EEK, A SPIDER!
A phobia is an irrational fear of something that’s unlikely to cause harm. The important words here are “IRRATIONAL” AND “UNLIKELY TO CAUSE HARM”.
Although that is the case, people who suffer from phobias have a very real fear of the thing they have a phobia about. And, as I say, where the mind goes, the body follows. If you think something is true, it becomes true to you.
Phobias are basically your subconscious mind’s way of protecting you. The thing is, the subconscious mind doesn’t know that the thing you are afraid of is unlikely to hurt you. The example I like to use is The Spider. And a fear of spiders is something that you may relate to.
Let’s imagine that you’re back as a 4- or 5-year-old. You’re in the kitchen and a spider runs out. Mum screams and jumps on a chair, and your learning mind says, “that’s the right response to those things because mum just did it and that’s who we’re learning from”.
That goes into your subconscious mind and on to your map of reality. Then every spider you see for the rest of your life, your subconscious mind produces a fear response. You tense up, your heart beats faster and you start to sweat, even though your logical mind is now saying “that’s tiny, it can’t possibly harm me”. However, all of that logical stuff is being rejected by your subconscious mind because it doesn’t match up with what you already know: “Spiders are scary!”
Hypnosis is able to remove phobias by speaking directly to the subconscious mind and letting it know what your conscious mind already logically knows – “this thing cannot harm me”. Once that change is made, the phobia is gone!
Next week, I’ll talk about hypnotherapy for trauma. Until then, remember: You CAN change!
David Lornie is owner and principal hypnotherapist at Frontier Hypnotherapy in Mackay. He can be contacted on 0401 223 780 or help@frontierhypnotheray.com.au. W: www.frontierhypnotherapy.com.au
