phobias

A phobia is an irrational fear or anxiety about an item or situation. When the fear is great, it can be very restrictive to a person’s lifestyle. What feels like an irrational fear is actually an unconscious emotional reaction caused by a past situation and triggered in the present, often with debilitating results.

Hypnotherapy is highly effective at helping people overcome their phobias. With hypnotherapy, the problem can be dealt with directly within a safe environment (with no rubber snakes or caged tarantulas!).

Phobias often find their root cause in childhood and most are simply learned from parents or older siblings. For example, if a young child sees a mother panicking at the sight of a spider, it is likely that they will become frightened too, despite them not having a direct experience with the spider. Phobias can also be caused by a particularly traumatic incident, leading to a fear that gets stronger and stays with them throughout their adult life. Sometimes the phobia is displaced onto a related event. For example, an emotionally traumatic divorce followed by a flight to stay with relations can lead to a fear of flying. The latter is very rarely caused by a bad experience during a flight. The flying phobia can then prevent them going on a plane under any circumstances, which will affect activities like holidays and even have an impact professionally as flying for business would be impossible.

Treatment for phobias takes between one and three sessions.

These hypnotherapy audio downloads by Professor Ursula James are very effective for dealing with phobias: