Fears and Phobias Milton Keynes

The basic feature of any phobia or fear  is a conflict between conscious and unconscious processes.  Since hypnotherapy and NLP are the most direct way into the subconscious, it stands to reason that they can become the instrument of alleviating the irrational fear.  Analytical hypnotherapy and NLP helps you to come to an internal understanding and acceptance of how the phobia may once have served a useful purpose, but now has become an unnecessary behaviour pattern.

The objective of analytical hypnotherapy is to discover the cause(s), communicate with these unconscious processes and desensitize you from the fear; so that you react to them in a calmer fashion when encountering them in the future.  Attempting to deal with a phobia at a conscious level is often totally ineffective, because phobias happen automatically below the level of conscious awareness. In fact many people are already aware of the cause, or trigger of their phobia, and no matter how much they attempt to consciously control and rationalise it, they still experience them.

Fears / Phobias – Fear is a natural response caused by real danger. For example, we are all scared of coming face to face with a wild, hungry animal, and fear is a survival instinct which warns us against certain things or situations. A phobia, on the other hand, is an irrational fear of an object or situation that causes little or no danger. For example, arithmophobia (fear of numbers) may cause certain individuals anxiety, but the fear itself won’t cause any danger. Phobias are linked to our subconscious, and because they are irrational, they can often be dealt with effectively.

Phobias are extremely common and range from the less well-known i.e. asymmetriphobia (fear of asymmetrical things) to the more commonly recognised dentophobia (fear of dentists). There will usually be strong avoidance behaviour connected with the phobia, and feelings of anxiety, loss of control and panic. Sufferers usually know their fear is irrational, but they cannot control it.

Other fears/phobias

Symptoms:

·         not being able to sleep / disturbed sleep

·         lack of appetite

·         not wanting to go out and see others

·         short tempered

·         lack of concentration

·         loss of interest in sex

·         thumping heart (palpitations)

·         shortness of breath, or an urge to over breathe (hyperventilating)

·         sweating

·         hand tremors or overall body shakes

·         dry mouth

·         tiredness

·         dizziness, or light or heavy headedness

·         diarrhoea

·         urgent need to pass urine