapist, I advise that you ensure they are a Clinical Hypnotherapist and that they belong to a professional body such as one of the following:

British Institute of Hypnotherapy
General Hypnotherapy Register
Professional Association for Hypnotherapists and Psychotherapists
Hypnotherapy Association
National Council for Hypnotherapy

Check with the organisation(s) that the therapist is indeed registered with them. Also check that your chosen therapist has experience in dealing with the problem you have and that they have adequate professional insurance (they must display their certificate of insurance at their place of work).

Hypnotherapy is not magic, but it sometimes seems magical.

By Alan Crisp DHP GQHP MBIH GHR Reg
Clinical Hypnotherapist.

About the Author

Alan Crisp DHP,GQHP,MASC, is a member of the British Institute of Hypnotherapy and a Professional member of the National Phobics Society. He specialises in Stress and Axiety related conditions, working from his consulting rooms in Bekenham, Kent, UK

Technorati Tags: Hypnotist, Stage Hypnotist, Stage Hypnosis, Hypnosis, Hypnotism, Magical Hypnotist, Hypnotherapy, NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming

Dressed For Success

So you have an awesome magic trick you want to perform on
somebody. You ve practiced it thousands of times, perfected it
in front of the mirror and now are ready to take your act to the
streets…ok maybe not the streets but to one of your friends or
family members. But wait….what are you going to wear??? You
say What?, who cares what I am wearing? . Let me tell you
something, image and presentation is everything, it is like
giving your audience the total package. What is the first thing
people see?? It s you of course, this is your first chance to
make that great first impression on someone before even doing
your magic trick bit. You may think, I can wear anything to do
my magic trick and it will still wow them and you know what, you
are probably right, that is if you perform a great magic trick.
But you can take that to a whole other level, and that is with
your image. It s like shopping for a car, you first look at the
look of the car, the one that looks better is the one you will
check out, even though the uglier car may have the same sport
suspension and high powered engine underneath its covers, but
you see what I mean.

If you are dressed in just your regular jeans and T-Shirt and
performing tricks, yes you will still probably get great
reactions, but if you stepped up your dress code a bit, believe
me, you will leave even a more lasting impression to your
audience. Think about it for a minute….think of all the great
magicians out there from David Blaine, David Copperfield, Lance
Burton, and the list goes on way beyond the people I mention
here, you have an image in your head when I mention these people
to you, right??? David Blaine, he wears nothing to fancy but he
is usually in a nice black collared shirt and black pants, that
gives him that mysterious look….David Copperfield, always
dressed up to the T for his shows. Now I am not saying go out
and wear a tux or your best suede suit to perform, but be aware
of what your are wearing, it can be the difference from a good
performance to a great performance.

About the Author

Dion Semeniuk is the owner of the popular online magic store, This is Magic! To receive 4 free magic trick videos and learn about performing other magic tricks, visit http://www.thisismagic.com

Technorati Tags: MagicalHypnotist, Magical, Magician, Illusionist, Illusion, Comedy, Comedian, Mark Hamilton, Hamilton, Magical Hypnotist, Comedy Magician

Have you ever wished you could keep a positive feeling for longer? Ever felt that you wish you could recreate feelings as and when you want to? Well now you can. Just follow these simple steps.

There was some sunshine this weekend while I was writing this! At least here on the sunny south coast of England there was. I went out walking along the sea front with my partner Sara on Saturday morning and it was wonderful; the feeling of sunshine on my face, the smell of the air, the sites of other people out and about and happy, the local land train was shuttling people and their excited children back and forth from Bournemouth pier to Boscombe Pier and my senses were filled a major event for human neurophysiology (mine anyway!)

The funny thing is, later on that evening when my friends were joking about my pink coloured forehead, I told them that I was really looking forward to summer and as I spoke, I felt the sun on me, imagined the fun I was going to have on the beach, remembered the smell, the amazing feeling of joy that I get from being there, just by anticipating it all.

