Fears and Phobias | Mind Matters
You won't have seen my phobia before
Phobias come in all shapes and sizes. At Mind Matters Hypnotherapy, we have seen them all and you are most definately not the only one with your phobia.
We have helped many people with fears of buttons (perhaps just buttons that have come loose, or just clear buttons or all buttons except those on jeans, or writing the word), fear of needles, fear of vomiting or seeing someone vomit, fear of pigeons, buses, trains, motorways, traffic jams, spiders, water, baths, flying of course and many many more.
Different people can aquire different phobias from the same situation and the good news is, it doesn't matter why you suffer, with MMH, you will soon be rid of your phobia for good.
Fast and permanent is the name of the game.
Find out more information about phobias here.
Why do I suffer from this phobia
Phobias begin usually in early life (but not necessarily) when we are in a heightened state of anxiety (for either a real or imagined reason), and our subconscious makes a link with a. the anxiety and b. probably something around us at the time (e.g. if we have just been severley reprimanded by an adult and we have been feeding pigeons at the time, we may develop a fear of pigeons.
In the same situation, if we were fixated by the adults jacket which had large buttons, we may develop a fear of buttons).
We may not develop the fear at the time. It may develop in later in life - usually when we begin to become more anxious or stressed with our life situation.
Remember the reason you suffer doesn't alter the efficacy of hypnotherapy to release you.
Find out more information about phobias here.
Can hypnotherapy help if I can't remember the root cause of the phobia?
Absolutely yes. The mind will find reasons to explain why we suffer a phobic response, but in fact, the reason (or lack of one) for your phobia is irrelevant to you successfully overcoming that fear.
Find out more information about phobias here.
How does it work?
That is a big question, but let's try to answer it briefly. We store our memories in two places in the brain. One place is for everyday memories (like going to the pictures last week, or a nice dinner last month or a holiday two years ago).
The other place we store memories is in the amygdala. Memories stored here are for our safety and when we find ourselves in a position similar to a memory stored here, we will become anxious (the phobic response).
An example of a memory stored in the Amygdala would be walking alone down a deserted dimly lit street with rustling noises suddenly heard nearby. Adrenaline would pump, our stomachs would churn, we would spin round to see what was there and probably run the rest of the way home.
If we have a fear of spiders, then the 'spider memory' is in the Amygdala and when we see one, the stomach churns etc. The skill then, is to move the memory out of the amygdala, and the competent hypnotherapist has a great technical exercise that can be used to do just that.
The amazing thing is, that it works, every time.
Find out more information about phobias here
Will I have to uncover childhood secrets?
No, at MMH we find solution based therapy far more effective and this has the additional benefit of not taking you back to your childhood and digging up old memories, since solution based therapy focusses on the future, not the past.
Find out more information about phobias here.