Full Spectrum Communications | NLP, Ericksonian Hypnosis, Magic and General Wizardry

Fast Phobia Cure

And we do mean FAST!

The brain learns thing fast, not slow. Richard Bandler often uses the analogy that if you were to watch a movie, one frame a day for five years, you'd never get the plot. The brain is this way. It requires the rapid sequencing of the frames to get the idea. The phobia cure needs to be done fast to be effective. What follows if the technique as it exists for the cure of a phobia with a visual trigger- seeing a spider, or a snake, an elevator, or your in-laws :=)

This is a technique that is best done with a pro, as it requires that you stay focused and on track. It's possible that you can go through this yourself, but you'd do much better with a trained pro to guide you through who can use your non-verbal feedback to determine how best to tweak the process to you.

A quick note- before doing the Phobia Cure, go through the Outcome Frame, make sure you address the other issues that may connect with your phobia.

The Technique

1. First, imagine a big theatre, you're sitting in a seat near the middle, and on the screen is a still, black & white photo in which you can see yourself in a situation just before you had the phobic response.

2. Next, imagine you are floating out of your body in the movie theatre, and up into the projection booth. From here in the projection booth, you can see the screen, and you can see yourself sitting down there in the seat in the middle of the theatre. Notice what color your shirt or blouse you are wearing down in that seat.

3. Now, turn that still snapshot up on the screen into a black & white movie, and watch it from the beginning, to just beyond the end of that unpleasant experience. When you get to the end, I want you to stop it as a slide, and then jump inside and run the movie backwards. You will see everything happening in reverse- people will walk backwards, things will move backwards, just like rewinding a movie, except you will be inside the movie. Run the movie in reverse in color, and take only one or two seconds to do it.

4. Now think about what is was that you were phobic of, see what you would see if you were actually there. How does it feel different?

5. Now you might wonder if this change will hold the next time you are really presented with the situation... so go test it out. Use good common sense- if your phobia was of snakes, then go find a snake in a pet shop to play with, not a cobra or rattler. Same for spiders. Elevators are easy, I'd just suggest a really nice classy one with nice music. Enjoy your new-found freedom!

This highly effective technique comes right from Richard Bandler. To really learn the nuances surrounding it's use, get and read his excellent book Using Your Brain for a Change.