A fear of success is common, even in NYC. The interesting thing is that underlying the obvious fear of success is atychiphobia, which is the fear of failure. If you are suffering from posttraumatic stress, you know that before the traumatic event – and in fact what probably made it worse – was a moment of intense joy followed abruptly by disappointment.

Survivors tend to fall into two categories. The first includes people who avoid situations in which even the slightest bit of risk is involved. When avoidance gets obsessive, people get stagnant in some vital way. They might cut off necessary relationships or make ruinous professional decisions. Second category includes people who seek to avoid avoiding. That is, they do want to continue to being productive, aware that part of progress includes making mistakes. They keep taking risks, seizing opportunities, staying hopeful no matter what. This is healthy so long as the behavior doesn’t eventually transform into a compulsion to replicate the sensations of being traumatized.

There’s trouble is, realizing an upcoming success, the person suddenly starts to self-sabotage. And if the person does this again and again. Why? Usually because the person feels a sense of comfort in the loss. It is better to have controlled the loss than to possibly lose again no matter how hard they’ve earned their success. Being in charge of a downfall outcome boosts the person’s self-confidence. If one can hurt oneself consciously, one won’t suffer as much or at all from unexpected failure.

However: The comfort one derives from thwarting success is ultimately followed by guilt when the actual consequences of failure arise. Problems start to pile up. We will address them during treatment that combines Life Coaching and Clinical Hypnosis. Most importantly, I will work on rewiring your brain to make new associations with achievement in general.

Interested in learning exactly how? And in actually experiencing the changes for yourself? Let me know at (212) 599-3195.