4 out of 5 stars
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Kalliope Barlis’ Phobia Relief is a book about overcoming the limitations we’ve put on ourselves in the form of phobias. The author discusses many practices and methods he uses when working with clients to help them get over the learned fears they accumulated throughout their lives. Some of the practices range from things as simple as positive visualisation to the complex and profound concepts involved in neuro-linguistic programming, which is what he specialises in. He writes about many of his clients’ experiences and testimonies throughout his career in this book and the events that made him realise phobia relief is a skill not many people are versed in. This is a very passionate piece of literature focused mainly on helping people.
One positive thing about this book was how much it made me think about the possible phobias I might have, why I have them, and whether or not they are reasonable. I also found the practice skills the author gave in each chapter very engaging and intuitive. The book had no grammatical or typographical errors, so it was a great reading experience for the most part. Kalliope Barlis surely knew what he was talking about and also knew how to get his points across in an efficient manner. No part of this book seemed overexploited or dragged out, as many self-help books tend to do to fill out the pages.
I didn’t particularly like a few latter chapters in this book because, in those chapters, it came across like the author was trying to sell his services rather than give advice. Even if that wasn’t the intention, it was the effect it had on me. Aside from that, I would say the organisation of some parts of the book was sometimes a little confusing when combined with the chapter count.
I rate this book 4 out of 5. I couldn’t find many things I didn’t like about it, and it was exceptionally well edited. It had concise chapters that went straight to the point, with a few examples that better explained the author’s ideas. It was an easy read, and the skill exercises at the end of each chapter were an excellent addition. The third paragraph contains the reason I removed a star from the book.
I recommend this book to everyone who deals with phobias. I think these people should have a chance to learn the concepts Kalliope Barlis taught in this book, to improve the quality of their lives by relieving phobia. The privilege to teach one’s self with this book and see results would be much appreciated by many readers, especially with so many of the mental health challenges we face nowadays.
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Phobia Relief
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