A A phobia can be a fear of just about anything from buttons to even mashed potato, although some of the more well known phobias can include a fear of flying, snakes, spiders or heights for example. In its worst form, phobias can lead to social phobia or even agoraphobia whereby an individual finds it difficult to go outside their front door. One of the roles of our subconscious mind is to make sure we are always kept away from danger. This programmed response is totally automatic and has to be in order to keep us from danger fast and effectively. If we come face to face with a dangerous wild animal we may not have time to work out if it has already eaten, we automatically run to safety, freeze to the spot or get ready to fight it off. Phobias are produced when the subconscious creates this 'instinctual' response erroneously. A child, whose parents are screaming at him because he has climbed to the top of the garden wall, may get a distorted impression of the dangers of high places. Alternatively, if he fails to see why they are shouting, and he happens to be looking at a wasp at the time, a different automatic response may be formed. In later life, the response to the source of 'danger' often depends on your level of underlying anxiety. If your levels of general anxiety are high then you are more likely to suffer from a fear or phobic response. The symptoms are the same as for the fight or flight response and are designed to get you away from the source of danger or to stay and fight. They include; nausea (to release energy used in digesting food), hyperventilation and palpitations (to get more oxygen to muscles), blank mind and speech problems (brain focused on the source of fear). Often the memory of the original event is repressed by the subconscious in order to ensure the integrity of the response pattern. Hypnotherapy is able to resolve the majority of phobias in three to five sessions. First we would reduce your level of underlying anxiety and teach you how to remain calm. Then the original trauma is accessed and using specific techniques the subconscious mind is desensitised. In other words the emotional trauma associated with earlier experiences is taken away. Finally we can reprogram your subconscious to be totally unaffected by the particular object of fear so that you will be unaffected by it in the future.
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