These unpleasant problems are usually created in childhood by a frightening event. You may not remember exactly what the event was, but a phobia can be created instantly and remain with you for the rest of your life. Phobias are totally natural and are an evolutionary defence mechanism that all animals share. We are only born with the fears of falling and loud noises, everything else is learned. There is a part of our brain called the Amygdala that looks out for things that frighten us or hurt us, we share this with every animal in nature that has a backbone. When it sees that we are frightened by something, the Amygdala keeps a record of the event and watches out for it in the future. When the same stimulus is seen later on, the Amygdala is triggered and deliberately causes the unpleasant emotions that makes us want to get away. The Amygdala ‘sees things’ fractionally before the rational part of our brain does and it shuts down this part so we don’t think but get away quickly. The result of this is we become emotional, and lose the ability to be rational and take control of the event, which is why phobias are so unpleasant. With hypnosis or NLP you can get rid of phobias by removing the trigger so you can rationalise the event properly. It won’t make you like the thing you are scared of, but will give you ability to be in control again.