Fear not - NLP is the key

It's not uncommon to be a little scared of the odd thing. Ideally life would be better without any fears at all, but when fears become severe enough to cause significant anxiety and interfere with normal life, they're called phobias. Phobia (from the Greek Phobos, meaning fear) is an intense fear of something, which in reality, poses little or no real danger. 

If you have a phobia, you may realise that it's unreasonable, but you still can't control the effect it has on you. Simply thinking about it, can send you into a spin of anxiety, while being exposed to the object of your fear can be terrifying and overwhelming. Phobics will often go to any lengths to avoid the source of their fear. For example, a claustrophobic might turn down the job of their dreams if it means getting into a lift every day! In this way, fears and phobias can really stop you doing the things you want to or need to - even the simplest tasks may seem impossible. By restricting your choices, affecting your confidence and holding you back, fears and phobias can significantly reduce your ability to enjoy life. And, as it becomes increasingly difficult to experience a normal life, friends and family can be affected too. Often, fears and phobias can seem irrational to others and difficult to understand - this can create feelings of isolation and add further strain to relationships. 

So if the fear is irrational, why does this happen? Fears and phobias are a reaction to an emotional or physical trauma or threat that occurred at some point, often way back in our past. The response was learned immediately, at once, rather than over time - this is known as ‘one step learning’ in NLP. Usually, this is self-preservation (the body’s way of keeping us safe). Even so, the unconscious mind can retain this response when we no longer need it. Sometimes, we don't even need to experience the source of the fear, just the mention of it or smells, sounds and pictures that remind us of it, are enough to set it in motion. Most of us are familiar with well-known phobias like fear of flying, spiders, open spaces, closed spaces, dentists, doctors, hospitals and needles. But there are literally thousands of fears and phobias including lots of seemingly irrational ones like velvet, yellow, rain, holes, trees and even sleeping. You can develop a phobia to virtually anything that exists! 

Understanding your phobia is the first step to overcoming it and knowing that you are not alone can also be comforting - phobias are not uncommon. Another thing to realise is that fears and phobias are very treatable. They all follow the same pattern, regardless of whether the phobia has been experienced for a short or long time. This is beneficial when it comes to a successful outcome and makes it easier to remove than you might think. 

With the help of a NLP practitioner, fears and phobias can be overcome quickly and easily, using proven NLP techniques. In essence, the unconscious mind of the phobic, creates a picture of the 'perceived threat' whenever they come into contact with the source of their fear (or sometimes just the idea of it). This triggers an immediate physical response. A NLP practitioner can help a phobic to change the mental picture and consequently change and remove the feeling (fear). This is done by working with a client in a highly-relaxed or altered state. The process involves identifying triggers, recoding the negative experience and extracting any significant factors that might be helpful. Following that, it is possible to put it behind you and move forward. 

This process can be used to successfully deal with:

• Phobias and fears.
• Post-traumatic stress syndrome.
• Any kind of traumatised scenarios e.g. Victims from war scenarios.
• Emotional and sexual abuse.
• Physical traumas in the body e.g. before or after surgery.
• And more.