Watch Michael Strahan get cured of a life long fear of snakes by Dr. Richard Bandler using the Fast Phobia Treatment.
Fast Phobia Treatment on Live Television
Quantum Leap in the Treatment of Phobias
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy initially created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970’s.
They famously developed a phobia treatment that cures phobias in as little as one session. This feat was a quantum leap in the world of psychology.
Prior to the 1970’s, dedicated phobia therapy with a professional psychologist could easily drag on over a six month period with no sure expectation of success. It was big investment of time and money with potentially no results to show for the effort.
Unlimited Power
You may have heard of Tony Robbins. He’s perhaps the most prominent personal development and business coach of all time. He’s authored several best sellers. He’s personally coached U.S. and foreign Presidents including Bill Clinton.
My very first exposure to NLP came from his first book, Unlimited Power. I read it as a college student shortly after it’s publication in 1986.
I credit Tony Robbins as the passionate genius who took NLP into the public mainstream of personal development. After three decades, his seminars continue to attract thousands of highly energized attendees.
I’ve attended his four day event, Unleash the Power Within (UTPW).
Phobia Treatment Challenge Launches a Career
At the UTPW seminar, Tony told a story about how he jumpstarted his fledgling seminar business by challenging psychiatrists to bring him their most difficult phobia cases.
He promised to use his innovative techniques to cure their extreme fear with just a single session working in front of a live audience.
This challenge resulted in terrific media exposure while generating significant controversy. Psychology practitioners were especially miffed, and many were understandably quick to label this young kid, Tony Robbins, as a charlatan.
Some hoped to expose him as a fraud in the public forum. After all, it was generally considered to be impossible to perform a “fast phobia cure” in just a single session!
At one event, Tony was presented with a woman who had already been undergoing several years of unsuccessful treatment for a snake phobia. As her psychiatrist looked on, she was permanently cured in only 15 minutes.
NLP Rewind Technique
The most “famous” technique from the world of NLP is a process known as the Rewind Technique. It’s also affectionately known as the “Fast Phobia Cure.”
The Rewind Technique also happens to be a very effective treatment for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). The process allows the client to examine a situation from a dissociated perspective without triggering an extreme emotional response.
Fear is a Learned Response
People are NOT born with phobias, irrational fears, or traumas. These are learned responses that are the result of life experiences perceived to be dangerous.
In the case of phobias, the person often has no conscious memory of the initial sensitizing event that is subconsciously triggering the fearful response.
The good news is that reactive, fearful responses can be UNLEARNED.
The problem is that people generally don’t know how to go about releasing their fears. The brain didn’t come with an instruction manual, so that’s why you may need a coach!
Phobia Treatment
The Rewind Technique works extremely well to permanently resolve irrational fears of all types. This includes ANY type of extreme fears and phobias that are triggered by a specific situation or event.
- Fear of needles,
- Fear of the dentist,
- Fear of public speaking,
- Fear of driving,
- Fear of elevators,
- Social anxiety in specific situations,
- Fear of bugs or spiders, and so on.
PTSD Treatment
A trauma is basically a strong, persistent, negative emotional response to a past event. It’s a memory that you find very upsetting just thinking about it.
- Being the victim of a crime,
- Being involved in a car crash, or
- An intense combat experience.
The Rewind Technique is an effective PTSD treatment because it neutralizes the emotional intensity associated with memories from traumatic events. It DOESN’T erase the memory, but there’s no longer an emotionally reactive response associated with the situation.
NLP Rewind Technique Benefits
- Fast and Simple: It takes only a few minutes to go through the process.
- Dissociation: You’ll visualize or imagine the experience of the traumatic situation from a unique perspective that distances you from the event. It’s done in a guided way that yield’s only a fraction of the emotional intensity.
- Results in a Neutral Response: The end result is that you’ll have a more neutral emotional response about a situation that used to be very uncomfortable.
Keep the Memories, Lose the Pain!
As a PTSD or phobia treatment, the NLP Rewind Technique is a step-by-step visualization process that effectively “rewires” the way your brain has associated painful emotions with a specific situation. Memories remain intact, but the emotional pain is neutralized.
