phobia.

[mcauley]

i have been afraid of heights for some years now, i have had a scan that came back clear and my doctor keeps giving me tablets that do not work. when i go up a ladder i get so far and freeze or start shaking, i get like a buzzing in my head and think i am going to fall. this is not good for me as i am a painter and have to employ others to do what i can not do myself. what can i do?.

[devilwoman]

obviuosly a scan would not show how scared you are of heights/spiders/dark or any other phobias.
the only thing you could do is to try hypnosis to try and change the mind into feeling confident when you have to climb ladders ect. if that fails you would have to explain to fellow workers that you have this problem and try to exchange jos so u get down jobs and someone would do the high jobs.

[saxy_jag]

Yes, I think this is one of the cases where hypnotism might help. Please don't think it's like all that stage stuff where you do silly things whilst in a trance. The hypnotist encourages you to relax deeply whilst not actually going to sleep, and then teaches you visualisation techniques and coping strategies. Because you're in that state between sleeping and waking, the information is thought to be assimilated subliminally.

One of the key ideas hypnotists use is that of replacing bad with good. For instance, you might be encouraged to think of the positive things about being up high - being able to see further, for instance, or knowing a job is done properly because you're able to do it yourself.

I'm not a hypnotist, by the way. Just that I used one a few years ago to cure an embarrassing nervous habit, and it really did work. Where the problem is in the mind, as with a phobia or habit, then I'm convinced we can be helped by the power of suggestion, which is all hypnotism is. You only have to study advertising theory to realise that.

Whethe you go for it or not, Mcauley, good luck!