The popularity of TV hypnotists (such as Derren Brown and Paul McKenna) have opened up the world of hypnotism to a much wider audience than it had previously. Whilst in the early days associated with making people eat onions and forget their own names, McKenna’s transformation from entertainment hypnotist to actual hypnotherapist showed just what people could achieve by harnessing the power of hypnosis and what the mind can do.

Now, hypnotherapy courses are popular for people with all manner of ailments, conditions or addictions; from those who want to give up smoking but found other methods ineffective, to those looking to lose weight or get over their crippling phobias.

Getting over phobias is an extremely common reasons for people looking for hypnotherapists. With many fears being wholly irrational ones, it can be hard for the individual to get over their fears and can prove exhausting  for those around them – who can get quickly irked by the seemingly silly fear.

Whether it’s the relatively commonplace arachnophobia (fear of spiders) or something entirely more irrational such as ombrophobia (fear of rain), hypnotherapists can work with the patient to find the source of the fear – then use that to alleviate the anxiety.

Some fears come from unsettling moments experienced during childhood. Given that the child does not fully understand the thing making them afraid – and therefore how to deal with the situation – a phobia can be created that becomes more deep-rooted with time. In this case, the hypnotherapist may look to what originally caused the fear in the first place then look to changing the person’s perspective on the fear in question.

Once the source has been established, hypnotherapists can look at installing a sense of calm in their patient, so that when they witness the object that gives them fear in the real world they can react to it in a calm and assured manner – as opposed to the blind panic they’d traditionally resort to.

There are a number of different techniques and methods available to enable someone to get over their phobias. Whilst it may indeed be different to making someone forget their own name, it is thanks to the high-profile hypnotists that hypnotherapy now has the platform that it does.