The fear of heights, known as acrophobia, is a very common fear experienced by men and women of all ages. In fact, researchers have shown that to some extent, a fear of heights is natural for most people and mammals. What turns a normal fear of heights into a phobia is that the fear is so strong that it is seen as irrational, or it interferes with a person’s daily activities. In an effort to evade heights, individuals with acrophobia often avoid balconies, tall buildings, and other frequently encountered situations and areas. In many people, just thinking about heights can trigger an anxiety attack.
The fear of heights can be set off in any high-up location that could make someone feel uneasy. This includes ladders, bridges, staircases, roller coasters, rooftops, and multiple other places we visit in day to day life. Some individuals with a fear of heights feel fine in some places, like their own two-story home, but feel scared in other areas, such as when they are going up a ladder.
The fear of heights can trigger very severe symptoms, including fainting, dizziness, nausea, anxiety attacks, shaking, sweating, and several others. Unlike many common phobias, many individuals with a fear of heights do not respond frantically but instead become “petrified” or frozen with fear. For example, a person might ascend a ladder, but suddenly feel they are too high up to climb down and become trapped in this manner.
The fear of heights can be especially crippling because sufferers may find themselves emotionally overwhelmed in situations where they need to keep calm and collected in order to keep safe. People who find themselves in a high up place, such as the top of a ladder or a staircase, may suffer a panic attack resulting in physical harm. Or, a person might start shaking so hard that they risk getting hurt. It is thus important for people whose fear of heights could be harmful to get treatment for their phobia.
In the past, treatments included exposing a person to heights so they would be forced to “face their fear.” This method proves distressing and ineffective for the majority of people. Other, more functional options include medication and therapy. Hypnotherapy is an ideal option because it is safe, effective, and non-invasive.
Traditional hypnotism works through direct post-hypnotic suggestions. In our society, this method often doesn’t work. Today, people tend to be independent thinkers and will resist direct suggestions by unconsciously rejecting their instructions. Knowledgeable hypnotists now utilize more sophisticated Ericksonian hypnotherapy techniques to circumvent this obstacle.
Ericksonian hypnotherapy, as formulated by Milton Erickson, MD, is a much enhanced mode of hypnotherapy than traditional methods. It makes use of indirect suggestions planted in metaphors, stories, and conversation to guide the unconscious mind into a different, phobia-free line of thought. This is effective because it is much harder for the unconscious mind to reject suggestions embedded in a dialogue, than direct post-hypnotic suggestions that are obvious to the conscious mind.
A well-designed hypnosis therapy program includes many techniques to guarantee it will work for all users. The combination of several Ericksonian hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques is ideal for virtually everyone trying to beat a phobia.
The combined program starts with relaxation hypnosis. When you feel clear and calm, NLP techniques can be applied to cure a phobia. All phobias stem from the same type of thought process, so all it takes is a single hypnosis phobia program with the correct design to vanquish any fear, or even more than one phobia.
Summary: Several types of therapy rely on conscious effort to resolve a phobia, but this frequently doesn’t work because phobias are rooted deep in the unconscious mind. The techniques found in Ericksonian hypnotherapy and NLP are especially effective at treating phobias because they function at the unconscious level of the mind. Phobias are set off when the feeling of fear is unconsciously connected to mental imagery, such as the view from a high place. By removing or disconnecting the feeling of fear from the image, certain hypnotic and NLP techniques can forever eliminate a fear very quickly.
Hypnotherapy sessions can help a person quickly and effortlessly overcome a fear of heights. Hypnotherapy is among the safest kinds of phobia therapies available, with no side effects. For men and women trying to overcome acrophobia or any other anxiety disorder, hypnotherapy provides a well-balanced type of anxiety-free phobia treatment.
Alan B. Densky, CH has been treating phobias using NLP & Hypnosis since 1978. He offers panic attacks NLP & hypnosis MP3s plus a broad range of NLP stress and depression MP3s. Visit his website for free NLP information.
– Alan Densky