What is a Phobia?
A phobia is an intense irrational fear of an object, creature, or situation. The phobia will usually have originated through exposure to a traumatic experience, and usually in childhood (although not in all cases) which is typically repressed. When the fear is at its height, at its maximum intensity, ‘imprinting’ can take place, which is a very strong and negative internal representation of the experience. Subsequently, the person experiencing the intense fear learns very quickly to be afraid when exposed to that particular stimulus (a conditioned response), even leading to the individual developing anticipatory anxiety when even thinking about the phobic stimulus. Continued avoidance of the stimulus reinforces the fear even further.
All phobias and irrational fears have one thing in common, which is that they trigger a mechanism known as the fight or flight response in the body. This response is an inbuilt survival response that enables you to defend yourself or to escape from a threat or danger.
There are 2 main types of phobias:
• Social phobias – fear of social situations
• Specific phobias – fear of a specific stimulus as the trigger, such as birds, feathers, spiders and bugs, lifts, enclosed spaces (agoraphobia).
There are many ways to treat a phobia depending on circumstances, but effective methods include collapsing the conditioned response by, for example, anchoring positive resourceful feelings, or by dissociation techniques and gradual desensitisation. Whatever the phobia is, there will be a mode of treatment available.
Smoking Cessation & Weight Control
Everyone knows that smoking and excess weight and obesity can kill. It is completely irrational for an otherwise perfectly sane person to risk their life by smoking, which is of course a chosen deliberate act, not something that they are forced to do. Similarly, it is widely documented that obesity is one of the one most serious concerns affecting the nation’s health.
And yet people struggle to break the habits and behaviours that drive them to continue to smoke and not look after their bodies. However, it is possible to re-programme these behaviours to a much more positive outlook, and provide the same people with the support needed to change those habits.
Smoking
Every time you inhale cigarette smoke, 8000 different chemical compounds are breathed in, most of which are toxic, many of which are cacogenic. Risk of diseases to the lung, throat, tongue and mouth, along with emphysema, heart and circulatory disease are all much higher for smokers than non smokers. Then there is the financial aspect; smoking a pack a day will cost just under £11,000 (at today’s prices) in just 5 years. Just think what could be bought for that!
Treatment
Individual clients respond to different treatment approaches, but typically a maximum of three sessions should be enough the lay the foundations of new behaviours which do not include the habit of smoking. One point of note here: hypnotherapy is not a silver bullet cure – no cessation technique is – and the client must have the commitment and desire to quit. However, armed with these attributes, the power of change brought about by hypnotherapy will provide an excellent chance of success.
Weight Control
Overeating is usually a symptom of an underlying emotional problem, and to that extent differs a little from smoking. Treating the symptom alone will not work, which is one of the reasons that many diets fail when used in isolation; not addressing an underlying compulsion driving the behaviour of overeating simply won’t work. This compulsion is likely to be embedded in the subconscious mind, and can be linked to self confidence and self esteem issues, each of which could benefit from hypnotherapy.
Treatment
People who overeat generally fall into one of three very categories; Comfort, Protection or Punishment, within which are several sub-categories. By focusing on the underlying root cause for the overeating, not only can it be stopped, it can be reversed, and the weight kept off.