Distinguishing Harmless Fears from Phobias. Not all fears are harmful, in fact, many are even useful.
For example, fear will make you more aware and stop you from walking out into traffic or jumping from a considerable height. In this case, fear and being “switched on” is useful and beneficial for personal safety.
Other fears can be useless, that does not necessarily indicate that it is harmful, either, in fact, there are useless fears that nearly all people seem to naturally have, such as a fear of snakes, spiders and excessive heights or whatever it may be. A person with a “useless fear” that grows itself into a huge phobia can most often function quite well by avoiding situations. It is easy, for example for a person to live with a phobia of needles, this generally leads them not to put themselves in that situation and avoid it wherever possible.
To gauge the degree to which your fear is affecting you, ask yourself the following:
- Is the fear taking up a lot of my time? Do I think about it obsessively?
- Is my fear forcing me to do things the hard way? Do I go out of my way to avoid having and an injection or having blood taken, or would I rather just continue to panic at the mere thought of it and remain unwell or not adequately immunised?
- Is my fear affecting other relationships in my life? Do I stress my partner/parent out every time I have to go through any treatment process as I am extremely afraid of what might happen?
- Is my fear affecting my physical condition? Do my hands shake frequently? Is my pulse often rapid? Do I get lots of headaches? Do I often feel nauseated or do I feel sad or depressed?
If you have answered yes to any of these questions, you are a likely candidate for needing assistance.
With respect to a fear of needles, whether it be having and injection or giving a blood sample or even donating blood, it is of course natural for us to have a healthy respect for sharp objects, however, will also know that needles or having blood taken can save lives, so appropriate respect without unnecessary anxiety is healthier option for all of us. Therefore, if you have had high anxiety around needles, injections or donating blood you will have noticed how focused your attention was in these times; so focussed in fact that the sub-conscious mind has learnt to be fearful even if you can’t remember or imagine being anywhere near a needle.
A needle phobia may have established such a firm hold on your life that is seems impossible to unlock, or even understand and perhaps is even manifesting into something else and the majority of phobias generally stem from one of the following:
- Product of severe stress;
- A series of experiences over a period of years, which has built up to excessive anxiety;
- It may be a product of a fear of fear;
- It may have been transmitted to you by someone else; or
- It may have been the result of severe past trauma.
Therefore, why not try to change the nature of that memory, those very worst memories, so you can relax about possible future exposure to having a needle, injection or blood taken, no matter what the reason may be, you can learn to be calm about it, having greatly reduced the emotional response.
Through the use of guidance and hypnotherapy Karen will be able to assist you with ways of overcoming those fears and phobias that stop you from making the most of your life and allow you to feel better about yourself, which will benefit you in so many ways
For further information contact us on (03) 5223 2370 or via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Karen Holt Clinical Hypnotherapy and Counselling
Clinical Hypnotherapist
AMAHS, MASCH, NFH