Fear of Trains - How to Simply Overcome Phobia of Trains

While most people delight in subways and trains as children, subsequent trauma can lead a few unfortunates to develop an irrational fear of trains later in life. It’s not difficult to see how such a phobia could develop. Trains are huge, hulking, downright Gothic pieces of machinery. Like a giant iron serpent, or one of the “sandworms” from Frank Herbert’s Dune books, a train weights thousands of tons and can extend for miles. These things speed down railways with seemingly no regard for human life. Indeed, if an engineer sees a human being or other obstacle occupying the rails in front of his speeding train, there’s not much he or she can do, except panic, activate the brakes, and hope that the train stops in time. Train disasters do happen, if infrequently. One negative experience on a subway or train can traumatize a person for life.

When A Phobia Becomes A Problem

One serious train accident, or even watching a news report of an accident, can change a person’s perspective on trains forever. In the mind of someone with train phobia, the friendly face of Thomas, the Tank Engine becomes replaced with that of a terrifying mechanical monster that has no regard for human life. Unfortunately, if you live in a city like Paris or New York, that changed perspective can become a serious problem. Public transportation is the life-blood of these glamorous cities, and the most effective form of public transportation is by subway (i.e. a type of train). Can you imagine using a car to drive around Manhattan? Anyone who’s ever been to Manhattan can tell you that this is a foolish proposition. Of course, if you’re rich, and don’t care about wasting non-renewable energy, you can rely on the cabs. However, if you’re a real New Yorker, you probably balk at the prospect of letting an irrational phobia make these kinds of major lifestyle decisions for you.

How To Conquer Your Fear Of Trains

Fortunately, there are a number of techniques out there for quickly overcoming deep-seated fears. Some of the most powerful techniques involve a discipline known as NLP, which is short for “neuro-linguistic programming.” Obviously, the effectiveness of NLP techniques depends to a large extent on the degree to which you’ve been traumatized. For example, if your loved ones were killed in a train accident, perhaps you’ve made a conscious decision never to ride trains again, out of respect for their memory. No amount of NLP therapy can go against the intentions of your conscious will; nor should it. However, if you do have a strong desire to get over your phobia and start riding trains again, NLP can help.

What NLP Does To Stop Fear

NLP is sometimes called the “science of subjective experience.” This is a helpful way to think about how NLP can help stop fear. Using NLP techniques, an effective therapist can teach you to recognize, consciously, the fleeting and irrational thought processes that your feels compelled to enact whenever it comes across that which triggers its fear (i.e. a train). Ordinarily, these fearful thoughts pass through your mind, at once unnoticed and infinitely compelling. To your conscious mind, they’re like a play that’s so convincing that you never doubt its reality, nor do you bother to look backstage.

NLP teaches you to take notice of what’s going on “backstage” in your own mind. Then, using a combination of hypnotherapy and other techniques, your therapist will you how to “get behind the scenes” of your fearful thoughts. Eventually, after a few sessions, you’ll learn to replace thoughts of terror with thoughts of relaxation and calm. In this way, NLP can help you get over your fear of trains–for good.

Source by J J Seymour

Fear of Trains - How to Simply Overcome Phobia of Trains