Fear is an innate and even normal reaction to dangerous situations – a survival instinct to help us flee potentially harmful circumstances. However, fears become unhealthy when they are intense, often resulting in excessive anxiety or panic attacks.
A phobia is born when one develops an impractical and exaggerated fear for a particular object or occurrence. In a case where the phobia is developed towards an everyday entity or event, the person is restricted, tormented by it on a daily basis, and held back from accomplishing what they ought to.
WHAT ARE WE AFRAID OF?
A lot of phobias subsist in the subconscious mind as responses either developed or learned from past traumatic experiences and observations. Such phobias are highly susceptible to hypnotherapy, which can help the client unlearn the phobic response, develop their interactions with the fear and, over time, alleviate the connected anxiety.
Phobias are essentially a kind of anxiety disorder whose symptoms come to play when in contact with the feared object or situation. However, in more extreme cases, the phobic symptoms come from simply thinking about it.
Feelings of dread, anxiety and nervousness arise when the source of the phobia is encountered and the physical symptoms of anxiety and fear may follow including dizziness, profuse sweating, rapid heartbeat, shaking, nausea and stomach upset.
CAUSAL FACTORS
Just like many other mental issues, phobias are usually caused by more than a single factor. A phobia may stem from a specific traumatic experience that may have occurred in the past. For instance, having experienced a bumpy flight in childhood may lead to an adult phobia for flying.
Alternatively, phobias may be learned from other people or from the surroundings. For example, seeing older people scream and panic at the sight of spiders may induce the impression in a child that this is the proper response.
Experts have also suggested heredity as a possible factor for phobias. Some people are simply born with anxious tendencies. Standing mental health issues such as stress, depression and anxiety may also fuel the occurrence of a phobia.
Thankfully, whatever the cause, phobias are curable. If you are suffering from a phobia that is inhibiting your productivity and fulfilment, hypnotherapy is a safe and highly effective treatment to help you overcome your fears and empower you to live your best life.
HYPNOTHERAPY FOR PHOBIAS
Since phobias exist in the subconscious, the mind and body will always react to the source of the phobia with fear, no matter how much you try to convince yourself that it is not deadly. Hypnotherapy aims to get in touch with the subconscious and alter your feelings and reactions towards your phobia.
You will be put in a highly relaxed and comfortable hypnotic state, with the hypnotherapist as your guide talking you through the process while you remain in control the entire time. If you’re not aware of the source of your phobia, some time may be spent to get to its root and help you recall the specific event (if there is one) from which the phobia stems.
The next line of action will be for the hypnotherapist to use various techniques to help you adjust your response to your fears. In that tranquil hypnotic state, you will gently and gradually confront and defeat your phobia.
If you’ve chosen to use hypnotherapy for phobias and fears, you need not worry about being caught unawares. Good hypnotherapy will never spring surprises on you, but rather, your hypnotherapist will work hand-in-hand with you to bolster your confidence, build up your resilience and help you conquer those fears that have tormented your mind for so long.