I've heard a lot of success stories about the use of hypnosis to quit smoking or loose weight, but what about getting rid of, or at least lessening a phobia? My fear of heights has only gotten worse and I'm worried that it's starting to affect my children. I freak out if they get to close to our deck's railing and imagine them falling off things or even out of windows. I used to never be afraid of heights as a little girl, and don't even remember when this fear started, but it keeps me from going places because I experience vertigo so easily. I also have terrible nightmares about heights (bridges, cliffs, tall buildings). I don't want to be incapacitated by this the rest of my life or pass it on to my girls. Has anyone out there had therapy for a phobia that worked?

My best friends had a very bad phobia of trees, yes trees, and pigeons. She went to a few hypnosis sessions and she is free from these fears. So I guess it may apply to your fear of heights.
Hope this helps.

Good luck

I used to be absolutely terrified of lightning and thunderstorms. I mean dead frozen in my tracts hands over my ears screaming like a child... I was trapped alone in a mobile home at age 10 during an Arizona monsoon that almost blew the home over on it's side with the power out.. so my fear was valid!
Well when I had kids of my own, my fears were projected onto them and I saw them become the same terrified little kid that I was, I decided I didn't want my kids to live with that kind of terror and I forced myself to face my fears, It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I made myself stand outside during a mild storm and slowly progressed to bigger and stronger storms... well it's now been over 10 years since I looked fear dead in the eye and said.. I am not going to let this control my life and my kids lives ever again! Now I am an avid lighting photographer and storm chaser!! I have amazing shots of a funnel cloud that nearly touched down a few miles from my house and some great shots of lightning( hence my user name!):) Fears and phobias are really mind over matter... you just have to want to get past your fears badly enough. The best way to conquer a fear is to face it.. very gradually.. do your best to take as much as you can... when you achieve even the smallest gain.. PRAISE yourself! Say SEE that DIDN'T kill me.. I CAN DO THIS!! I hope this helps some.. best of luck to you.. you CAN do this!!

Hi,
If you can afford hypnosis, then give it a try. I have known it to work, but not with me personally... never tried it.
I also agree with the previous answer, of facing your fear, a little at a time, until you begin to be comfortable with it. That has worked for me.
If you are a Spiritual or Religious person, then pray for Strength to face it. Pray is the most powerful force in the World.
I do wish you the best, and good luck with it.

There is no reason to fear hypnosis. Hypnosis is very safe and there is also self hypnosis which is similar to a form of meditation. Repetition could be key or even picture those things that you are afraid of in your minds eye. Think of good positive out comes of those situations that you fear. For example, when your on a bridge normally it would be just driving on it. Picture in your mind driving your car over a bridge everyday. Every time you introduce this to your mind it will get easier and easier. Anything you have a fear of and if you try to imagine positive outcomes instead of negative. Mind you this does take time but you will need to be willing to take the time to focus on positive situations in your mind and retrain your thoughts to be positive then negative and you will see changes in the way you see things, the way you dream and the way you live your life.

I have had both hypnosis and behavior modification which involved repeated exposure to certain events with the therapist talking me through it so I could learn to reframe the event more postiviely. Although neither method erased phobias completely for me, it did reduce them to a mildly uncomfortable feeling. I keep that feeling from growing by giving myself a reality check when the feeling show up. Example: I was terrifiied of balloons (ha ha, yes I know weird! ) and now when I encounter them and that uncomfortable feeling appears, myself talk is like this... "okay, what is the worst that can happen? it will pop, you will leap out of your seat and everyone is going to see you clinging to the ceiling and laugh (it helps to use some fear-defusing humor in it too haha)"

In the case of the deck it sounds like that specific self-talk may not work since it could be serious if someone fell, but rest assured a therapist will help you find a way to cope. Fear of heights is a very common one. And I know how unpleasant a falling dream can be too.

If you have not been to a therapist before, please try my 3-visit rule: "give it three visits before evaluating if its doing any good." Or ask the therapist when you can expect some relief but it shouldn't take very long. That will help keep you out of the hands of the untalented ones.

When you get it down to something more manageble, it becomes easier to laugh about... check this thread (if you haven't already) to see that you are definitely not alone in this department!
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/other-...ons-22771.html

But there is no reason to live in the kind of fear you wrote about. Thanks for posting and good luck.

It can work well, I was trained in it as part of my training in counseling.

I have used it with various people with some great results, does not work with or on everyone but it does help a lot of people

It sounds like I might want to try a combination of all the methods mentioned. I have tried to gradually increase my tolerance of heights by going up on ladders, standing close to the balcony at the mall and such. I even climbed a Mayan temple on my honeymoon in Mexico because it was the last month that they were letting people do that. In that situation I had to pep talk myself that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that I would always regret it if I didn't at least try to do it. I can't say that I wasn't terrified the whole time with my heart in my throat, but I was so proud of myself when I got to the top and then back down to the bottom again without throwing up or fainting! So I will attempt to recreate this mindset of "I can do it" and maybe research some therapists in my area. Thanks for sharing your experiences! I'm happy to hear that some of you have so successfully conquered your fears and have even embraced them as an area of interest (your story is great Stormy!)! And yes, I totally agree that humor can really help alleviate fears. I use it with my kids, but forgot about trying that with myself.

RickJ this is another that I'm subscribed too but not appearing on my profile!