Hypnotherapy for Phobias and Fears

Phobias are far more common than many people realise. It is estimated that more than 11% of the population have some kind of irrational fear. The good news is that you can be helped to overcome phobias with hypnotherapy.

What is a phobia?

A phobia is an irrational fear – a fear without good reason. People with phobias experience unwanted responses to animals, insects, objects, actions or places.

The physical response is known as a stress response.

People often describe their reaction to something as being ‘paralysed with fear’, ‘having butterflies in my stomach’ or ‘just wanting to run away’ from whatever is triggering the response.

Those with phobias often know their response is irrational, making it harder to understand or accept.

How do people get phobias?

An irrational fear of something is a learned behaviour, either from a parent or a carer or through a traumatic experience such as a turbulent flight or a dog attack.

As a young child, we learn about fears from parents (consciously and unconsciously) so we know how to live and relate to the world around us. If a parent is frightened of spiders the child’s instinctive response and the message hardwired in the brain may be that spiders are a threat.

Over time, the message can become reinforced. Repeated exposure is likely to compound the fear and make it worse.

How to treat phobias

People often manage their phobia on a day-to-day basis by avoiding the trigger and they only contact a hypnotherapist when it becomes a serious problem or significantly impacts on their life.

Sometimes people are prompted to take action because they don’t want to pass on their phobia to their children.

This is often when people investigate hypnotherapy for phobias and fears.

The most common phobias seen by hypnotherapists are:

• Fear of confined spaces
• Fear of dentists
• Fear of dogs
• Fear of flying
• Fear of heights
• Fear of needles
• Fear of pregnancy
• Fear of sickness
• Fear of spiders and other insects
• Fear of water
• Fear of public speaking

How does hypnotherapy for phobias work?

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy uses an adaptation of a Neurolinguistic Programming Technique to deal with specific phobias in just 3 sessions.

Non-specific phobias like claustrophobia, emetophobia and agoraphobia can also be treated but this may take longer to deal with.

If you would like to try hypnotherapy for phobias and fears, simply get in touch to book your Initial Consultation. Or if you have more questions and would like to book a 15-minute call, simply use the form provided.

Please note: Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is very effective, however, results may vary and success is not guaranteed. The treatment requires your willingness and commitment to bring about the changes.