"Leaving Fear and Phobias Behind"

with Ernest VanDenBossche BCH,CI

What do bridges, snakes and needles have in common? What control do they have in your life? It may not be one of these objects listed but so many of us have something that we fear to the extent that it has become a phobia. We have no real reason to allow them, but often phobias control our lives.

Yes experiences with bridges, snakes or needles can bring a person to their knees mentally, emotionally and/or physically. People allow phobias to control their lives by allowing “a memory of a feeling” to guide their free will, to control how we approach a situation in our daily lives. Sometimes even hearing the name of the dreaded object or situation is enough to set off a nightmarish reaction.

Our hands get tied to a feeling from the past and we allow the knot to bind tighter and tighter each time we reinforce its control by avoiding it or by allowing it to influence our actions.

Whenever someone has a phobia, they often want to know where phobias come from, how they differ from a fear, and what they can do to change it.

A fear is what we feel when we are in the presence of a real danger… it is the feeling associated with our body preparing itself to either fight the source of the danger, or escape from it.

A phobia is a similar, often extremely intense feeling of fear, which is caused this time, by a situation or object with doesn't actually pose any real threat to our safety.

Common with many phobias, is the feeling of loss of control in the given situation, this brings stress and anxiety, and often full scale panic.

Often, the person will avoid the situation or object which brings these feelings, and when they avoid it, (and subsequently don't get these feelings of anxiety), this only serves to re-enforce the link between the object or situation, and the fear.

Phobias are often caused by an intense feeling of terror being experienced by a child, becoming detached from the stimulus of that terror, and becoming free to attach itself to another object or situation.

Once the fear becomes attached to this secondary object, a link is established which will subsequently causes the fear to be felt when the new stimulus is present.

Hypnosis is the best fix for phobias. While in hypnosis, the subconscious mind understands the futile nature of the phobias’ existence and changes its habits.  By creating new habits and understanding relating to the object or situation, one can walk away from intense stress and anxiety as well as from life long self-restrictions.

Hypnosis is a modality which allows the conscious mind to step aside and let the subconscious mind, which is where all memories and feelings are stored, to be influenced by new desires and understanding. The hypnotherapist feeds the subconscious mind ideas and suggestions designed to influence the situation, and the subconscious mind makes choices that fit the individual’s desires and moral beliefs. The individual is always in control and will only make change that is truly desirous. The hypnotist does not create the change. The individual is coached into making the change that they seek.

Hypnotism in some form has been used since the beginning of recorded history to help people bring change to the human condition. Hypnosis is safe and has only positive side effects such as reduced pain and stress, better sleep, better quality of life, increased self esteem and self confidence.

If you seek to change some aspect of your life why not try hypnosis. Hypnosis can help you be the healthy, happy person you desire to be. If you think it, you become it. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis and only you can allow it. Your hypnotist will teach you the art of self-hypnosis during your sessions so that you can continue to program you’re subconscious to be all that you wish to be.

Ernest VanDenBossche is a board certified hypnotherapist and a certified instructor with the National Guild of Hypnotists (www.ngh.net).

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