| Our instinct for survival is always our primary | | | | escalates to a greater fear or hospitals or fear of |
| instinct. Anything which threatens our very | | | | doctors in general this indicates that the fear |
| survival instinctively triggers fear. The anxiety | | | | thermostat has somehow been interfered with |
| response of "fight or flight" is hard wired in every | | | | and is set at an inappropriate level. |
| human being. We all have this safety mechanism, | | | | Logic tells us that when you visit a doctor you do |
| this fuse, and when it is triggered a complex | | | | so because they are in a position to offer the |
| sequence of physiological events take place. | | | | best advice and the most appropriate help. The |
| This reaction is natural and normal, although | | | | same applies to surgical procedures and hospital |
| sometimes it is not so easy to understand. For | | | | stays. In reality the fear experienced is probably |
| some of us our "fear thermostat" is set at a level | | | | not of the doctor or the hospital. You may think |
| which is inappropriate and anxiety can be | | | | that's what you are afraid of because this is what |
| triggered in situations which the majority of | | | | you are focusing upon. The fear is more likely to |
| people would not perceive as threatening. | | | | be of pain, or most likely, of a perceived threat |
| Different levels of fear will be experienced | | | | to your survival. |
| depending on the settings of that thermostat. | | | | To overcome fear of hospitals or doctors, surgical |
| Vague anxiety is something which we are all | | | | procedures or of pain, you need to find a way in |
| familiar with across a wide range of contexts. | | | | which to change your perceptions. You need to |
| Extreme fears and phobias are present at the | | | | be able to focus instead on the fact that you are |
| other end of the scale. The question which is then | | | | in the best hands, given the best advice and trust |
| asked is how can you get that thermostat turned | | | | in the fact that your body is a self healing |
| back to normal? How can you cure a phobia? | | | | organism; your body is designed to heal, and with |
| Our physical health is of course indelibly connected | | | | the best help it will do exactly that. |
| to our expectations of survival and therefore our | | | | Hypnotherapy provides a fear therapy which |
| perceptions of threat. Most people are a little | | | | makes it easy to make different perceptions and |
| anxious about a hospital stay and experience | | | | to think in a different way about doctors and |
| some level of fear of medical procedures; this is | | | | hospitals and allows you to easily overcome your |
| completely natural. But if that minor anxiety | | | | fears. |