Friday 4 November 2011

Fear of flying

As someone that studies human behavior I find that airports are amazing places to watch people's reactions. On a recent flight last week I had time to sit in the airport lounge and observe how different people behave. Some people were obviously excited or happy about being at the airport, the vast majority of people looked calm & relaxed which was possibly also enhanced by the fact that it was 5am. And then there were the people that looked anxious or scared. On most fights you'll find some people that feel nervous or scared, however generally the majority of people are in the category of feeling relaxed, happy or neutral about flying.


The interesting thing for me is that many people with a fear of flying describe their fear of flying as something that is happening to them and because of that it feels outside of their control. If it's the flying that's actually scaring them how come so many people with a fear of flying feel afraid before they're actually in the air flying? Think about it, if it was flying that actually caused the fear they would only be afraid when they were in the air flying! And yet so many people with fear of flying feel afraid before they get to the airplane, some before they get to the airport and some before they have even booked the fight! Now if this applies to your experience this is actually a good thing because it means that it's the thought of flying that scares you. You may have even heard other people say "The thought of flying scares me". And because its the thought of flying that scares you it means that you can overcome the fear. So really the question is whats the difference between people that are scared of flying and people who feel relaxed calm or happy to fly. Once you know what you are looking for for the answer is obvious and straight forward. This is why we are able to help more people over come the fear of flying quickly. Many of the people that come to me to stop the fear of flying have not only be relieved to find this out, they have also been able to overcome fear of flying with ease.

Friday 14 October 2011

Clown Phobias - Coulrophobia and Exposure Therapy at Alton Towers

I have just been interviewed on the Vanessa Feltz show on BBC Radio London about Clown Phobias - Coulrophobia and what they have been doing at Alton Towers using Exposure Therapy. Phobias are a learnt behavior and humans are only born with 2 built in fears, that is the fear of falling and the fear of sudden loud noises. There are a number of ways of overcoming phobias and although exposure therapy can work for some people its not a method we use as it can take a long time. Our preferred methods are a lot quicker and more effective. We use a combination of NLP and Hypnotherapy to help our clients to feel calmer and more relaxed while at the same time changing the learnt associations so feeling calm becomes more and more the normal response. Many people can overcome fears and phobias in just a few sessions. It's incredible how fears and phobias can affect your quality of life, with many people living a life that’s a controlled by fear. The sad thing is that in many cases the fear can be stopped giving you back your freedom and quality of life.

Some people mistakenly think that in order to overcome that fear you have to know what caused it or where it came from. While it’s true that some people may know how the fear started it’s really not necessary. What’s more important is to look at how the person generates the fear. Or in other words what has to happen in order for their neurology to produce the response. Because once you know how the response is created you can then stop your fears and phobias. Why live in fear when you can feel better and have freedom in your life.

Welcome to the PhobiaGone blog

Hello and welcome to the PhobiaGone.com blog where you can read about the work that we do in helping many people to overcome their fears, phobias and many other problems.