You have probably thought more than once about whether you need to go to a psychologist to get rid of any fears. Regardless of the decision you make, dealing with your fears and phobias on your own can be helpful in many cases. Is it possible to get rid of fears on your own, or at least significantly reduce their intensity? In many cases, this is quite possible, especially since you will use the very method that the specialist will offer you.
Let's consider one of such methods - the NLP technique "Double dissociation". After studying the nuances of the technique, you can apply it to yourself and feel the result.
To do this, you will need 10-20 minutes of free time.
Instructions:
1. Introducing yourself in the auditorium.
Close your eyes and imagine yourself sitting in a large movie theater in the middle of the auditorium.
Then you have to go through a rather strange procedure. Imagine that you, as it were, step out of your body and go to the projection booth at the back of the auditorium. Thus, you see yourself sitting in the center of the auditorium from the back and in front of a large screen. This technique is called double dissociation. You have separated yourself twice from the story that will now be shown on the screen.
2. Viewing a frightening situation.
Now you have to watch a short film from a new angle (seeing yourself looking at the screen) that you are very afraid.
If this is a public appearance soon to come, this is a film about him. If they are spiders or snakes, then they will show them. You can work according to this technique with a fairly wide class of fears and phobias. The main thing is that in the film that you are watching, there are exactly those pictures that in real life cause you strong fear or anxiety. That is, if you are afraid of heights, there should be a scene in your film, for example, how you approach a balcony, open it and look down and see what scares you the most - a picture from a height.
The film should contain a small scene during which you usually feel uncomfortable.
Since you are now in double dissociation in relation to the situation of your fear, you simply cannot feel real fear. Check it. Watch your little scene from the projection booth at the end of the auditorium, out of the corner of your eye, watching yourself sitting in the auditorium facing the screen. Most likely, the most unpleasant sensation can be only mild anxiety, but usually it does not happen either.
3. Viewing the situation from “end to beginning”.
So, you have viewed a small scene from a new angle. Now you need to turn on your imagination again. Return to yourself, sitting in the audience and to the screen at the end of your story. Only now you are at the end of the story in a different position - in the first person.
And now, very quickly scroll the movie the other way, from end to beginning in the first person position. This can be compared to how on old VCRs you could rewind a movie and see a picture in which the action unfolds in the opposite direction. People walk with their backs forward, tea from a cup is poured into a kettle, etc.
It should only take you a few seconds to scroll the movie backwards. This is necessary to show the brain that you have already lived this event and nothing bad has happened.
That's all there was to it.
As practice shows, after passing this procedure, the intensity of fear is reduced by about half. In some cases, it needs to be repeated several times or used in front of a situation that causes fear or anxiety.
