attitudes towards risks, and usher this feeling to the place where the initial fear was born. New ways of behaviour are easier to build in these circumstances, and this is our plan.
Get rid of phobia in two steps
I have come to the conclusion that a phobia is tension after a traumatic injury. Fear comes after the fright. Fright is what has disturbed the normal functioning of a body; it is information trauma (dust, smoke, soot or any other kind of blackness, darkness, greyness which has penetrated the body). Fear and tension are the consequences; they are the reaction.
That is why it’s important to do the following when working through a phobia:
1. Move “fright” out of the body and restore energetic balance to the body.
After that:
2. Introduce new information about efficient strategies of behaviour in the situations which used to confuse and understand that these situations are possible to overcome.
In this process one needs to remember that:
a) The patient defines what entered the body at the moment of confusion and whether he or she should continue living with it or get rid of it.
b) The wisdom of the body actively and eagerly supports the decision of the individual: this will trigger the process of letting go of that blackness which has invaded the body. It will leave the body the same way it entered: through the same spot, the same way.
c) A person usually has enough knowledge and experience to make the right decisions when similar frightful and formerly confusing situations occur. In some cases, conversations can help by increasing awareness and building new behavioural strategies. It is particularly important for a person to understand their own knowledge: he or she needs to locate the knowledge (whether it is in your forehead, in your head or somewhere else close to you) and move it to the place where it should be (which is in your solar plexus).
Now let’s have a look at some cases from practice.
A case from practice. Fear of fainting
A frail girl
Lina is afraid of fainting and dying. She is 20 years old, with an oblong face shape and thin arms. There’s another reason why she looks frail: she eats very little, she’s very picky because food often makes her nauseous. Her mother is always by her side because Lina is afraid that she might feel unwell and there’ll be no one to help her. They came to the session together.
Lina is an emotionally warm person; she has a boyfriend who doesn’t seem to make a big deal of her hypochondria due to his cheerful character. On one hand, this relationship is a great help for Lina but on the other – she’s too afraid to lose it. She has decided that if they break up, she’ll become a nun.
Instinctive fear
Seven years ago Lina fainted: for some time before it happened, she had been suffering from headaches, spinal problems, hormone fluctuations and meteosensitivity. She thought she was dying.
Fortunately, that episode didn’t end tragically, but the whole experience was rather unpleasant and difficult to understand for Lina. The fear settled in. She began taking medication, which didn’t help, and only caused complications. Lina started having thoughts about committing suicide and demanded that someone always be by her side. An admission to the psychiatric facility was being planned as the next step.
Lina lost faith in restoring her health. However, zest for life and the wish to finally get rid of the painful fear hadn’t left her completely, and she agreed to follow my simple instructions.
The first drawing that Lina made sent her to the age when the symptoms appeared. There was a big head, a round, somewhat “inflated” body with “poor” triangular limbs. Some additional elements were drawn on the head, which pointed to the fact that Lina had vasospasms, organic problems, and that her brain had oxygen deficiency.
Working hypothesis
When Lina was fainting, she couldn’t understand what was going on with her, and as a result her body absorbed the fright that her life was about to end. Protective mechanisms, which had been guarding her life, received an emergency call, got activated and remained in this state for many years. Nevertheless, when you post a sentry, you can also relieve a sentry when they are no longer needed.
Under the influence of an erroneous danger signal, our body starts to do unnecessary extra work which is exhausting; and it’s not just a matter of energy. More than that, this “guarding” system takes up so much effort and strength that there is no energy left to live a normal life. We all require the ability to make sound decisions, and in order to make good decisions, you should first get rid of the erroneous assumption that was sent to the depths of the body.
Clear the body of the fright
How can one find that alien element which has entered the body? In this case one can turn to the practice of “detecting” it as something material, as matter.
Lina and I are working together, relying on her immediate sensations.
Which zones of her body respond when she experiences discomfort, anxiety and fear? Where can she locate the sensations which are connected with these tensions?
It turned out that they were hidden at the level of her head and core. First of all, I tried to find out what caused the tension:
“What got into your forehead? What does your head feel like?”
“The air is grey, thick and dark,” says Lina.
“Do you need it there?”
“No,” she says without any hesitation.
“Why don’t you let it out through the same place it came in?”
“It has started coming out as smoke through my ears,” Lina is describing the process of self-regulation that has just begun.
“How much of it has already left your body?” I asked her some time later in order to support the internal work she was doing.
“About 70%.”
“Wonderful progress!”
“In my head I can feel some pleasant emptiness with white walls,” she says two or three minutes later.
“Observe the ‘emptiness’. It’s quite likely that your body will get rid of it too; this is how you will help your body to ‘spread its wings’.”
And this is exactly what happened:
“The box has shrunk and disappeared,” Lina added.
“Thus the space in your head has gone. Look if there’s anything happening at the level of your chest or lower.”
“The same ‘smoke’ has started coming out of my chest and through my mouth.”
“Soon it was out too.”
“Is
