Dental Phobias

It is no secret that, despite our efforts to be “nice”, many people are, at best, anxious about visits to the dentist. This is sometimes because of a recent bad experience, but very often relates to an incident many years ago. In my fifteen years or so of practice, it has always intrigued me as to why one (or maybe a series of bad experiences) many years ago could continue to have such a powerful effect on patients who have, by their own admission, had nothing “bad” happen for many many years.

In 1996, I came across Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) – which is described briefly as “the study of excellence”. I have found it to be a fantastic model for understanding and modifying behaviour and experiences and have used some of its techniques personally in my personal and professional life. One time TV hypnotist, Paul McKenna uses NLP to great effect for entertainment, therapy and business coaching.

NLP was discovered/invented by two psychologists, John Grinder and Richard Bandler who studied the behaviour and mind processes of “successful” people; those who could achieve great feats or overcome huge emotional obstacles, for example. By identifying and understanding the thought processes of these individuals they found that they could achieve similar results with other individuals by teaching them to use the same mind processes…. teaching them to think a particular way, if you like.

Below you will see information about two simple but very effective techniques, Submodality modification and Anchoring which you may want to try. I use these routinely in practice, with patients’ permission of course.

In addition, I also have an excellent dental relaxation tapes available which utilize some other NLP processes to help you overcome your fears. These were produced by a dentist and NLP practitioner and have helped many patients in the past. These can be rented from the practice at a small charge so please contact me if you are interested.

If you are truly phobic about dental treatment, I would recommend you meet with and NLP practitioner who will be able to guide you through the most effective ways of helping you overcome your fears.

If you would like to learn more about NLP the following books provide an excellent starting point:

Unlimited Power – Anthony Robbins
Frogs into Princes – R. Bandler & J. Grinder
Use your brain for a change – R. Bandler

Or visit: www.paulmckenna.com for information about courses and other resources

Good Luck!

Submodality Modification
Just about everyone remembers events in the form of pictures, what varies is the quality of the picture you see in your mind and your relationship to it. For example, you may be in the picture or you maybe looking at a picture of yourself during the event, the picture maybe framed and maybe close to you and large or small and further away. The picture may be bright, highly coloured or dim and in black & white. The characters maybe moving and you may even “hear” sounds associated with the action. Alternatively, they may be still and silent. All these features are examples of the submodalities of the memory and you will tend to be more emotionally associated with the memory (whether positive or negative) if the picture is brighter, closer, more colourful and if you are able to associate sounds and even smells to it.

To use this technique, you simply change the submodalities of the memory so that you are able to feel better about it. For pleasant experiences that you want to enhance, you brighten, colour and animate the picture and bring it close to you; for bad experiences you dim it, dull it and move it further away. Try the following example:

Recall an event that was unpleasant for you and which still actually gives you a “bad feeling”. You will probably be either in the picture or the picture will be close to you and the figures large in it. It will have colour and be quite bright and you may be able to hear characters speaking and maybe even be able to associate smells to it.

NOW PICK UP YOUR IMAGINARY NLP TV-TYPE REMOTE CONTROL
Using the remote put a frame around the picture so that you are no longer in it but watching yourself. Now, use the zoom function to move the picture away so that it gets smaller and smaller. Turn the brightness and colour down; how do you feel about the event now – magic, isn’t it? You might want to turn the volume down and stop the action (if it’s a moving picture), why not pick up this tiny dark picture, put it in a box, close the lid and walk away. Your negative feelings about this event should be hugely diminished by now. Keep practising this and you will get even better at it – ENJOY!

Anchoring
We all experience the power of anchoring which is a process where we automatically associate a certain feeling to a specific stimulus. This may be the feeing we feel when, driving along the road quite correctly and innocently, we see and hear the noise of a police car behind us signaling us to stop…..remember? Alternatively, it could be the pleasant memories of home from the smell of baking or a perfume of a loved one, that uneasy feeling when (maybe) you get close up to a snake or spider. Could it be that uneasy feeling you might experience when you walk into the dentist? Do you get the picture?

All these are learned associations between a particular stimulus (what you see, hear, smell or touch) and a particular feeling. The feature that makes them an anchor is the fact that the link between the stimulus and the feeling/emotion is instant, automatic and repeatable.

With the help of a practitioner you can create anchors for yourself which are “resource” anchors (making you feel good) which you can activate when you need them or alternatively, you can use a collapse anchor technique to over-ride the negative anchor which may be preventing you from doing things you know you should be doing.

This is a powerful tool which you are already “using”. With some help and guidance, either from tapes, books or a practitioner you will be able to use it to achieve great things!