The NLP Fast Phobia Cure
Yesterday I worked with a client who had a phobia of spiders and cockroaches. In answer to my question “How long have you had this phobia?” she said, “For as long as I can remember, probably all my life”.
We are born with two fears, fear of loud noises and fear of falling. Any other fears we might have, we have learned quickly, in seconds. The good news is that we can also unlearn these fears in seconds.
The fast phobia cure is an NLP technique that is quick and effective for overcoming phobias and unpleasant feelings associated with trauma. Richard Bandler and John Grinder, the founders of NLP, developed it in 1976. At that time the fast phobia cure was called V-K Dissociation process, as the process removes the feeling (K) from the visual (V) stimulus that triggers the unconscious phobic response.
The first thing to establish is whether or not the client really has a phobia by asking them to rate their fear on a scale of one to ten, with one being “not bothered” and ten being “passing out scared”. A phobia is usually seven or higher. What’s the difference? A fear is a normal emotion that everyone experiences and can reason with. A phobia is a fear of certain objects or situations that is irrational and uncontrollable. It is normal to be cautious around spiders as some spiders can be dangerous but screaming the house down because you saw an itsy bitsy spider on the floor is irrational.
My client had a very important ingredient that added to the success of our work. She was motivated to get rid of this problem. She was about to go on a trip of a lifetime to South Africa and didn’t want this phobia to spoil her chances of a dream holiday. She was more than ready to let it go.
When she arrived and told me about her fears she was visibly anxious and agitated. She rated her fear at number nine. At the end of our session, which lasted forty minutes, she felt calm talking about the very subject that made her anxious less than an hour ago. Her calibration came down to three.
As she walked out the door, she looked back and said to me with a smile, “Now I am going to look for some spiders in my garden.”
Here is a video demonstration of the technique performed by David Key, Managing Director of Auspicium Limited www.auspicium.co.uk
Please click on the link to view the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syIXq7e41sY
Photo credit: Wayne Lee-Sing @jammette (Unsplash.com)
