Phobias

You may know only too well how a phobia, a fear that creates an extreme and uncontrollable emotional response, can dominate people's lives causing them to be constantly on guard, always looking out for whatever it is that will trigger their next episode. Sufferers often go to great lengths to avoid situations that have the potential to trigger a phobic episode, even to the detriment of their careers and personal relationships.

The good news is that it doesn’t need to be like

this. In recent years we've gained a much better

understanding of how the human brain processes

information from our environment (received

through our five senses) and how in certain

circumstances, a phobic response can be formed.

Having an improved model of these processes has helped the development of therapeutic techniques that can alter the structure of the memory that first created the phobic response, breaking the link that automatically connects the memory to the emotion it arouses. The content of the memory (i.e. the events that took place) are still remembered but it's how you physically feel about the event and how you now interpret what happened that will be different and better. It's like learning something new about someone you already know, something that changes the way you think and feel about them. You still remember how you felt about them before gaining this new knowledge but you just can't help feeling differently about them now.  

Some therapies will get you, quite literally, to confront your fear and do battle with it. This does not happen in Cognitive Hypnotherapy. However you should be aware that effective change is best brought about when your brain is working with the problem memory that triggers the phobic response. I’m sure you know that just thinking about certain situations can often trigger a physical and/or emotional response, you may start to feel anxious, your palms may sweat etc.

We will (probably) work at this point, when the emotion is

being triggered by a remembered or imagined event but

please be assured that although the treatment session may begin in this way I will immediately be working to reduce the intensity of that feeling to an acceptable or negligible level as quickly as possible (i.e. within minutes).

Once this change has taken place treatment would move into a second phase where the changes would be reinforced using a hypnotic suggestion pattern. This part of the session is designed to leave you feeling relaxed, calm and confident.

The suggestions used would be based around information uncovered in an earlier session where we would have explored those aspects of your phobia that are unique to you. For example, are you scared of all dogs or just black and white ones? How close does the man in the clown costume need to be before you start feeling scared? Is it just loose buttons that cause these feelings or do buttons attached to clothes cause it too?

We would also have talked a lot about how your life will be different when you no longer have this fear, about what you will be able to do that you couldn't before and how this will change the way you and others see you.

Only you know the full extent to which your life is affected by your phobia. Hopefully you can imagine just how liberating and different your life would be if your emotions were no longer automatically hijacked in this way.

If a phobia affects your life more than you care to admit then I'd like to repeat the good news, it doesn't need to be this way.