Author: Mark Shepard, NLPT
Article:
Finally someone has the guts to say what we in the NLP community have been saying all along. Anxiety, shyness, and social phobia are not mental diseases. The new book by Christopher Lane, "Shyness:
How Normal Behavior Became A Sickness" exposes the
behind the scenes collaboration of the Psychiatric establishment
and the Pharmaceutical industry to create "billable" and
"perscribable" labels for what used to be considered normal
behavior. Lane points out that in the past "shyness" was
considered eccentric at worst. Now it is considered a mental
disease!
In my private practice as an NLP Master Practitioner I have
discovered time and again that shyness, phobias, severe anxiety
and panic attacks are the result of emotionally charged "one
time learning events" and anticipating negative outcomes. In
other words, these are patterns and habits of thought and focus
not sickness. The first time I worked with a phobia/anxiety
client, I simply followed the process taught to me by Dr. Tad
James in my NLP Master Practitioner training course.
At 10:00 AM my client could bring himself to the verge of
fainting by simply thinking about driving across a bridge. Even
uttering the word "bridge" caused his palms to sweat and his
face to pale. By 4:00 PM the fear response was gone and he could
easily think and speak about bridges, heights and driving across
bridges with no emotional charge. That evening he drove across a
significant bridge. His mother, a passenger in the car was
amazed. She had witnessed his severe bridge phobia for over 30
years. Later, at the party he went to, he went out on a second
floor balcony without even thinking about it. Previously he
would have had to hug the far wall to keep from fainting.
I thought perhaps this was a fluke. But from that point onward I
have consistently been able to help my phobia and anxiety
clients experience rapid relief without drugs and without weeks
and weeks of therapy. Usually a single all day session with a
few follow-ups is enough to give them total relief.
I have helped college students who couldn't raise their hand in
class or say hi in the hall, nurses with test anxiety pass their
boards, business professionals who couldn't pick up the phone or
go to a networking meeting, people with severe germ phobias, bug
phobias, driving phobias, dating phobias, you name it. Every
single one of these cases was a pattern of thinking and focus.
The client was using his or her thoughts to create an intense
negative experience. I just taught them to use the same process
they were already using but to get a different result.
But look in any psychology book and you will fail to see even a
mention of NLP ( Neuro Linguistic Programming ), Time Line
Therapy �,,�, Ericksonian hypnosis and EFT (emotional
freedom technique). These are the tools I use every day to help
people transform their shyness, anxiety or phobia and become
comfortable doing the very things that used to frighten them.
But these traditional sources have plenty to say about drugs and
"desensitization." Before you start taking some medication with
dubious effectiveness and onerous side effects or commit to
years of weekly talk therapy, at least do some research!
"Google" NLP, Time Line Therapy or EFT. Read Crhistopher Lane's
book, "Shyness, How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness" (Yale
University Press).
The point is: You're not sick. Far from it. You may be
sensitive, imaginative, intelligent and introverted (every one
of my clients has fit that description). You may have had an
intense, even traumatic "one time learning event" that has
resulted in you doing your best to avoid a repeat of a certain
situation. You may worry yourself sick or "freak out" about
something that doesn't seem to bother anybody else. But you are
not sick.
You are using your mind to make yourself miserable. Using NLP
you can change that...Fast.
© 2007 by Mark Shepard
Mark Shepard, "The Courage Coach" is a certified Master
Practitioner and Trainer of NLP and Time Line Therapy(tm). For
30 years he suffered from intense anxiety and phobias until he
learned these leading edge rapid change techniques.
Get his FREE mini-course "How to STOP Anxiety In 10 Minutes or
Less Without Harmful Drugs or Endless Therapy" at
http://www.ClearFear.com
This article can be reprinted free online, as long as the entire
article and this resource section are included.
About the author:
Mark Shepard, "The Courage Coach" is a certified Master
Practitioner and Trainer of NLP and Time Line Therapy(tm). For
30 years he suffered from intense anxiety and phobias until he
learned these leading edge rapid change techniques. Get his FREE
mini-course "How to STOP Anxiety In 10 Minutes or Less Without
Harmful Drugs or Endless Therapy" at http://www.ClearFear.com
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