NLP can help cure Phobias

Overcoming phobias through NLP?

"Stepping out of the house makes my stomach churn"

"Looking at needles makes me nauseous"

"I get shivers when I am about to meet people"

"Closed spaces make me feel like fainting"

Many of us have resonated with these statements at different points in our lives. But for some, such fears are so debilitating that they completely incapacitate them. Such persistent, irrational fears of a specific situation, object, or activity are called ‘#phobias’ (American Psychological Association, 2007).

What is a phobia?

A phobia is a sudden reaction to a trigger. It is an overwhelming fear of a person, a situation, a thing, an animal, a place.? As soon as the trigger appears in their environment, it can trigger an almost irrational, extremely fearful response in the person. Someone may start trembling, shrieking, panicking or go numb.?

Why do phobias occur?

Phobias generally occur due to one of two reasons. We may have had a negative experience involving the triggering stimulus ourselves or seen someone else have one. For example, someone with an extreme fear of dogs may have been bitten by one in the past. Alternatively, they could have witnessed another person being bitten and developed this fear.

As #RichardBandler puts its it

“You are born with only two fears: fear of falling and fear of loud noise. All the rest is learned. And it's a lot of work!”

The interesting thing is, the trigger outside is just that. A trigger. It does not cause the phobia. What causes the phobia is the #InternalRepresentation (in their mind) the person makes of the trigger.? Usually the image might be big, bright, clear, colorful, showing more details.? It is this image within, that causes the phobic response.

It is important to remember that fear itself isn’t bad; it has the evolutionary purpose of protecting us from harm. But when it becomes persistent, we may begin to live a life of avoidance rather than exploration.

Can phobias be fixed?

Yes, they can! Those who suffer from phobias may find themselves constantly haunted by the prospect of confronting their triggers. This predicament may feel inescapable.? When a person is suffering from a phobia,? they tend to be acutely aware of their triggers.? Their eyes are great at scanning a room for cockroaches, and if there is even one in the room,? most of their attention is focused on that cockroach. And they would try to avoid it.? There may be an extreme panic response to their trigger as well.?

However, if someone is not phobic, chances are,? they may not notice the presence of the cockroach in the room. Through #NLP (or #NeuroLinguisticProgramming), the mind can be reprogrammed in such a way that these situations become easier.

The Fast Phobia Cure

One of the co-founders of the NLP technique, Richard Bandler, created a highly effective technique for curing phobias, the "#FastPhobiaCure." In simple terms, this technique involves allowing the person afflicted by a certain phobia to replay the events that caused the phobia as a ‘movie’ using their imagination in a safe and comfortable environment. They have full control over starting, pausing, forwarding and rewinding it. The film is played from the beginning to the end and in reverse multiple times until the fear is almost gone.

This technique is an amalgamation of various other NLP strategies such as #Visualization, #Anchoring, and #Scrambling. It helps the client reframe the causal events surrounding the phobia as less serious, shifting their perspective on the phobia itself. It is crucial that this is performed by a well-trained NLP practitioner!

Curing phobias - in action

In this video, you can watch how Richard Bandler helps American television personality, and former professional football player Michael Strahan, get over his phobia of snakes using a similar technique!

In my own practice, I have come across several insightful cases of clients struggling with phobias, I’ll share two of them here.

One of my clients had such an immense fear of heights that, though he lived in a high-rise building, he would never go near the balcony or the window. He was forced to drive over a flyover on his way to work, but it was terrifying for him—his breathing would become labored, and his heartbeat would quicken. Throughout the journey, he would fixate on the flyover, unable to shut off his brain even for moments.

A few weeks after we had worked through this fear, I asked him if driving had become any easier. "Oh, I don’t really know; I haven’t paid any attention to it recently"—even though he was still driving over the flyover every day.

Another client of mine was a lady who was unable to do anything if there was a lizard in the room. To her, their presence seemed ubiquitous — she even thought she could hear them crawl! A few months after the session, I asked her if this fear had subsided. She responded quite nonchalantly, saying that she hadn’t seen any around lately, so they must have decreased in number. I was incredulous since this was a season where lizards were most prevalent. Soon, I happened to bump into her husband and asked him if there were lizards in their house —he responded with "Yes, lots!"

In both cases, the phobia interfered with their day-to-day lives, and yet after our sessions, it was almost as though they forgot how central those fears were to them before. Earlier, their triggers were so exaggerated for them that they were unable to focus on anything else. During the NLP sessions, their brains were rewired in such a way that the triggers were no longer magnified.

Reprogramming ourselves is a choice we make

When we understand that our brains did something to wire the fears within us, it becomes easier to understand how we can re-wire our brains, reprogram our neurology to undo the fears.?

If you, or anyone you know are suffering from a phobia, and would like to know more, do dm here on LinkedIn and I would be happy to help.?

https://linktr.ee/priyankarenjenkumar

WINGS Team