Fear of Spiders (Arachnophobia)

Arachnophobia means a spider fear or fear of spiders.

Arachnophobia symptoms are sweaty palms, heightened anxiety, panic, an urge to run away and total terror.

If you are afraid to look in the back of the cupboard, behind the sofa or under the bed, then you may be suffering with a spider fear because your amygdala, fear centre of your brain, is ultra- sensitive to movement and little dark things.

What causes a spider fear is a good question, one particular answer I heard was that mothers to be used to shave down below before giving birth and since this is no longer in vogue, the hairs tickle the baby during birth.

I can understand how some folk might be able to logically reason this because childbirth is a traumatic time for both mother and baby, but I just can’t believe it.

So, if you are wondering do I have arachnophobia, then please consider where your feet are right now as you realise that spider is heading towards them… if you just flinched, then you have a spider phobia! Perhaps, even looking at a spider image on the internet makes you flinch, all of these are sure signs that you have a spider phobia.

Believe it or not arachnophobia is very common, I’ll tell you shortly how I suffered with it for years and was cured in minutes. If you live in a country where there are genuinely poisonous spiders, that could kill you, then obviously your fear is well founded, however this is just not the case. Arachnophobia is one of the top fears on the planet.

The facts about what causes arachnophobia and what causes a spider phobia is relatively simple to understand. It usually happens when you are around 18-months old sitting playing with a spider. At this age you haven’t learnt fear yet, so you and Harry the spier are getting along famously, but then… “AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!” a huge scream comes from your mother, father or caregiver. They’ve just seen why you have been sitting playing so happily and they are franticly running towards you, fear is in the air… Your amygdala engages, your smart brain closes down and the immediate environment is scanned for anything that poses a threat. A threat of such magnitude that even the adults are terrified, what can it be? The only thing that is different around you is the spider, which they seize from you, whilst checking you all over to make sure you haven’t been eating it! This is more likely to be the cause of your spider phobia.

A shock or negative association between you a spider and your panic-stricken care giver is most likely to be the cause of your fear of spiders. I myself was terrified of spiders for years, yes me! The main reason for studying to become a hypnotherapist was because I wanted to know how to get over my fear of spiders. Seriously, I paid big money to sit in a classroom and learn about the mind and at the end of the training I still had my fear. I was absolutely gutted. So, I confided with Wilf, who was the trainer, and he did a short technique with me. Snap! The phobia was gone. The relief and excitement were overwhelming, I felt like superman. When I got home, I went looking at the top of the garden with my boys in search of a sider. Can you believe it? I was actually looking for the spider and sure enough there it was sitting under a few dry stones. I grabbed him and held him in my hands, I could see him on my hand, but my hand seemed like it belonged to someone else, a weird, yet powerful feeling. My boys were amazed, and I was invincible!!! So, what are you waiting for? Download my audio now and set yourself free…

Some of the treatments other than hypnotherapy, which has been used successfully for years to clear spider phobias are: 

Exposure therapy – Over a period of time you will be literally exposed to the spider a little at a time can help to reduce your over all symptoms. Virtual reality is also being deployed this way.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – Like exposure therapy CBT will take a number of sessions whilst you work toward understanding and mastering your fear.

If you have arachnophobia it’s not the spider, it’s the phobic response to the thought of the spider. Everyone that suffers from a fear of spiders suffers from one spider and one spider only. That particular spider lives inside your mind, waiting to appear whenever the slightest movement flicks past you. You can try all manner of relaxation techniques in an attempt to calm your fight/flight/freeze response, or you could simply use a hypnosis download. It’s fast, efficient and effective! A recent study into the use of Virtual Reality for treating various phobias has also produced some results!.

Hypnotherapy has been used for hundreds of years and it is highly effective for clearing phobias. The hypnosis session will guide you into a state of relaxation and present your mind with the problem/stimulus. Even though you consciously realise that this is a ridiculous fear as you’re bigger and stronger than the spider, your subconscious mind tells you otherwise. So, the key to one of my sessions is to have the ridiculous become more ridiculous. If you consider a phobia is irrational, and most treatments fail because they attempt to treat with a rational/logical approach. My methods are irrational by design and logic dictates the outcome. You can’t treat an irrational problem with a rational solution. That’s just crazy!

Having arachnophobia is a very common occurrence for many people, but maybe it isn’t natural. Most two year old’s will play with anything and it’s only when their parent or caregiver notices them popping a spider into their mouth that they scream and panic; the child goes from a moment of curiosity into abject fear and this could be locked inside the mind for years to come. 

Ultimately it comes down to how your mind approaches the idea of you seeing a spider. If you see it as a large threat, then your primitive brain will spring into action causing adrenaline to pump through your veins, whilst simultaneously shutting down the smart brain, leaving you feeling terrified, isolated and anxious. By transforming how you think about spiders you will be able to use all of your brain to learn that you have control over your emotions for years to come.

This audio production is designed to help you, the listener with gaining more confidence when you want it. By clearing negatively charged Emotional Memory Images from your external screen, your mind and body are able to adapt to the present moment, freeing you of the mental clutter that prevents the arousal centre of your brain from functioning optimally. This audio is your own personal 1 to 1 session with Matt, always available at your convenience.

Matt’s calming, assuring voice gently guides both your conscious mind and unconscious mind towards transformation through the left and right ear respectively. By tapping into the body’s psychoneuroimmunilogical mechanisms – the link between the mind, nervous system and physical wellbeing – this audio helps your brain to improve its cognitive processing ability so your mind will be free to run bright, colourful movies where you can reconnect all of your desires, experiencing them fully, through thought into action.

For best results, listen to this audio download first thing in the morning or during the day, every day for 4 weeks. Ensure you’re free from interruptions and distractions when listening. Download now to start building up your learning power and transform your current thoughts into powerful drivers for change.

This audio is a .MP3 file, compatible with smartphones, tablets, PC’s and other electronic devices.

Audio length: 30 minutes.