While traditional methods may take years to resolve a phobia, NLP offers a technique involving dissociation that can often eliminate phobias in a single session.
Phobias tend to be deeply “associated” states, meaning the person is mentally pulled back into a past traumatic event whenever the phobia is triggered. This structure is similar to what happens in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
A phobia is an automatic, intense panic reaction triggered by an internal mental image—not by the actual object or situation itself. The external trigger acts only as a prompt; it does not directly cause the reaction. This is a crucial distinction.
What differentiates a phobia from just a fearful experience is that the fear response becomes linked to a series of signals or cues. For example, seeing a snake or even something that looks like one, such as a hose, can activate the panic response.
Phobic reactions differ from normal fear because they are traumatic, overwhelming, disabling, and feel completely uncontrollable.
Phobias can cover a wide range of fears—anything from spiders to elevators, and enclosed or open spaces. The term “phobia” is sometimes used loosely or metaphorically, like in “commitment phobia,” but that’s a different context.
Basic Procedure for NLP Phobia Treatment
- Establish a strong resource anchor: First, get the person into a calm, grounded, and resourceful state. This is important because some triggers might cause a strong reaction during the process.
- Elicit a mild version of the phobic response: Start with a small reaction, not the full panic response. Later, you will check that the phobia no longer produces emotional distress.
- Use the movie theater metaphor: Imagine the traumatic memory as a frozen picture on a large movie screen in an empty theater. Most phobias stem from a memorable first traumatic event.
- Create dissociation through mental distancing: Have the person imagine floating out of the picture, seeing themselves in the photo. Then float out of the audience to see themselves sitting there. Finally, imagine being in the projection booth, watching themselves watch the screen. This “double dissociation” helps detach the emotions from the memory.
- Watch the traumatic memory from this dissociated position: The person views the memory as if watching a movie. At first, it plays forwards, then backwards.
- Modify the experience using submodalities: They can change elements like turning the characters into cartoons or changing voices to silly sounds to reduce emotional intensity.
- Return to the scene and run it in reverse: The person imagines moving back from the projection booth to the audience, then onto the screen, and rewinds the movie very quickly while fully engaged.
- Repeat if needed: The process can be repeated until the emotional response becomes neutral or “flat.”
- Test the phobia: Finally, check to see if the original phobia triggers any emotional reaction.
Important: This technique should not be tried without proper training. Successfully conducting this treatment requires:
- Excellent sensory awareness and state calibration
- Skillful use of anchoring
- Experience with submodalities
- Clear understanding of association and dissociation
- Familiarity with Milton Model language patterns
The core element in this treatment is dissociation—separating the person from the emotional intensity of the memory.
This approach can also be applied to reduce other strong unwanted emotional states beyond phobias, whenever a more neutral or calm response is desirable.