A natural phenomenon we can replicate with NLP techniques. NLP stands for neuro-linguistic programming, which is just a methodology for helping make changes. We shorten it to NLP for easy understanding.

Without realising it, the time I had spent on the sea front earlier that day had acted as an anchor for the wonderful experience which immediately followed it. The next time I saw & heard the experience, albeit in my mind, my neurology went I know what happens now and started to produce the intense physical responses that it knew were coming next.

In the field of NLP, an anchor is any representation in the human nervous system that triggers any other representation. For instance, the word sex will immediately trigger images, sounds etc associated with that word. The word chocolate will trigger different associations. I am not too sure which of those will create the most intense feelings though! These words are anchors. Anchors do not have to be words, they can be a wide range of things.

With NLP, we identify that anchors can operate in any representational system (ie. sight, sound, feeling, smell, taste.) Let me give you some examples;

Tonal: By that, I mean for example, the special way a certain person has of saying your name, like when a friend or family member says it. My mother shouting my name from the depths of my home when I was a child often signalled the fact that she had discovered something that I had done that meant trouble for me! Adam! often made me feel what I was in store for.

Tactile: The effect of a certain type of handshake for example, or the sensation of a reassuring hug compared to a loving cuddle. Rekindles all kinds of wonderful feelings.

Visual: The way people respond to certain items of clothing. I recently had lunch with a group of my friends from the town where I grew up and several of them commented on the jacket I was wearing. Now, whenever they see it, it reminds them of those comments and makes them smile.

Olfactory: Like when you smell a certain kind of food being cooked can suddenly have you remembering a time when you were in the school cafeteria.

Gustatory: The taste of your favourite food or the way certain foods can make you remember how you felt when you had it before. Maybe like when you were given soup and a big helping of love and sympathy when you were young and off school because you were poorly. I know every time I eat Heinz Tomato soup it reminds me of just that.

Once again, in the field of NLP, an anchor is any representation in the human nervous system that triggers any other representation. It is conceptually similar to Pavlovian conditioning (ie. bells and salivating dogs; some of Pavlovs findings feature in the field of NLP.

While the anchor I created for the sea front was unintentional, it is possible for you to use this NLP tecnique to anchor yourself intentionally. Have a go at this and learn this NLP technique for yourself

Fistly, think of an occasion when you had a highly pleasurable, positive or enjoyable experience. See what you saw then (looking out through your own eyes), hear what you heard and feel what you felt. As you feel the sensations increase in intensity, squeeze the thumb & forefinger of your left hand gently together for a few moments, then release them. Now break your state (Eg. by remembering what you had for lunch yesterday.) Squeeze your thumb & forefinger together again, gently pulsing them. The state will return.

To make the most of anchoring with NLP, it is important to really engage in the experience and make it wonderfully vivid in your mind and to then also put effort into recalling it when you first activate your NLP anchor for a few times. Imagine how powerful this can be when you want to feel wonderful if you are home, feeling gloomy. Instead of reaching for the chocolate, you can start to activate your feel good anchor.

Every time you want to get motivated to exercise, just activate your enthusiasm anchor. It is a really simple technique of NLP.

This is a simple but powerful NLP technique that can enable you to have access to the states and resources you want, when you want them. The use of thumb & forefinger is an example of a tactile anchor, but you can use any representation to anchor something for yourself or someone else.

