An NLP technique to be rid of phobias

Phobias are usually rooted deeply in our past. These unusual fears bother us throughout our lives, making it impossible to deal with certain situations, let alone stand up to our fears without adequate assistance. People with phobias usually avoid any exposure to the subject of their fear in order not to trigger panic attacks or any other symptoms of their condition.

Luckily, since most of our fears are rooted into our subconsciousness, we can manage to surpass them through neuro-linguistic programming and hypnotherapy.

Fears, Phobias and Treatments with NLP

Some people may fear things which others do not. Therefore, phobias are commonly known as unusual fears. For example, some of us may be terrified of public speaking, avoiding this no matter what. However, sooner or later, we might need to expose ourselves to our phobias. Thus, we need help.

Once you undergo neuro-linguistic programming procedure, you will initially have to talk about some potentially traumatic events from your past. Some of the bad things which happened to you may have triggered the birth of your current phobia.

Thus, neuro-linguistic programming accesses the cause of the phobia, and replaces the negative connections we have made to some ordinary things with more positive ones. Basically, through conversation, sharing and mutual trust, your therapist may help you detach fear from the subject of your phobia. Then, he/she will help you attach some positive emotions to the fear, making it go away.

The Treatment

Before any real progress can be made, the patient needs to be exposed to the subject of the phobia, and comment on his/her feelings and emotions. For example, people may need to watch movies which present their phobias and imagine themselves exiting their bodies and observing themselves during the process. This helps people detach from their fears and have a look at the whole phobia situation from a different, 3rd person perspective. Later, the color of the movie may change to black and white, signifying that the phobia is the thing of the past, gradually being considered less threatening for the patient.

The second part of the treatment involves the patient imagining that he/she leaves the comfort of his/her seat during the movie projection and enters the movie screen, taking part in the action, watching the movie backwards, as if it is being rewind quickly. During this process, the therapist is to play comic music in the background, noting that the whole phobic situation is actually benign. This removes anxiety and fear.

During their actual phobia exposure, patients can use visualizations of this type to decrease their anxiety and overcome their fears.

All in all, neuro-linguistic programming and hypnotherapy are both very useful methods for treating phobias, allowing people to enjoy life once again.