Systematic Desensitisation for dealing with your phobia

Pegasus NLP

Mind-Body Health Site

Practical applications of NLP in your life

Updated Tuesday, 08 July 2008

Desensitise yourself

Developed by Wolpe in the 40's, 'systematic desensitisation' is a very effective, tried and tested method of becoming less sensitive to the stimulus, or subject, of your phobia.

Although normally applied by a therapist, you can use this as a self help method. It is a rather slow process so you will need patience and the determination to stick with it for weeks or even months.

How to desensitise yourself

Learn the skill of relaxation.
Build a hierarchy of fears
Desensitise yourself - while deeply relaxed think about one of the steps. Repeat this until this step no longer evokes anxiety. Do not go on to the next step until you are quite comfortable at the previous one.

Use desensitisation only on mild phobias

Mild or severe phobia?

Self help using desensitisation is not suitable for severe phobias because the emotions are likely to be too powerful for self help methods. A severe phobia is best resolved with professional assistance.

It is likely that you will know instinctively whether your's is a phobia that will respond to this self help approach. However as a rough guide check where your phobic reaction lies on an intensity scale of 1-10.

Imagine that 10 is the highest intensity - virtually being overwhelmed at the thought of the stimulus - and 1 is a mild 'ho-hum' uneasiness.

If your response to even thinking about the subject evokes an intensity of 8 or higher you would be well advised to seek professional help rather than attempting to do it by yourself. Below 8 indicates that self help methods are likely to work - with a systematic and persistent approach.

'Complex Phobias'

You can use desensitisation on 'complex phobias', such as fear of flying, and on 'social phobias'. However do prepare thoroughly as this will make the difference between success and disappointment.

Prepare very detailed hierarchy. Take a few weeks to do this, adding to it as the ideas occur to you. While doing this you can be practising your relaxation skills.

NLP NLP is used to develop the ideas and themes on this site. I have been using it for over two decades to help me understand how I and other people tick and in my work as a consultant and trainer - and it continually impresses me. If you would like to know more about NLP the following links lead to my other site:
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