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Mentisphobos

Mind fear- fear of the mind –phobia is an intense and irrational fear of certain situations, or persons. The main symptom of this “disorder” is the excessive, arbitrary desire to avoid the feared subject. It is generally accepted that phobias arise from a combination of external events and internal predispositions.

M. Seligman* used a Pavlov’s dog* style of conditioning to be able to establish with people a phobia of snakes and flowers. It took far fewer shocks to create an adverse response to a picture of a snake than to a picture of a flower, leading to the conclusion that certain objects may have a genetic predisposition to being associated with fear. I have always been interested in phobias and the irrational way that they operate, since the 90’s when Arachnophobia the movie was released.

I have always wanted to take Seligman’s experiment and turn it into an extremely distinct mentalism demonstration, whereby the demonstratee had an irrational fear of flowers for absolutely no reason (although that sounds comedic, I do not intend it to come across that way in delivery), but not of their original own phobias (So in a way it seemed that you had cured them of their own mind fears but had replaced it with another).
The majority of phobias can be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic stimuli experience at an early age, so with this in mind I took a building block ideology whereby I will have to structure a pseudo, traumatic stimuli at the start of the demonstration, and slowly build on this until the phobia forms.

I have started scripting what I feel to be a rather powerful effect. It will have to sharply focus however on a person belief systems, so there may be some moral ethics as to performing this demonstration as I am sure the eagle eyed amongst you wont take to long to realise that this will be using a mixture of mentalism and hypnosis, I don’t know the rules on giving someone a fear or taking one away.

I am sure I could be held liable at some point, but within the correct controlled environment I feel it will work rather well.

On another level I had looked at this in a multiple out style experiment, inspired by Andy Nyman*, whereby the demonstrator sends his phobia into the demnostratee’s mind and persuades them to choose a card with the demonstrators own phobia on, however I felt this to be a slightly weaker effect…

Any feedback or logical study views for reading would be greatly appreciated.

Although I am reasonably versed in this field it is always good to take stead of your peer’s reactions on the matter at hand.

Much love and energy

tda


*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Seligman
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Nyman

That sounds very interesting TDA. Although I can offer no advice, having no experience in the area of phobias, I can see how it could form the basis of a great routine. A very original idea!

You might want to take a look at stage hypnosis in particular in that such bits have been done in the name of comedy, more than a few times; it's akin to the old pencil eraser being a hot poker bit or giving them a glass of water and telling them it's 110 proof vodka and watching them get drunk from it.

I can see how your idea could be expanded on and turned into quite the funny, as well as novel act. It would be worth the effort, in my opinion, to cultivate but as I said, look at the world of Stage Hypnosis and perhaps the Orville Meyer routine Telepathy in Action for some thought food as to how to make this concept unfold.

Hmm. I'm glad you mention ethics there thedarkangel as you are messing with things that can have a profound effect on a person.

That you are actively attempting to "create" a phobia in someone's mind is very disturbing to me as a hypnotherapist rather than a stage hypnotist. There are some potentially huge dangers in what you are proposing, particularly when you consider how massive an impact a phobia can have on someone's life! I really think this is a no go area, but that's just my opinion.

It's one thing to make someone think the onion they are eating is really an apple or cluck like a chicken or whatever for fun, but quite another to do what you're suggesting. Have you considered how much time you're going to give to de-programming that person when the act is over? Are you setting safeguards? Are you insured?

Let me also add, I'm really not accusing you of being unethical here because I don't know you. I'm just trying to play devil's advocate and only have your post to go on.

Hello

Thank you so much for both of your responses.

I will take note of the *Orville Meyer Suggestion; it looks like a good source to thicken out my knowledge.

I have read the *Anthony Jacquins Reality Is Plastic, and am pending as to purchasing his new D.V.D also.
So far in comparison to other hypnosis readings I have found that most successful. I did scrutinize the *Jonathan Chase Deeper and Deeper book also for sometime but have found Anthony’s work to be far superior.

Wishmaster It means a lot to me that someone within the Hypnosis field has commented with these thoughts, as this was my initial concern.
I did mention morals as this was something that had made me a little apprehensive regarding the effect to begin with.

I am an Estate Agent so my morals do have to be questioned sometimes (he smirks).

I think I may have to go with what Craig Browning has advised and look more at the comedy angle, although this is really not my style.

Maybe I will re-think the demonstration a little and go back to a much safer one ahead routine that I initially was going to use.

Again, thank you both for your time.

Much love and energy

tda

*http://www.magic.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=6400
*http://www.anthonyjacquin.com/products.html
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Chase_(hypnotist)

thedarkangel - I'm glad you took my post in the spirit it was meant. As I said, I was just giving my own take on it for what it's worth.

Having said that, if you're an estate agent, you have no morals or ethics, so go ahead and do your worst!

jermay's 7 deceptions has a phobia effect in it..very good from what i remember, and a nice "seeing an aura", which i always thought would be better dressed with the phobia...

the moment it "goes", they look at you, to actually see you surrounded by a strange light for moment...absorbing their fear...

Hello Iain

Yes I have been meaning to purchase some more of *Luke Jermay’s work, as I have his *Building Blocks book which is a fantastic and inspiring read. I will look into 7 Deceptions this evening for a future purchase.

The physical state that you speak of that the demonstrate see’s, is this using a similar visual phenomena that would be created by looking at a bright light for some time and then looking away?

Nice talking with you.

Much love and energy

tda

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Jermay
* http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic2400.php

There's nothing about seeing an aura in Seven Deceptions, but that's not to say it's not in something else by Jermay that I haven't read. There is a bit there about seeing the lines of your palm move. I know from experience that if you stare intently enough at someone (or something) you'll soon see an "aura" around them if you're looking for it.

Seven Deceptions does have a nice routine based on removing someone's phobia. Sean Fields' book Explicit Content also has a good phobia-removal routine. They're very different in presentation, but essentially in both of them the "subject" secretly writes down the thing they fear, and later the performer reveals what this thing is and claims that the phobia is gone.

Jermay's presentation is in the form of a ritual with a candle, which has the appearance of a spell or charm. Fields' presentation has some hypnosis and PK Touches mixed into it, making the feared thing approach the person and touch them before vanishing. (Which means that in this case, the phobia has to be of some physical thing, preferably a living creature.)

It's quite possible that, for some people, the drama of the thing really is enough to cure or at least reduce the fear. Which is why I wouldn't want to risk instilling a new phobia into somebody -- it might stick.