Curing The Irrational Fear Of Heights With NLP
The fear of heights, also called acrophobia, is an extremely common phobia experienced by people of all ages. In fact, researchers suggest that to a certain extent, being afraid of heights is natural for many people and animals. What transforms an instinctive fear of heights into a phobia is that the fear is so severe that it is viewed as irrational, or it gets in the way of a person’s day-to-day activities. In an effort to avoid heights, people with acrophobia often avoid balconies, tall buildings, and other frequently encountered areas and situations. In many people, the simple thought of heights can trigger a panic attack.
The fear of heights can be triggered in any elevated area that makes a person feel uneasy. This includes roller coasters, ladders, staircases, rooftops, bridges, and many other areas we visit in our day-to-day lives. Some people with a phobia of heights may feel safe in some areas, like their own two-story home, but feel frightened in other areas, such as when they are climbing up a ladder.
Acrophobia can trigger serious symptoms, including nausea, dizziness, anxiety attacks, fainting, shaking, sweating, and several others. Unlike many common phobias, numerous people with a fear of heights don’t respond in a frenzied manner but instead become “petrified” or frozen with fear. For example, a person might ascend a ladder, but suddenly become too nervous to get down and become stuck in this manner.
Acrophobia can be particularly crippling because sufferers may find themselves panicking in situations where they need to keep calm and rational in order to keep safe. People who find themselves in a high up place, such as the top of a staircase or a ladder, may suffer an anxiety attack resulting in an injury. Or, a person might start shaking so violently that they risk getting hurt. It is thus crucial for people whose fear of heights is potentially harmful to get treatment for their phobia.
In the past, treatments included exposing a patient to heights so they could try to “face their fear.” This method proves stressful and ineffective for the majority of people. Other, more effective treatments include medication and therapy. Hypnosis therapy is an ideal treatment because it’s safe, effective, and non-invasive.
Conventional hypnosis works through direct post-hypnotic suggestions. In modern times, this approach often proves ineffective. In the world today, people are very independent minded and will resist direct suggestions by unconsciously rejecting their instructions. Knowledgeable hypnotherapists now use more advanced Ericksonian hypnotherapy techniques to circumvent this obstacle.
Ericksonian hypnotherapy, as formulated by Milton Erickson, MD, is a much more effective mode of hypnotherapy than conventional methods. It utilizes indirect suggestions rooted in conversation, stories, and metaphors to channel the unconscious mind into a different, phobia-free thought process. This is effective because it’s much more difficult for the unconscious to resist suggestions placed in a dialogue, than post-hypnotic suggestions that are apparent to the conscious mind.
A good hypnotherapy program includes many techniques to ensure its effectiveness for every person. The combination of many Ericksonian hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques is perfect for virtually everybody trying to shake a phobia.
The combined program begins with relaxation hypnosis. When your mind is calm and peaceful, NLP techniques can be used to eliminate a phobia. All phobias arise from the same thought process, so all it takes is a single hypnosis phobia program with the right formulation to beat any phobia, or even multiple phobias.
Summary: Many forms of therapy rely on conscious effort to treat a phobia, but this often doesn’t work because phobias are rooted deep within the unconscious mind. The techniques of Ericksonian hypnotherapy and NLP are particularly effective at treating phobias because they work at the unconscious level of the mind. Phobias are triggered when the feeling of fear is unconsciously linked to a mental image, such as the view from a high position. By disconnecting or separating the feeling of fear from the image, certain hypnotic and NLP techniques can forever eliminate a phobia very rapidly.
Hypnosis therapy sessions can help an individual rapidly and easily defeat a fear of heights. Hypnosis is one of the safest kinds of phobia therapies available, with no negative side effects. For people trying to fight the fear of heights or any other phobia, hypnotherapy provides a well-balanced type of stress-free phobia treatment.
Alan B. Densky, CH has been eliminating irrational fears using NLP & Hypnosis since 1978. He offers how to overcome fear hypnotherapy CDs plus a broad range of NLP CDs for stress & depression related symptoms. Visit his website for free NLP MP3’s.
- Alan Densky
