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The fear of heights, known as acrophobia, is a common phobia experienced by men and women of all walks of life. In fact, studies suggest that to some extent, being afraid of heights is natural for most humans and mammals. What transforms a natural fear of heights into a phobia is that the feeling is so strong that it is considered irrational, or it gets in the way of a person's day-to-day life. In an attempt to evade heights, people with acrophobia often avoid tall buildings, balconies, and other common situations and areas. In many people, just thinking about heights can trigger an anxiety attack.

The fear of heights can be set off in any high-up location that could make someone feel nervous. This includes bridges, ladders, rooftops, staircases, roller coasters, and several other places we visit in day-to-day life. Many people with a phobia of heights feel secure in some places, like their own two-story home, but breakdown in other areas, such as when they are climbing up a ladder.

The fear of heights can cause intense symptoms, including fainting, anxiety attacks, dizziness, shaking, nausea, sweating, and many others. Unlike many common phobias, many people with acrophobia do not respond frantically but instead become frozen with fear or "petrified." For instance, a person might ascend a ladder, but suddenly feel they are too high up to get down and become trapped this way.

The phobia of heights can be especially crippling because sufferers often find themselves panicking in situations where they need to remain calm and rational in order to remain safe. People who find themselves in an elevated location, such as the top of a ladder or a staircase, may suffer an anxiety attack which causes physical injury. Or, a sufferer might start shaking so hard that they risk getting injured. It is thus crucial for people whose acrophobia is potentially harmful to get help for their phobia.

In the past, treatments involved exposing a person to heights so they would be forced to "confront their fear." This approach proves upsetting and ineffective for the majority of people. Other, more effective options include anti-anxiety medication and therapy. Hypnosis therapy is a particularly good treatment because it's effective, safe, and non-invasive.

Conventional hypnosis works by using post-hypnotic suggestions. In this day and age, this approach is often ineffective. In the world today, people are very independent minded and will resist post-hypnotic suggestions by unconsciously refusing their directions. Knowledgeable hypnotists now use more advanced Ericksonian hypnotherapy techniques to circumvent this issue.

Ericksonian hypnosis, as formulated by Dr. Milton Erickson, is a much more effective mode of hypnotherapy than conventional methods. It uses indirect suggestions embedded in stories, metaphors, and conversation to guide your unconscious mind into a different, phobia-free thought process. This works because it's much harder for the unconscious mind to reject suggestions planted in a dialogue, than direct suggestions that are obvious to the mind.

A good hypnosis therapy program will include many different techniques to guarantee it will work for everyone. The combination of several Ericksonian hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques is perfect for virtually everybody trying to overcome a phobia.

The combined program starts with relaxation hypnosis. Once you feel calm and clear, NLP techniques can be used to cure a phobia. All phobias stem from the same thought process, so all that is required is a single hypnotherapy program with the right formulation to cure any phobia, or even several phobias.

Summary: Many forms of therapy depend on willpower to resolve a phobia, but this frequently does not work because phobias stem from the unconscious mind. The techniques in Ericksonian hypnosis and NLP are especially good at curing phobias because they operate at this unconscious level. Phobias are set off when the feeling of fear is unconsciously connected to mental imagery, such as the view from a high position. By removing or disassociating the emotion of fear from the image, certain hypnosis and NLP techniques can permanently eliminate a fear very rapidly.

Hypnosis therapy sessions can help an individual quickly and easily eliminate a phobia of heights. It is one of the safest types of phobia treatments ever designed, with no side effects. For those trying to overcome acrophobia or any other panic disorder, hypnotherapy offers a balanced form of anxiety-free phobia treatment.