Fear of birds or ornithophobia as it is sometimes called, is extremely common – there are hundreds of thousands of people who experience fear and anxiety about those feathered creatures –

it is also good to know that you can cure your phobia of birds.

When people begin to relax in the presence of birds, research shows that they are generally not necessarily in love with them, or think that they are wonderful or even cute, it is more likely a case of “oh well, there it is”. People generally just feel neutral, indifferent and so more comfortable when they see a bird.

It is also important to understand the difference between a “startled” response and a “phobic” response:

The “startled response” can be an extremely useful mechanism that causes us to react when something new suddenly happens, for example, when there is a sudden sound or movement which is unexpected, a person will jump getting an immediate fright as the body responds to that sound or movement. So even when the most enthusiastic fan of birds may be startled when a bird nearby suddenly flaps it wings or makes a sound, however, they will quickly calm down with the feeling and thought of “oh, it’s just a bird!”

However, if someone was already particularly stressed or tense for some reason when they were startled by one of those feathered creatures, then the stress and anxiety could flow over into a panic response and then birds could become associated with feelings of panic, basically, any “phobia” is the brain wrongly identifying something as a threat when in fact it isn’t or needn’t be.  Once you begin to relax around the idea of birds then the old artificial association begins to disconnect, leaving your freer for life.

It isn’t necessary for you to know when or where a phobia began in order to cure it… the only reason you know you dislike birds is because you have had experiences of seeing them and noticing that you reacted in fear.

Therefore, allow hypnotherapy and counselling to assist you to:

• calm down your emotions around the thought of visualising or being close to birds;
• allow you to disassociate the fear and the memories of the bird phobia and allow you to feel more relaxed in those situations no matter what they may be; and
• allow you to manage such an experience and lead your life in a normal and satisfying way again.

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

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