Fears and Phobias
Webster's New World Dictionary defines a phobia as an irrational, excessive and persistent fear of some thing or situation. Regardless of what the logical or conscious mind knows and says, these fears persist in the subconscious mind where they are lodged. Since hypnosis is the most direct way into the subconscious, it stands to reason that it can become the instrument of disarming the irrational fear.
Most phobias can be traced to an initial sensitizing event (define or give examples) and an activating event (define or give examples). These can be separate events or parts of the same event. The objective of therapy is to discover the cause(s) and desensitize the client from the fear.
I recently worked with a woman who hadn't flown in 10 years because flying made her physically ill. After one session she flew to the Bahamas and actually enjoyed the trip! She subsequently flies everywhere.
Simple phobias are those isolated single fears such as a fear of cats but not rabbits, a fear of flying, a fear of being in an enclosed space, etc. These simple phobias can usually be effectively treated in very few sessions.
Complex phobias are multi-faceted. While there may have been one single activating event, the phobia may not be the real problem at all but rather a symptom of some deeper unresolved issues. Often there is a strong emotional component related to the phobia such as low self-esteem attached to a fear of urinating in a public restroom (Bashful Bladder Syndrome) coupled with an abusive parent, etc.
Usually the emotional issues must be resolved in order to completely clear the phobia. While hypnotherapy may prove helpful, it must be done through psychological counseling, psychotherapy, pastoral counseling, or marriage counseling.
What is Hypnosis?
The brain operates in four general states determined by the frequency of the electricity generated by the exchange of chemicals in the neural pathways. The four states include Full Conscious Awareness, the Hypnotic State, the Dream State, and the Sleep State.
These four states correspond to electrical activity in the brain and are defined by frequency ranges on an EEG. Full Conscious Awareness occurs when the majority of the electrical activity in the brain is in the beta range (14-35 Hz). The Hypnotic State occurs when brain activity is in the alpha range (8-13 Hz). The Dream State occurs when brain activity is in the theta range (4-7 Hz), and the Sleep State occurs when brain activity is in the delta range (.5-3 Hz).
Full Conscious Awareness is where which we spend most of our waking hours. In this state, our mind is attentive and uses logic to reason, evaluate, assess, judge, and make decisions. Unfortunately, when making life changes, the conscious mind often gets in the way.
In the Hypnotic State, the doorway between the conscious and the subconscious is opened, memories become easily accessible, and new information is stored. In the Hypnotic State, you are not really "thinking" in the traditional sense. You are "experiencing" without questioning, without critical judgment or analysis, like when you watch a movie, and the hypnotherapist can make suggestions that are very likely to "stick" - precisely because your conscious mind is not getting in the way. You are not "judging" or being "critical" of the suggestions.
We pass through all four bands sequentially as the electrical activity decreases on our way to sleep and as it increases up on our way to total wakefulness. Regardless of whether we are on our way to sleep or to wakefulness, when we pass through the upper theta/lower alpha range we go into hypnosis automatically. There is no power on earth that can stop it from happening but likewise, there is no person or power on earth that can force you into it; you must want to go into hypnosis and follow the hypnotist's direction to the letter.
The will located in the conscious way of functioning is always present, always working. If for some reason you will yourself not to allow the suggestions to be accepted, they won't be. The smoker who comes in to quit smoking but is not really committed to that goal, cannot be forced to do so.
As to the issue of the subconscious' chief concern for the clients' health and welfare, the subconscious function of the mind begins to operate long before the conscious mind, in early childhood. On the level of instinct, the strategies for self-preservation and survival are irrevocably etched in the subconscious.
The conscious along with its critical faculty develops later in early childhood. By this time, the subsconscious had firmly embedded in it the instinct to survive---to keep the organism well and healthy.
A less technical definition of hypnosis is: A naturally occurring altered state of consciousness in which the critical faculty is bypassed (mind in the conscious mode) and acceptable selective thinking established.
This simply means that the reasoning, evaluating, judging part of your mind (conscious) is bypassed. While we wonder how this could possibly happen, we are subject to it all the time. The advertising industry is dedicated to bypassing our critical judgment all the time in order to influence our buying behavior.
We suspend our critical judgment other times when an authority figure makes some sort of comment; doctors, clergy, professors, and many more fall into this category.
Children suspend their critical judgment frequently in games of "let's pretend". Actors do it in playing a part; they have to suspend their critical faculty, and they ask the audience to suspend theirs to accept them as being someone else.
With the critical faculty bypassed, specific thoughts/suggestions can be lodged in the subconscious where they can propel the client toward a desired goal or change behavior in a positive, permanent way. Any such suggestions must be acceptable to the client, of course. They would have no effect otherwise.
This focus on a specific goal or behavior is done with laser-like precision and intensity in hypnosis. It's a little like looking through a telescope from the wrong end. You see just one tiny spec of the environment in focus though you may be aware of everything around it.
For further information please contact Peter below where he will be pleased to discuss matters with you further.