Fear of something usually occurs after a specific event; and whether you can remember the event or not, your subconscious mind then automatically links fear to the event, item or situation. Having some fear is natural! It warns us of the dangers surrounding us. It tells us for example; that fire is hot and can cause pain. Having excessive fear is often called having a phobia. This is where the fear of something becomes disproportionate to the actual danger.

Fears and phobias can negatively impact your life. You can’t go on the business trip your boss has scheduled for you, due to your fear of flying. You really don’t want to take the car out of the garage, because there might be spiders in the garage! You have an appointment on the eleventh floor of an office building, but you will have to take the stairs, because you can’t get yourself to step into the lift. Your children are begging you to take them to the circus; you find excuses not to go, because of your fear of clowns. You are afraid to do a first aid course, because you faint at the sight of blood. Or you get an excellent public speaking opportunity and you decline, since you are afraid to speak in public.

Apart from the practical issues, when fear is controlling your life, it causes a great deal of stress and anxiety. The good news is that hypnosis can help you get rid of the excessive fear almost as quickly as you have obtained it. It works because hypnosis addresses your subconscious mind, rather than your rational conscious mind. Your subconscious mind has linked an autonomic nervous system reaction to a certain image or event which causes the physical fear reaction (a flight or fight response) and no amount of rational talking can help you get rid of that feeling in your body! Hypnosis accesses your subconscious mind, where it is guided to change that neural pathway from a fear reaction to a calm and relaxed response.

Most common fears and phobias are;
• Fear of public speaking – glossophobia
• Fear of heights – acrophobia
• Fear of flying – aviophobia/aviatophobia
• Fear of spiders – arachnophobia
• Fear of snakes – ophidiophobia
• Fear of driving – amaxophobia
• Fear of water – aquaphobia – hydrophobia
• Fear of clowns – coulrophobia
• Fear of blood – hemophobia / trypanophobia
• Fear of small spaces – claustrophobia
• Fear of open spaces – agoraphobia
• Fear of socialising – generalised social phobia
• Fear of lightning & thunder storms – astraphobia