Guidelines for setting anchors with NLP;

In order to get a strong anchor for an experience, it is important to

a) Ensure that you have a powerful example of the experience to work with.

b) Anchor in as many representational systems as possible (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, etc).

c) Set the anchor just before the experience peaks.

d) When you activate the anchor, do it accurately. Be precise!

e) With tactile (kinaesthetic) anchors, pulsing the anchor can help to maintain the experience

One of the people who came on one of my NLP training courses was particularly taken with the idea of anchoring. Shortly after the NLP training, one morning his wife offered to make him a cup of tea, and as she did so, he gently tapped the side of his cup with his ring. He repeated this the next few times she made him a cup of tea. After a while, all he had to do was tap the side of his cup subtly with his ring & she would spontaneously offer to get him a cup of tea!! Very Naughty use of NLP, Eh?! Just by creating a sensory representation (tapping the cup) that coincided with her making tea, he was soon able to use that representation as a trigger for what he wanted. He did eventually share his NLP anchoring experience with his wife and you can be sure he makes a lot more tea than she does now!

Now I know that by now some of you may be thinking But isnt that manipulative?!? One answer is Yes, so use it for doing good stuff! Another answer is no. It is no more manipulative than making yourself look good and smell nice when you go out. In those situations you are trying to get people to think the best of you and have a good response to you, a response that you are attempting to anchor through your choice of clothing, grooming and smelly perfume.

Here are some of the sorts of things that I go out of my way to use NLP to anchor whenever I see them or experience them:

- Smiles.

- Laughter.

- Excitement

- Confidence

- Good feelings

- Good performance (especially by waiters & waitresses!)

- Anything that looks good, useful or fun; Achievement and success are especially useful for stopping smoking, reducing weight or growing in confidence.

Its happening all the time anyway:

As I said at the beginning, anchoring with NLP is a naturally occurring phenomenon anyway. You are exposed to it all the time in everything you do. Everyone is doing this stuff all the time, often without really knowing it. All I am inviting you to do is to become conscious of the anchors that you and others are setting (maybe using NLP), and to start using them purposefully to get good results, rather than randomly to get whatever you get. Use NLP with mindfulness.

Taking this a step further;

Recently, I was working with a team of related staff members with regards to doing some NLP consulting with them. I asked them how they would know that the two days had been a great success. One of them said it would have a feel good factor and simultaneously made a gesture with both hands towards his tummy. When I repeated the words feel good factor to him, he nodded in confirmation. Later on, I referred to the feel good factor, and simultaneously used his gesture. Instead of a nod of confirmation, I got a full physiological response, including skin colour changes, posture and energy changesthe full works. His words had been a good anchor, but the words plus the gesture were far more complete. When I used both, I got a full response. I continued to use the anchor throughout the consultation. At no time was he aware that I was using NLP & his anchors he just had the experience of being really well understood.

You can use NLP anchors to capture and re-use positive experiences for yourself & others. Now have a go at doing this NLP exercise too

1) Think of an occasion when you had a highly pleasurable, positive or enjoyable experience. See what you saw then (looking out through your own eyes), hear what you heard and feel what you felt. As you feel the sensations increase in intensity, squeeze the thumb & forefinger of your left hand gently together for a few moments, then release them. Now break your state (Eg. by remembering what shoe you put on first today.) Squeeze your thumb & forefinger together again, gently pulsing them. The state will return.

2) Identify something that someone you know already does, and create a subtle anchor. Set the anchor while they are doing the activity. Later, fire your NLP anchor and see what happens. If they do the thing you anchored, then it worked!

3) When you (or someone you are with) are experiencing something you want to have more of, anchor it.

As usual, remember that this stuff is powerful so use your NLP skills wisely. As well, allow yourself to start becoming aware of when it is being used on you. Advertisers, politicians and stand-up comedians all know the power of NLP anchors and use them with great cunning (and to great effect.) Awareness with NLP is the key have fun.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam Eason is an author, consultant, trainer and motivational speaker in the fields of hypnosis, NLP, personal development and human potential. His website is filled with information, stimulating articles, resources and uniques products.

Visit to also receive a free, unique hypnosis session, instantly downloadable, to enjoy in the comfort of your own home.

Technorati Tags: Hypnotist, Stage Hypnotist, Stage Hypnosis, Hypnosis, Hypnotism, Magical Hypnotist, Hypnotherapy, NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming