Welcome to St Neots Hypnotherapy Clinic 

Fears and Phobias treated with Hypnotherapy

Analytical therapy uses the minds natural ability to work out emotional/psychological problems.

By using ‘free association’ while in Hypnosis your mind is encouraged to let it’s natural process of linking one thought to another ,without applying any intellectual (logical) direction to these thoughts, back to the originating cause of the problem. Once found this then allows the emotional release and intellectual understanding of the cause of the problem in turn this removes the effect of the problem (the symptoms) for good. So a problem which has caused considerable discomfort to a person for years or a lifetime can be a thing of the past within a few short weeks (one session per week for 8-10 weeks is an average length for Analytical therapy).

Fear or phobia?
The main difference is in the intensity of the emotional reaction: a strong dislike of flying is a fear, whereas a pathological fear (an intense, uncontrollable, yet intangible fear) is considered to be a phobia.

How Phobias make us feel

Nausea- A feeling of sickness often accompanies a phobic reaction

Increased heart rate - As the body starts to become anxious the heart rate increases

Tremors/shaking - Adrenalin is pumped into the body causing shaking and tremors

Increase in perspiration - The body tries to cool itself down by sweating

Numbness or tingling - As blood is pumped towards the vital organs the extremities become numb

Feelings of unreality - as the mind searches for a way out we become dissociated from what is happening around us

Feeling short of breath - in order to gain more oxygen during panic the chest begins to contract

Chest pain or discomfort - anxiety as adrenaline over works the chest and discomfort is felt

Emotional - fear, panic, wanting to cry, anger (wanting to kill or remove the object) wanting to run but often stuck not being able to move

Phobias - A symbolic representation of an internal anxiety
Although some Phobias appear  to serve an obvious purpose (fear of fire, drowning etc.) others seem  to make no sense at all but as strange as some phobias seem they are all serving a particular purpose.

The purpose of therapy is to find the originating cause (the unconscious conflict) of the Phobia and release it - and when the emotions are released, the phobia disappears.

Most Phobias are not directly related to the cause of the emotion, they are symbolic of it. The most obvious example is the fear of snakes,: how many people do you know who have been harmed by a snake? None? It is an interesting fact that per capita there are just as many snake phobics in Ireland as in any country in the world. However there are no snakes native to Ireland - so in effect apart from zoos there are no snakes in Ireland! So Question: Where did all those people go to get frightened of snakes? Answer : They didn't go anywhere! their fear doesn't have anything to do with snakes, they have a fear/strong emotional reaction to  being out of control - which their mind symbolises and then projects onto snakes and associations to snakes.

Top ten phobias and fears treated with Hypnotherapy

Arachnophobia (fear of spiders)

social phobia (people evaluate themselves in social situations)

Aerophobia (fear of flying)

Agoraphobia (fear or avoidance of any situation where escape might be difficult)

Claustrophobia (fear of being trapped in confined spaces)

Acrophobia (fear of heights)

Emetophobia ( fear of vomiting)

Carcinophobia (fear of cancer)

Brotophobia (fear of thunder and storms)

Necrophobia (fear of death)

 

The following are some of the more common Phobias that I have been consulted for:

Arachnophobia (spiders), Aviatopophobia (flying), Hydrophobia (water), Acrophobia (heights), Claustrophobia (enclosed spaces), Agorophobia (open spaces), Demophobia (crowds), Nyctophobia (darkness), Odontophobia (dentists), Glossophobia (speaking in public), Aichmophobia (needles), Thanatophobia (death or dying).

The above Phobias are almost always
indirect - this means that they are usually indirectly linked to an unresolved emotional conflict.

(All the other Phobias in this 'common phobia' section, are usually '
direct Phobias').


EMETOPHOBIA or EMETEPHOBIA - a fear of being sick , phagophobia, vomitophobia, vomit phobia, sickness phobia.

Associated fears; gagging, seeing others being sick, choking on food, pregnancy (due to possibility of morning sickness), drowning, and 'social Phobia'.

I This Phobia seems to effect more women than men, and tends to have a very disabling effect on the sufferer; quite often the person has to avoid all places where there is a possibility of themselves (or others) being sick; pubs, restaurants, clubbing, eating in front of others etc. Because of the association between eating and being sick, the sufferer often feels a little obsessive about what and where they will eat. A lot of sufferers tend to view being sick as 'horrible, dirty, etc, and so it is quite common for emetophobics to also have fears of other situations where they might feel the same way; going to the toilet , or the inability to urinate in front of others (shy bladder).

COPROPHOBIA or CORPOROPHOBIA - fear of going to the toilet (passing faeces) ,toilet phobia

A fear of anything related to passing faeces, shit/shitting, toilets, public toilets, being heard going to the toilet, feeling unclean or dirty generally. Another fairly common Phobia. Typically the sufferer would find it difficult (if not impossible) to use a public toilet. A lot of the time the fear is specifically of losing bowel control - in public. Quite often the sufferer has very precise routines they have to adhere to - in order to be able to go to the toilet.

Sometimes people with coprophobia/coporophobia use laxatives to avoid the feeling of going to the loo, and sometimes they might even 'auto-disempact'

SOCIAL PHOBIA (SCOPOPHOBIA)- a fear of embarrassing, or humiliating 'on the spot' type situations (in public) ,social anxiety, social anxiety disorder, fear of being judged

Social Phobia
is probably the most common phobia there is; a pervasive fear of any situation where the sufferer is likely to feel 'on the spot', embarrassed, humiliated or judged - for example; dinner parties, public speaking, interviews, appearing in court, singing, stuttering etc Associated symptoms: sensitivity to criticism, negative self image, fear of rejection, difficulty in being assertive and feelings of inferiority . On a more general level, the social phobic worries continuously about how others 'see' them, and what others may think about them - it is not surprising then that the sufferer usually spends a lot of time creating the image they want others to see. Usually the social phobic is quite adept at concealing their anxiety from others, although there is quite often a difficulty in maintaining eye contact.

In the D.S.M.4 (the Mental Health 'Bible') the main criteria for social phobia is listed as; A marked and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others. The individual fears that he/she will act in a way that will be humiliating or embarrassing.

Some symptoms that may appear alongside (or be caused by) social phobia or social anxiety are.....
A fear of public speaking
A fear of talking on the telephone
A fear of writing in front of someone (even signing a cheque!)
Blushing, or a fear of blushing
Stuttering or stammering
A lack of confidence
Working too hard (to please others)
Setting unachievable high standards (and feeling bad when they are not met)
A preoccupation with how you look: perfecting an image you want others to see (NOT vanity - this is about trying to 'blend in')
Certain twitches or 'tics'
Shy bladder (men) not being able to pee, when on the spot
Certain sexual inhibitions - due to 'performance anxiety'
Repeated failure of driving test - due to 'performance anxiety'
A persistent fear of failure, or 'not making the grade'

Basically any situation in life where you might feel embarrassed, on the spot, judged, silly or out of control etc.

SHY BLADDER - the inability to urinate in front of others ; paruresis, stage fright, toilet anxiety, toilet phobia 

 Men with shy bladder (and it is usually only men who get shy bladder - for obvious reasons) have a great difficulty peeing in front of other people, or in a place that they are unfamiliar with. As with all phobias, the severity of the symptoms can change from person to person, and also fluctuate depending on the persons stress level. i.e. some men find it a little difficult to pee in a crowded toilet, some can only pee in their own toilet (causing great difficulties - because the person has to come home from work, just to have a pee). Due to the embarrassing nature of the symptom, it is rare that a man would consult his G.P. with the problem - and because of this, there is very little written on the subject.

 

What makes St Neots Hypnotherapy Different ?

 

St.Neots Clinic offers two of the most highly trained and experienced  Analytical Hypnotherapists in the country. Whatever your problem contact Matthew or Heather and arrange a free initial consultation

We cover St Neots, Huntingdon ,Bedford ,St Ives, Cambridge areas treating smokers  with our Stop smoking programmes and treat all sorts of other problems so if you suffer with your weight our  weight loss programme could be the answer, if you suffer from a lack of  confidence or self esteem we can help. Emotional problems, psychological problems and habitual problems are all treated with the up most respect and confidentiality here at the St.Neots Hypnotherapy Clinic.