It’s funny sometimes, how things seem to converge and head in the same direction. A day or so ago I made the decision that I want to cure 100 phobias by Christmas; the very next day there was an article in a national newspaper stating how the spider population has exploded this year and with the winter on its way many of them will be coming indoors. For me this isn’t an issue, but for many people it is. A major issue. It really reflected what I had learned this week, which is if you talk to people about phobias you find that almost everyone either has one or knows someone who has one.
I’ve been curing phobias since 2002 so I’m used to people feeling a bit silly, irrational even, when they discuss their phobias. Everyone thinks their reaction is unique, when infact, it’s anything but. It is a strange situation as there are only two natural fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. Everything else is a learned behaviour. This means if you learn it, you can unlearn it. I think the easiest way of explaining this is to give some examples of phobia’s I’ve cured in the past 9 years.
The person with the longest phobia was a lady of 74 who had been scared of dentists for 68 years. A dentist during the war had been rough in taking out a tooth and it had left her with her fear. I cured this in 45 minutes. A lady came to see me once who was petrified of snakes, so much so that she couldn’t even say the word ‘snake’. I played her the famous scene of snakes from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. At first she was terrified; very quickly I was able to get her to say the word and miraculously the phobia disappeared as well. Not only could she watch the scene, but I also got her to hold a python. She was pretty amazed herself. The oddest question I’ve ever been asked was by an 11 year old boy who was scared of needles. At one point in the cure I was getting him to relax. He suddenly opened his eyes and asked ‘Are you going to give me heroin?’ I explained, at the prices I charge, that isn’t an option! Another long standing phobia was of birds. This lady, when cured, went to the local pet shop to look at some birds in a cage. She said to me ‘I’ve never noticed they have faces before’. One man who came to see me was petrified of flying. He was tense and suspicious when he came to my office. His wife brought him along. When he was sorted, an hour later, he was so relaxed his wife thought I’d drugged him. There was the couple who came to see me. They had been married over 40 years. His phobia was of ladders; this took me about 35 minutes to cure. He sent his wife along to cure her fear of snakes. It struck me as funny, but they had never thought of it, that they were scared of ‘snakes and ladders’! When they were cured I advised that them to go and buy a compendium set!!
From these examples you can see just how varied people’s experiences are. Statistically the most common phobia is of public speaking; I’ve done quite a few of these, but by far, my most common cure is of flying. Next would be spiders; dentists and needles are also common. Some of the more unusual phobias are buttons, cotton wool, Victorian toilets and baked beans. As I said at the start all phobias, other than two are learned, and unlearning them can be so quick. If you know anyone who you’d like to point in my direction then please get them to contact me via my email or on 01536 513715 or 07730 654718. I’d love to be able to free at least 100 people of their fear and see what they could then do with their lives. I often ask what is the opposite of love and the reply is hate. Of course it isn’t. The opposite of love (and hate) is indifference, where you just don’t care anymore and that’s the way you become once the fear has gone.
People always ask how I do it. Hypnosis isn’t involved, although some visualization often is; it’s more about removing triggers that set the subconscious off in a negative pattern. I talk to the client, we establish where the thoughts come from and in that process ‘rewire’ them to make them feel better. It really is a win-win situation. Here’s to the 100!
Andy Gibney 