Vitality News Health Articles

The fear of cancer, also known as carcinophobia, is among the top ten most familiar phobias, and it’s not hard to see why. Nobody wants to develop cancer or see someone they love suffering from it. Even though we all want to avoid getting sick, people with carcinophobia experience an extreme amount of fear that frequently rules their lives. Beating the fear of cancer used to take a long time, but with better knowledge of the phobia and treatment techniques, this has changed. Proven hypnotherapy techniques can help people regain their well-being and happiness.

It isn’t hard to see what can lead to carcinophobia. This phobia is associated with a fear of death, illness, and loss of control. Very often, people feel disturbed by a family member’s experience with cancer. People who have lost a family member to cancer, or face the threat of cancer, live in fear of the day when they are diagnosed with cancer.

The anxiety brought on by carcinophobia can lead people to make illogical life decisions. Some people frequently go to doctors to make sure they are not sick, while others avoid hospitals completely, afraid of being diagnosed with an illness. Phobia sufferers will become worried if they come down with the tiniest signs of poor health, such as a headache, and wonder if it’s cancer. People might do whatever it takes to avoid getting sick.

People experiencing carcinophobia often feel like they have a lot to be afraid of. It is a persistent fear that can strike both men and women. An individual might think, “Who will take care of the family if I have cancer?” or dwell on other important concerns. The phobia of cancer may be unbearably sad for sufferers and their families.

Some people can “control” their phobias by avoiding the source of their worry. Arachnophobes can often cope by keeping clear of spiders, and people with claustrophobia are careful to avoid tight, confined spaces such as closets. The fear of cancer, however, is a different story. The fear is triggered by an individual’s deepest thoughts and anxieties. It can be debilitating for an individual to have a fear they just cannot avoid. This leaves most people with the phobia in a constant state of anxiety.

Many phobia treatments are available today. Common ones involve therapy and anti-anxiety drugs. Talk therapy can produce lasting results, but it often takes a long time, up to many months for some patients. Medication works to relieve an individual’s nervousness, but it doesn’t fix the root causes of a phobia. Hypnotherapy is another option that produces lasting results in less time than other treatments. It has become a popular therapy because it is an effective, safe, and non-invasive choice of treatment.

Hypnosis therapy combines stress-relief practices with fear relief to quickly cure a phobia. A well-designed program will start with stress-relief therapy to help alleviate the emotional anxiety caused by fear. Once a person feels calm and at ease, hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques work to guide the unconscious mind into adopting a phobia-free line of thought.

Conventional hypnotherapy utilizes direct, post-hypnotic suggestions to cure a fear. This method is very helpful when an individual is responsive to it. Unfortunately, these traditional techniques are often ineffective because most people tend to question direct suggestions and reject direct commands.

A serious phobia such as the fear of cancer calls for a more advanced form of treatment such as Ericksonian hypnotherapy. This form of hypnotherapy works well for those who are analytical, and who are suffering from chronic anxiety and fear. It utilizes indirect suggestions embedded in stories, metaphors, and conversations to help them overcome their anxieties.

The innovative NLP technology doesn’t rely on suggestion at all, so it can be effective for anyone. In simple terms, NLP offers strategies to train the unconscious mind to use the same exact thought patterns that are causing a symptom or fear, to extinguish it.

Because hypnosis and NLP work at the unconscious level of the mind, clients describe feeling much more empowered and comfortable with these therapies.

With Conventional Hypnotherapy, programs typically must be specific to each phobia. An additional benefit of a properly designed Ericksonian hypnotherapy and NLP program is that they are suitable for use on any phobia, or even a number of phobias. This is an ideal benefit to some cancer phobia sufferers who also suffer from other panic disorders, such as general hypochondria or germophobia.

The fear of cancer is a serious fear, but one that can be cured by suitable hypnotherapy techniques. NLP techniques have become a leading fear remedy because of their effectiveness at addressing the root of all phobias along with the signs and symptoms. Sophisticated Ericksonian hypnotherapy and NLP techniques can help even the most anxious phobia sufferers vanquish their anxieties once and for all.

Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner in practice since 1978. He can be reached through his anxiety phobia website where he offers treatment phobia CDs. Visit his hypnosis library, or download a free MP3.

- Alan Densky