Manage your fear of spiders through hypnosis

Fear of spiders, arachnophobia, is probably the most common phobia encountered in the UK, interesting when you consider we don’t actually have any native spiders that can do us any harm.

Never the less, the emotions and anxiety triggered by the sight of a spider or other creepy crawlies can be very real and in certain people influence what they may do and where they are prepared to travel to.

It is hard to pinpoint exactly what each person reacts to with a spider phobia, some people tell me it’s because spiders are ugly, others because they ‘scurry’ around, whilst some people just say they ‘just don’t like them’ they hate spiders and insects – the reality is that it doesn’t matter why you don’t like them, the fact is they are there and we need to update your internal automatic anxious responses to them, so in the future you can learn to relax around them.

To a small level, we are programmed instinctively to react to any creature that (in the past) could have been a danger to us, the mild rush most people experience when they are surprised by a spider stems from this instinctive response and in most people dissipates very quickly.

For a person who has arachnophobia or a fear of spiders, this anxiety doesn’t dissipate – it compounds itself, then as they get stressed by the situation, they further fuel the anxiety by exploring all of the ‘what if’ scenarios that are possible – it could go this way, is it pregnant, does it jump!

So, people who are good at becoming anxious around spiders are very efficient at looking to the future and trying to prevent what’s coming, they generate a wide spectrum of scary ‘what if’ scenarios which, unsurprisingly, can overwhelm them and sometimes lead to increased anxiety and even panic attacks.

I feel that the first step in overcoming this fear of spiders is to recognise the basics:

• We do share a house with them and that is not going to change

• It’s OK to be mildly anxious but it’s not appropriate to be scared

• You can become more fascinated by them without having to like them

• Knowing what you will do when you find one

Once you are at this stage you are ready for my therapy – then the rest just falls into place.

Afraid of spiders? I can help

Arachnophobia treatment – Using hypnosis, hypnotherapy, NLP and other safe therapies for fear of insects has been effective for many thousands of people across the UK. These hypnotic techniques, when combined with visualisation, desensitisation and relaxation strategies will help most people who experience a fear like this to manage their anxiety and live natural lives with more confidence.

As a professional hypnotherapist I can work with you to control your anxiety and release past tensions that often stimulate and trigger your fears – Call me and we can explore your situation and begin the process of treating your phobia.