Phobia Management, Gone Bananas!

Spider, heights, flying, snakes, bananas… What do they all have in common? They are phobias that many people have...

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Phobia Management, Gone Bananas!

Posted by Kash Falconer on

Spider, heights, flying, snakes, bananas…

What do they all have in common?

They're phobias that many people have.  Perhaps the one you may raise an eyebrow with is… bananas.  How could someone possibly be afraid of bananas?!  Well, Paulina Brandberg, Swedish Gender Equality Minister, has Banana-phobia https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30p1p2jllmo (accessed 21/01/2025).   And we also know someone who had banana-phobia, and now she doesn’t…

Because of an NLP intervention. 

NLP can be used in many instances to change/transform certain ways of thinking.  If we have beliefs that do not serve us, we can change them, if it’s safe to do so...  I have my own evidence too… I had a profound fear of wasps.  After a 15 minute NLP session, my lifelong fear also disappeared. 

I don’t claim that NLP is a “cure” for anything.  I simply know what worked for me and the evidence I have is that wasps can now land on me, fly around me and trespass on my food and drink without me running across roads, fields, around the house and through towns, screaming and crying that my world was about to end…  Dramatic?  Yes, absolutely.  My fellow sports team members (briefly present until I disappeared swiftly over the horizon) were witness to my dramas and are willing to testify (up until the moment that they fell on the floor laughing) about my ability to reach a volume and pitch of scream that would make bats fall out of the sky and for dogs to cover their ears...  Looking back, yes, it was amusing for the others…

The thing is… phobias are real and debilitating.  It was for me. I was constantly looking out for wasps and believed that any nearby buzzing was a wasp that was going to sting me or worse…I was embarrassed and yet, I could do little about my reaction... until the NLP work…

Charlotte, the subject of the NLP intervention, “knew” that her banana-phobia was irrational in the eyes of the vast majority of people who witnessed her reactions.  Yet, it was very real for her and restricted some of the things that non-banana-phobic people took for granted.  Walking down fruit and veg aisles in supermarkets, going to food fairs or market stalls, visiting relatives who may have had bananas in their fruit bowls, eating lunch where other people might have a banana…  Even the knowledge of it being irrational could not stop her from reacting in the way she did… until a simple and powerful NLP intervention from an ANLP Member that worked for her. 

You can see the short video that we made here https://youtu.be/5J2ZdMs8gTo to see how this intervention has changed Charlotte’s life.

So, if you have a phobia or you have a negative belief that you want to change, talk to an NLP Professional about some strategies and techniques that may help you.  You can find them on the ANLP Members Directory

 

Kash Falconer
Kash Falconer