I can imagine what you’re probably thinking after reading this title…“Shyness” is just a part of someone’s personality; why would you ever want to change that?
The problem is not that some people are more timid and others are more outgoing — the problem is that shyness or introversion can often impede someone’s professional or personal development.
Along with death and public speaking, the fear of flying is the most common phobia in America. The only thing is a slim portion of people are ever called upon to speak publicly and you won’t be around for your own death, but most people need to fly at least a few times in their lives.
The fear of flying is particularly tricky in that it manifests in many different ways (from mild anxiety to outright panic attack); it can come on at any point in a person’s life; or it can wax and wane in a person’s life depending on other coexisting factors.
An in-person session is still what I recommend for a successful hypnosis treatment. It’s obviously appropriate, efficient, desirable and often necessary.
But what if extreme social anxiety and shyness make it impossible for a patient to start with office appointments? Also some people communicate better from their own comfortable space, regardless of distance, or prefer to be coached on a level of intimacy that they can only get through voice or video.
I can help you improve a skill that almost everyone will have to learn: public speaking. I’ve worked with independent executives, corporate executives, educators, performers, people from all walks of life suddenly called to speak in front of the group. One thing I discovered is that the fear of public speaking is rooted in shame and guilt.
Guilt is also known as the Impostor Syndrome: People don’t feel they deserve being in the place they’re in, so they’re not confident.
In either professional or personal life, the guilt doesn’t make sense. You’re the one in a suit on stage – you deserve to be there! Think about it this way: If not you, then who and why isn’t the supposedly more important person there?
The fear of flying is called Pteromerhanophobia, which is about as hard to pronounce as it is to suffer from – especially during the holiday season. Many of us need to take airplanes to visit family members across the country, and find it very difficult to overcome our phobias.
I notice an uptick of people coming into my office for the fear of flying around the holiday. Like all phobias, the fear of flying is an irrational response to certain emotional triggers that planes provide for some people; they could be the confining space, taking off or landing, whatever.
The key to treating the fear of flying with hypnosis is to rewire the brain to emotionally process these triggers differently. As many of you who are familiar with me know, this is the science of neuroplasticity. There’s no reason why the hum of an airplane engine can’t put you to sleep after hypnosis with me, as opposed to having that engine roar send you into a mild form of panic.
For more information how to overcome fears and phobias with hypnosis please call us my office at 212-599-3195.