Phobias Can Be Debilitating
Most people caught in the grip of a phobia feel helpless to change it. They're so afraid of something-spiders, snakes, flying, small spaces, crowds-that they often limit their lives trying to avoid whatever it is that their phobia centers. They often try various therapies in an attempt to control the phobia. But nothing seems to help. Their fears often become more powerful and entrenched over time.
Phobias Come From Past Events
Often, something happened in a person's life that seemed threatening at the time--whether or not it was objectively threatening doesn't matter. Our species learned to survive by paying special attention to what we perceive as threatening and trying to make sure that we're not in danger in that way again. Almost drowning in a flood, for instance, or being on a very bumpy flight and fearing that the plane will crash. Sometimes an event is hooked unconsciously together with a scary time and itself comes to represent threat. For example, many people who lived near the ocean during the tsunami in Japan or during Hurricane Sandy are now afraid of the ocean, even when there's nothing threatening going on. Those are two pretty direct examples of specific events resulting in ongoing phobias. Sometimes it's not so obvious what created a phobia-but through exploration, the cause can be discovered.
EFT Can Help Cure Phobias
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a method that often succeeds in relieving people of their phobias. What they were afraid of, after relatively few sessions with an EFT practitioner, loses its charge and becomes matter-of-fact, just like everything else. A good EFT practitioner will ask questions to get at the source of the phobia. This often involves helping clients describe the fear reaction in detail and then to remember events in the past that feel the same to them. It can be surprising what memories arise.
EFT Tapping
Emotional Freedom Techniques is the official name of what's often called just EFT or EFT Tapping. It involves focusing on a topic-for instance, successive specific parts of phobias, and tapping on acupuncture meridian points. Over time, acupuncture has gained credibility as it has relieved many different conditions. When done correctly, EFT Tapping, which uses the same meridian points, is also often very successful in relieving phobias as well as a number of other problems.
