Don't Let a Phobia hold you back

Don’t let a Fear or Phobia stop you enjoying life to the full.
Usually, in Spring and Early Summer, most of my clients seeking help for Fears and Phobias need help with their fear of flying because they’re desperate to get away abroad on holiday; that hasn’t been the case in 2020 or 2021. However, more people than I’d ever believed possible seem to suffer from Needle Phobia. I guess that the mass roll out of the Corvid-19 vaccine has brought this into a much sharper focus. As most of my recent needle phobia clients have been aged 50+ many haven’t been vaccinated since they were teenagers and they remember the school nurse’s brutal effort with a large syringe with a needle she rarely changed as a very unpleasant experience. I’m delighted to say that all have now got past that and had at least their first jab.

Where any fear or phobia comes from is often a starting point for helping to resolve things
but it’s never the whole story. People who suffer are not weak or silly and of course they understand that their fear is “irrational”. They know that it’s all in their mind, but this doesn’t stop them feeling physically sick when they see a spider or a toad.

Having a reason to resolve the issue does help
I’ve had a needle phobic client who couldn’t bear to hear “needle” or “injection” said, let alone use either to describe her phobia. Even saying “The word beginning with I” was enough to cause tears to well up in her eyes.
Her logical conscious mind stopped functioning as soon as her terrified unconscious took over. She needed to have injections for some dental treatment and her father wanted her to have a flu jab but she just couldn’t! I was really pleased that by her 3rd session she was able to hold a syringe in her hand while I did a relaxation exercise with her… and we agreed that that was Job done Phobia banished!

My Hypnotherapy and NLP helped break that phobic link.
But conquering your phobia has to be your choice. I can’t make you do anything and nor can any other therapist. Trying to overcome a fear of flying or needles or anything else are not things you can do just to please your partner. You have to really want them for yourself or I will never be able to help. While I was helping my young needle phobic I never quite got to the bottom of how my she acquired her phobia and she never gave me the real reason why she wanted my help to resolve it, I was just happy to have been able to help her..

I’m never surprised by the complexity of the mind and how this changes our behaviour
and as a Hypnotherapist I’m happy with that, but quite by chance, a few months later I saw her father again. He told me how pleased he was that I had helped her get over her needle phobia, however she hadn’t had the dental treatment and flu vaccination he wanted her to have but instead had had a massive tattoo done – her driving reason to get over her phobia.

There is no standard treatment everyone's phobia is different and will respond to therapy that is bespoke
but evidence shows that what you’ve learned can be unlearned. What you believed once upon a time can change.  You probably remember believing in something as a child, that you don’t believe now - if you still believe in the tooth fairy that’s fine. But beliefs can and do change…. Sometimes you need to change your thoughts to change your life. Give me a call if you need help with this!

About the author

Annie Winfield-Shearer

Cognitive Hypnotherapist, Registered Nurse and Coach