Vitality News Health Articles

The fear of cancer is among the most widespread phobias, and it is not hard to imagine why. Nobody wants to develop cancer or see someone else develop the disease. Even though it is normal to dread getting sick, people with carcinophobia have an extremely high amount of fear that often takes over their lives. Overcoming the fear of cancer used to take a long time, but with more understanding of the phobia and improved treatments, this has changed. Proven hypnotherapy techniques can help people regain their happiness and well-being.

It isn’t hard to imagine what can cause a fear of cancer. This phobia is linked to a fear of death, illness, and loss of control. In many cases, people feel traumatized by a friend’s experience with cancer. People who have lost a friend to cancer, or are at risk of developing cancer, live in fear of the day when they are diagnosed with cancer.

The anxiety created by carcinophobia may lead people to make surprising decisions. Many people frequently visit doctors to confirm they aren’t sick, while others avoid the doctor entirely, afraid of being diagnosed with an illness. Cancer phobia sufferers will become worried if they come down with the tiniest symptoms of poor health, such as a muscle ache, and wonder if it’s cancer. People will often go to great lengths to avoid becoming ill.

People with a fear of cancer often believe they have a lot to be afraid of. It is a chronic feeling that can affect both men and women. A person might think, “Who will care for the family if I die?” or agonize over other important concerns. The phobia of cancer can be unbearably sad for sufferers and their families.

Sometimes, people can “control” their fears by avoiding the object of their anxiety. Arachnophobia sufferers can often get along by keeping clear of spiders, and claustrophobia sufferers take care to avoid tight, confined spaces such as closets. Carcinophobia, however, is a different story. Carcinophobia is triggered by an individual’s innermost ideas and worries. It can be devastating for an individual to experience a fear they simply can’t escape. This keeps most people with the phobia in a constant state of worry.

There are many phobia treatments available. Common ones involve therapy and anti-anxiety medication. Talk therapy can produce lasting results, but it may take a long time, up to many years for some people. Prescription drugs work to lessen an individual’s nervousness, but it fails to treat the underlying causes of a phobia. Hypnotherapy is an option that delivers lasting results in a smaller period of time than other types of treatment. Hypnotherapy is now a popular therapy because it’s a non-invasive, safe, and effective choice of treatment.

Hypnosis therapy combines anxiety-relief techniques with fear dissociation to rapidly eliminate a phobia. A good program will start with stress-relief therapy to help relieve the emotional anxiety caused by fear. Once a person feels calm and relaxed, hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques will direct the unconscious mind into following a phobia-free line of thought.

Conventional hypnotherapy uses direct, post-hypnotic suggestions to eliminate a fear. It’s highly helpful when a person is receptive to it. Unfortunately, these conventional techniques are often ineffective because people are inclined to question post-hypnotic suggestions and unconsciously reject direct commands.

A severe phobia such as cancer phobia requires a more sophisticated type of treatment such as Ericksonian hypnosis. This type of hypnotherapy works well for those who are analytical, and who are suffering from chronic anxiety and fear. It uses indirect suggestions hidden in metaphors, stories, and conversations to help them overcome their phobias.

The innovative NLP technology doesn’t depend on suggestion at all, so it can work for everyone. In simple terms, NLP provides strategies to train the unconscious mind to use the same thought patterns that are causing a symptom or fear, to extinguish it.

Since both hypnosis and NLP work at the unconscious level, users describe feeling much more empowered and comfortable with these techniques.

With Conventional Hypnotherapy, programs usually must be phobia specific. An advantage of a properly designed Ericksonian hypnosis and NLP program is that both are designed to be used on any phobia, or even several phobias. This is an ideal advantage to some carcinophobia sufferers who also have other panic disorders, such as general hypochondria or germophobia.

Carcinophobia is a significant fear, but one that can be treated by well designed hypnosis techniques. NLP techniques have become a leading fear remedy because of their effectiveness at addressing the underlying cause of all fears and not just the signs and symptoms. Novel Ericksonian hypnotherapy and NLP techniques can help even the most anxious phobia sufferers overcome their phobias once and for all.

Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotist and NLP Practitioner in practice since 1978. Review his programs at his Self-Hypnosis website where he offers hypnosis and NLP CDs. Visit his hypnosis library, or download a free MP3.

- Alan Densky