You need to keep the memories because they contain potentially valuable lessons from life experiences. What you really want is to remove any emotional pain associated with those memories, isn’t that right?
I tell people that the goal of this process is to get you to the point where thinking about the problem situation stirs up about as much emotion as a shopping trip to Walmart. Meaning, it’s just not a big deal for you to think about it any more.
Experience the Rewind Technique for Yourself!
- Do you suffer from ANY kind of extreme fear or phobia?
- Do you have difficulty releasing the emotions surrounding a traumatic event?
If so, let me be your coach!
Sign up for the Fear Cure Course, and I’ll personally guide you step-by-step through an interactive NLP Rewind Process that allows you to privately experience the amazing benefits of this technique for yourself!
Disclaimer: The term “phobia” is a diagnostic term that falls under the treatment umbrella of licensed psychiatrists and psychologists. However, “phobia” is also a word in use by the general population to describe any kind of strong fear, so that’s how I’m using the term. I’m NOT a licensed therapist, and I don’t diagnose medical or psychiatric problems.
Next Article: Emotional Freedom Technique
Hi Erick!
Loved this on the NLP Fast Phobia Cure! It’s one of my favourite techniques and you explained it so well.
I also love that Tony Robbins book “Unlimited Power” (it’s what got me into the whole personal development world and NLP in the first place).
Thanks for all the time and effort you obviously put into these articles.
Keep up the great work 🙂
Erick, Greetings from Switzerland. As you may recollect, I left you some Youtube feedback. Due to a PSTD, whenever I work, drive my car, etc., my single fear is that I will start having somatic breathing problems. After that PSTD several years ago, sometimes when I get angry or I have anxiety, I started taking conscious control of my breathing. I’ve had anxiety disorder which by now and also thanks your diaphragmatic breathing I am starting to get a grip on. The main problem remains fear of fear (unable to convince my subconscious vigilance) that there is no danger involved because breathing is subconscious. And this what triggers anxiety sometimes. Can you help ?
Disclaimer: I’m not a Doctor, so I’m not qualified to diagnose or treat your medical conditions. That being said, here’s a couple of points:
1) “Fear of the fear” is common for people who have panic attacks. That’s literally a fear of the NEXT panic episode.
2) As you’ve discovered, diaphragmatic breathing is helpful to get an anxiety attack under control because it interrupts the pattern of “panic breathing.”
3) Improper breathing is not the CAUSE of an anxiety attack. Rather, panic breathing is the SYMPTOM of emotional triggers that have put the body into “fight or flight” mode. So, PHYSICAL deep breathing exercises can help with the symptoms, but that doesn’t necessarily resolve the problem, which is EMOTIONAL.
4) Long term resolution of anxiety and other powerful emotion states comes about by addressing the underlying emotional triggers. You can focus on releasing nervousness about specific events, traumatic memories, and addressing anger issues that are potentially adding fuel to the fire of overall stress. This is like chopping down trees one by one, clearing the “forest” of unresolved emotions.
What strategies to best address these powerful emotions? With the right practitioner, I personally like the modalities of Hypnosis and Meridian Tapping. These strategies can be complementary to the work you’re already doing with a physician or therapist
Also, I’ll soon be launching the FearCureCourse which is a Step by Step System to Conquer Fear and Anxiety. You’ve subscribed to my email list, so you’ll be receiving news about that soon in the coming weeks.
Hi, I have an extreme phobia going to and being in the dentist chair. I have been using hypnosis / meditation /visual techniques to keep me calm in the chair. But afterwards, I am so drained. Would love to be able to just walk right in, sit calmly in the waiting room like everyone else, and when it comes time for the procedures, have no anxiety. Could this truly work in one session? My next dentist appointment is June 16. Let me know Thanks, Devorah Golden C.Ht
Hi Devorah! That is exactly the type of application that can benefit from this technique. In fact, you could learn the process and integrate it very nicely into a hypnosis session for clients with fears and phobias.
Hypnosis + NLP = NLP on Steroids!