How to Cure a Phobia with NLP
NLP is great for curing phobias, simply because phobias originate
from your mind - and NLP allows you to master your mind. In this
straightforward we will use the common fear of flying or air travel as
an example. The same NLP technique can be applied to almost any
phobia.
The first thing we have to realise is that almost every phobia (other
than natural evolutionary fears, such as fear of things that are differ-
ent, or fear of heights) is a fear we have learned as a child. They are
not automatic. For example, if the fear of flying was automatic, we
would expect everyone to be afraid of flying. But they’re not.
So the first thing we have to do is identify the lesson that taught us that flying is scary. It may be that
we had a shaky plane landing when we were an infant, it may be that we’ve never even been on a
plane but we saw a film that made us doubt the safety. Whatever it is, you need to form a short film in
your mind of the scary lesson. Put yourself in the film.
Now, imagine a cinema. It can be one that you know quite well. Picture yourself sitting there.
Don’t necessarily use the one I’ve put as an example. I’ve only put these pictures here to illustrate
what I mean. Once you’ve got your cinema pictured, imagine your “scary short film” up on the screen.
But don’t push play yet! It’s just the first frame, ready to go.