EFT Professionals Australia

Janet (name changed for privacy) attended my clinic to gain relief from an intense fear of snakes.

So intense was her phobia that Janet could not even bear to look at a picture of a snake and just the mention of the word “snake” would send her into fear mode with goose bumps.

What was interesting about Janet’s case was that she was visiting Perth from New Zealand which, to the best of my knowledge is snake free so my curiosity was aroused as to what could have caused such an intense emotional response.

After some questioning in an attempt to become as specific as possible Janet revealed that it was more the way that they move their head “cobra like” that struck fear into her.

So we started with a fairly global round of tapping on “…this fear of snakes” just to take the emotional edge off before proceeding further.

Further questioning revealed that Janet had spent a considerable amount of time as a child listening to her Father relate stories about his experiences during the second world war in the dense jungles of Malaya wherein he was required to stand sentry duty along with other soldiers during pitch black nights with the only allowable means of communication being to tap on the butt of his rifle.

These jungles were rife with venomous reptiles and guess what? He was intensly afraid of snakes.

Relating this story and it’s associated visual image sent Janet’s emotional intensity up to a 9 (on a 0 – 10 scale, with 10 representing maximum intensity) and after a further round of tapping this was reduced to a 5. Janet’s image then shifted to a barrier preventing further snake images and further tapping shifted this barrier to reveal a “huge eye” amongst trees.

These images seemed to me to replicate what a child’s imagination could easily create given the jungle stories, so we pressed on with “even though I took on Dad’s fear of snakes as a child when he told me those stories,…” and worked with some specific images which allowed the SUD (subjective units of distress) levels to reduce significantly whereat the fear was replaced with a deep sadness >10.

Intent on following the more intense emotion, we delved into the source of the sadness to find that – Janet was one of the few people to which her Father would relate any of his wartime experiences and clearly these intimate discussions were of a traumatic nature to him and being a sensitive child she recognized that relating the stories helped him to cope.

A few rounds of tapping bought the sadness down from 10 to 1 but the sadness was just as quickly replaced by a sense of guilt. Janet felt that she was abandoning her Father (long since passed) by letting go of the sadness that she had been carrying for him for his inability to cope with his wartime traumas. Further tapping bought the guilt from 6 to 0 after which further tapping on the snake fear reduced it from 5 to 0.

Some further work ensued on beliefs surrounding carrying burdens for others and the session wound up after some tapping on deserving to be happy.

Janet was due to return to New Zealand the following day and a week or so later I received the following email:

….you will be interested to know that while at the Airport in Perth I subjected myself to photos of snakes in a book. Not easy but did manage to do it and felt that was a real break through. Would normally head in the opposite direction.

Since then I have had one instance when there were some on TV and although I reacted instinctively(?) to start, I told (my husband) not to change the channel and I watched while a chap tried catching one and letting it bite him on the wrist. I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy it and after a time had to say I’d had enough. Gently, gently I think I will achieve. To have done that would not have been imaginable before. J.

A few weeks later the following email arrived:

I feel clever. There has just been a local news programme that had an item on people catching snakes. I knew it was going to be on and really ’in your face’ from the adverts but I made myself stay and watch and actually managed to watch most of it. After a couple of minutes I felt I had pushed it far enough but (my husband) commended me on what I achieved. How about that???

The more I think about it the more I think this is incredible. J.

What I think is most remarkable about this case is the way in which Janet “took on” her Father’s fear simply by listening to his stories and mentally re-living his traumatic experiences prompting intense phobia over snakes without ever having been any where near one.

Janet’s email comments reiterate the fact that while we don’t necessarily want to fall in love with creatures such as snakes, spiders etc. after having dealt with earlier fears of such creatures by the use of EFT, the emotional intensity is effectively removed allowing a rational approach with any subsequent creature confrontations.

Barry

By:  Barry H. James (EFT Adv.)

Barry James is an experienced Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Practitioner (EFT Adv.) and proprietor of Tap Happy EFT in Hillarys, Western Australia.

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