Many people have suffered from some type of fear or phobia at some point in their lives. For some, it might be a common fear, like a fear of heights or a fear of spiders. For others, the fear might be more unusual or even bordering on strange.
Some people put up with these fears for their entire lives, thinking that it's just the way it has to be, not realizing that help is available. Hypnosis has long been regarded as an effective way to discharge these fear responses so that people can get back to feeling safe and calm. The ability for hypnotherapy to be so successful is because it actually works with the deeper part of the mind where fears are stored.
Control Fears and Phobias with Hypnosis
The part of the brain responsible for our fear responses is known as "the limbic system". We can imagine that this part of the brain reacts to situations much like a health and safety officer or fire warden might. Its sole purpose is to be on the lookout for things that might be dangerous or a threat. The funny thing is, when we were born we didn't know what was dangerous or safe. We only learned this through years of listening to other people or by our own experiences in the world.
If our parents were anxious people and showed fear then the likelihood is that we would be conditioned to react in similar ways. It's extremely easy for the neural pathways in the brain to create wrong connections between fear and something quite normal. Human beings learn by watching and being influenced by other people, particularly when we are young and absorbing a lot of information about the world around us.
So, you can see how easy it is to be fearful about the wrong things — it really doesn't take much for our brain to get wired in this unhelpful way.
When we are exposed to a frightening situation the strong emotional response becomes fused with the experience, creating an acute negative memory in the hippocampus part of the brain. It would then be highly likely that in the future if there was a similar situation, this memory would activate the internal alarm system.
When we think about all the things we can be afraid of, it would seem that we can be scared of just about anything, even things that aren't necessarily dangerous or threatening.
Treating the Root Cause
Sometimes fears and phobias stem from a close encounter. For example, if we develop a fear of water because at some stage we nearly drowned, then our hypnotherapist can use a very effective technique called Rewind and Reframe. This type of work can change our fear responses so that, although we remember the incident, it doesn't cause the same level of alarm. More often than not, the hypnotherapist will be able to deactivate the negative responses entirely.
Other types of fear may seem to have no apparent cause. We can't remember not having the problem or how it started. Hypnosis can helpfully assist, sometimes by using regression, which can uncover experiences that have been forgotten by the conscious mind but which still activate unconsciously and therefore affect our responses.
Understanding the Fear Response
So, what is useful about fear? Well, to start with, it can keep us safe. When we start to feel symptoms of fear we know that our bodies are reacting extremely quickly to the perceived threat. We may become aware that our heart rate is increasing as the blood rushes through our bodies at a super-fast pace, ensuring there is enough oxygen for our muscles to be able to respond to a dangerous situation. Other symptoms of fear may include trembling or sweating, perhaps a shortness of breath or dry mouth and sensations in the stomach like butterflies or churning.
The reason for these physical symptoms is due to stress hormones flooding the body. In particular, a hormone called Cortisol is released which stimulates a wide range of bodily processes. Cortisol is also responsible for diverting resources from physical functions that aren't considered necessary at the time of the crisis. People who live with a constant sense of fear often have low immunity and may also suffer from stomach and digestive problems, like IBS, or even infertility.
We wouldn't want to walk very close to a crumbling cliff edge without experiencing this sense of fear because that would obviously be dangerous and potentially reckless. A fearful response during such an escapade would show a healthy appreciation of heights in certain situations and definitely help us to stay a safe distance from the edge.
If that fear escalated so that we couldn't travel by plane, drive over a bridge, or stand on a stool to reach something from the top of a cupboard, then that fear is becoming unreasonable and preventing us from doing the things that we need or want to do.
Reclaiming Your Life
Hypnotherapy can help by calming people down in a very gentle way, deactivating those fear responses so that we can focus on our day-to-day functions once again. By using hypnosis, we can also aim to achieve improvements in other, less tangible, types of fear.
Some people, for example, may be limited by a fear of success, or a fear of failure. Such limiting beliefs can really hold a person back from being successful in life. When this is the case the hypnotherapist can work to improve a person's self-esteem and confidence and remove the blocks that have been created.
When we turn and face down our fears, we can start to get a sense of control back into our lives. Hypnotherapy can help us to remove those old, outdated templates in the mind so that we can reinforce our strengths and get rid of the distortions that fear creates about the environment we live in, including modern-day fears such as the fear of terrorism.
Feeling safe is one of the most important gifts we can give ourselves, and when we feel safe and calm those feelings are also transmitted to those around us, which ensures we are not perpetuating false fears within our families or circle of friends.