Fish Phobia

Hi Everyone,
Aileen Nobles takes us behind the scenes of an intense fish phobia case. Note how her language aims at the phobia's many aspects.
Hugs, Gary

By Aileen Nobles

Hi Gary,

Phobias come in many forms but this is my first fish phobia. Rhonda was so terrified of fish that she would get all the classic panic symptoms if she saw a fish, a picture of a fish, fish on television or in a movie. She would be completely overwhelmed thinking about them, and the thought of of eating one was not in the realm of possibility.

For Rhonda it was completely rational to think that fish were like monsters, and they were going to attack and kill her. She had a fleeting past life memory that she drowned and was eaten by fish. No incident in this life connected with fish was traumatic. We approached the situation addressing fears and experiences from both lifetimes."

Rhonda's level of fear was 10 plus.

We started with the basic recipe:

  • "Even though I'm terrified of fish, and have been this way since I was a little girl and I don't know why, it's OK I 'm still a terrific person."
  • "Even though I hate the way fish look, even though I'm terrified of the way fish look, even though I cant stand the way fish look & I think they're going to attack &hurt me, its OK , I'm still a wonderful person anyway."
  • "I don't know why I think they are going to hurt me, but I'm sure that they are.."
  • " I don't know why I feel this way but I'm sure they are going to get me."
  • "Its possible they got me in a past life when I drowned, ooh if they nibbled my body no wonder I hate them."
  • "If that happened to me, it is in my cellular memory, and if I do have a cellular memory of drowning and being eaten by fish now is a good time to release it."
  • "I don't want to hold on to that memory on any level of my being."
  • "If I do have a cellular memory of drowning and being eaten by fish I am ready to let go of it."
  • "It isn't likely to happen in this lifetime, so there's no point in me being that afraid of fish, they are not going to attack me."
  • "Especially if they are in water and I'm not....cause their legs don't work very well."
  • "So I really want to lose this phobia about fish. But I cant stand the way they look. They look so slimy. I hate the way the look so slimy and slithery."
  • "I hate the way it makes me feel looking at them".
  • "They are slithery and slimy and they look like monsters."
  • "They may also be looking at me thinking that I look like a monster and be terrified of me . They are probably thinking, she may eat me or hurt me."
Rhonda broke out in laughter at this thought.

We continued to do basic tapping plus the head and inside of the wrists.
  • "I can't stand the way they look with those big bulging eyes and they are slimy, but I'd like to lose my fear. They are much smaller than I am."
  • "Its true they are in water and I'm usually on land."
  • "I want to lose my fear of looking of them."
  • "Whether it comes from a past life or this life I want to get over this fear. I want to relate to fish with a new attitude."
  • "I want to get over my fear."
  • "I choose to get over my fear."
  • "I deserve to get over my fear."
  • "I allow myself to get over the fear."
Rhonda when tested with kinesiology was weak on allowing. So we tapped on the sore spot:

"Even though part of me (sub personality) doesn't feel safe allowing me to get over my fear of fish, I love and accept myself anyway."

We did a round of:
  • "It's safe to get over this phobia...it's not safe."
  • "Its safe to let go of my fear of the way they look."
  • "They look slimy and slithery like monsters"
  • "Monsters in my children's books looked different to fish"
  • "Fish just look like fish"
  • "My fear is irrational, and doesn't benefit me, it doesn't keep me safe, and there have been no cases of people being attacked by little fish lately."
  • "A shark is a different issue, but little fish haven't killed anyone lately."
  • "Its time to get over this fear."
  • "Letting go of the fear that they are gong to hurt me."
  • "Letting go of fear of the way they look and move."
  • "It will benefit me to get over this fear now"
At the end of the session I asked Rhonda to test herself by going to look at an aquarium . In her next session she told me she had been in a delicatessen where they had fish in a tank. She had looked at them without her usual panic reaction.

We started the session by my opening a page of National Geographic magazine to a very large and not very pretty fish. Rhonda tapped on her karate point as she looked at the picture and was OK with looking at it for quite a long time. She said before the tapping, she would have slammed the book closed with a racing heart and sweaty palms.

Rhonda's level of intensity was around a 4 so we continued tapping on:

"The way they look to me is just unfortunate, yet some people think they are beautiful. I don't have to find them beautiful, but I don't have to be afraid of them."

We did another round of:
  • "Letting go of fear."
  • "Allowing myself to get over it."
She was now down to 1. We tapped on residual fear and then tested by imagining that she was looking at big fish swimming in a tank.

Then she imagined herself in Hawaii, and fish are in the ocean with her. Her level rose to a two. We continued to tap on:
  • "Even though swimming in the ocean with fish still scares me, its OK,"
  • "I love the warm waters of Hawaii, colors of the fish in the water but its still a bit scary being in the water with them."
  • "I'd like to be in the water without worrying about fish. I'd like to be comfortable swimming with those iddy, biddy, little fish."
  • "Perhaps I can enjoy swimming with little fish. They may even welcome me in their ocean, and we can both enjoy the experience."



<< Back