Review of Phobia Relief
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- Latest Review: Phobia Relief by Kalliope Barlis
Review of Phobia Relief
[Following is a volunteer review of "Phobia Relief" by Kalliope Barlis.]
As someone who likes reading self-help books to further my education, I read the PDF version of Phobia Relief: From Fear to Freedom. I did not know what to make of this work, as before I read this, I had never heard of neuro-linguistic programming. It sounded like a combination of linguistics and neuroscience. Still, it isn’t. Rather, Barlis describes a form of self-talk, positive thinking, and the use of imagination to tackle irrational fears. If this works for people, great! I am not sure I would consider this work as the end-all-be-all treatment for phobias, though, as many people may not respond to this method of treatment.
What I did like in her work was the information about not dwelling on why the phobia exists but instead living in the present. She outlines a workbook-type format with an exercise to do at the end of each chapter. Some of her suggestions, like how to get rid of alcoholism, which unfortunately has real physical dependency. Alcoholism cannot be easily stopped safely without withdrawal problems; this reviewer had an issue that it was just imagination needed to have a different social activity than drinking. (pg 17).
As Barlis continues in the different positive affirmations, some come across as entirely unrelated to her topic of reducing fear. For example, “You need to protect your heart, brain, and money until you find the right person to spend your life with and love them more while they love you more.” (21). Is this the NLP part I should know about before reading this book? Some of her neuroscience statements come out sounding very much like pseudoscience. Another example, similar to the one above, is where she describes brain frequency, as she describes how someone may call you when you think about them. I almost quit reading immediately. In an earlier chapter, she states that thoughts do not have power over you or from fear. But now, brain thoughts affect other people. So, which is it? Are your thoughts powerful enough to affect other people? Or are thoughts not important and fleeting, so don’t focus on thoughts about heights, snakes, or clowns? It is significantly contradictory.
While I want to believe in positive thinking to help decrease fears, the power of my thoughts is as immense as I let them be or not. Those thoughts and my brain frequency do not get to other people. Her suggestions are better when she sticks with exercises on shrinking fear and using imagination. Imagine taking fear and shrinking it and turning it from a black color, which is terrible, to a white color, which is good. Why pick those two? Why can’t fear to be purple and turn it to pink? Or literally any other colors? Why resort to black and white, which implies all black should represent fear? I am just sensitive to using the color black to represent fear and phobia.
She has some excellent exercises to work on fear. She describes using imagery to visualize freedom from fear and exercises similar to cognitive behavioral therapy. Focusing on changing the thoughts around the thing that scares you does make sense. She reviews running memories backward to give the phobia less power, which also seemed helpful.
Overall, her work may help people, but the claims of brain frequency turned me off from her job. The claims of being able to rid yourself of an entrenched phobia using her book in less than one session stretched my imagination. Phobias don’t usually work like that, but if this book helps people, again, fantastic. Life is about helping others.
******
Phobia Relief
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
As someone who likes reading self-help books to further my education, I read the PDF version of Phobia Relief: From Fear to Freedom. I did not know what to make of this work, as before I read this, I had never heard of neuro-linguistic programming. It sounded like a combination of linguistics and neuroscience. Still, it isn’t. Rather, Barlis describes a form of self-talk, positive thinking, and the use of imagination to tackle irrational fears. If this works for people, great! I am not sure I would consider this work as the end-all-be-all treatment for phobias, though, as many people may not respond to this method of treatment.
What I did like in her work was the information about not dwelling on why the phobia exists but instead living in the present. She outlines a workbook-type format with an exercise to do at the end of each chapter. Some of her suggestions, like how to get rid of alcoholism, which unfortunately has real physical dependency. Alcoholism cannot be easily stopped safely without withdrawal problems; this reviewer had an issue that it was just imagination needed to have a different social activity than drinking. (pg 17).
As Barlis continues in the different positive affirmations, some come across as entirely unrelated to her topic of reducing fear. For example, “You need to protect your heart, brain, and money until you find the right person to spend your life with and love them more while they love you more.” (21). Is this the NLP part I should know about before reading this book? Some of her neuroscience statements come out sounding very much like pseudoscience. Another example, similar to the one above, is where she describes brain frequency, as she describes how someone may call you when you think about them. I almost quit reading immediately. In an earlier chapter, she states that thoughts do not have power over you or from fear. But now, brain thoughts affect other people. So, which is it? Are your thoughts powerful enough to affect other people? Or are thoughts not important and fleeting, so don’t focus on thoughts about heights, snakes, or clowns? It is significantly contradictory.
While I want to believe in positive thinking to help decrease fears, the power of my thoughts is as immense as I let them be or not. Those thoughts and my brain frequency do not get to other people. Her suggestions are better when she sticks with exercises on shrinking fear and using imagination. Imagine taking fear and shrinking it and turning it from a black color, which is terrible, to a white color, which is good. Why pick those two? Why can’t fear to be purple and turn it to pink? Or literally any other colors? Why resort to black and white, which implies all black should represent fear? I am just sensitive to using the color black to represent fear and phobia.
She has some excellent exercises to work on fear. She describes using imagery to visualize freedom from fear and exercises similar to cognitive behavioral therapy. Focusing on changing the thoughts around the thing that scares you does make sense. She reviews running memories backward to give the phobia less power, which also seemed helpful.
Overall, her work may help people, but the claims of brain frequency turned me off from her job. The claims of being able to rid yourself of an entrenched phobia using her book in less than one session stretched my imagination. Phobias don’t usually work like that, but if this book helps people, again, fantastic. Life is about helping others.
******
Phobia Relief
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Phobia Relief by Kalliope Barlis
