Our instinct for survival is always our primary instinct. Anything which threatens our very survival instinctively triggers fear. The anxiety response of "fight or flight" is hard wired in every human being. We all have this safety mechanism, this fuse, and when it is triggered a complex sequence of physiological events take place.

This reaction is natural and normal, although sometimes it is not so easy to understand. For some of us our "fear thermostat" is set at a level which is inappropriate and anxiety can be triggered in situations which the majority of people would not perceive as threatening.

Different levels of fear will be experienced depending on the settings of that thermostat. Vague anxiety is something which we are all familiar with across a wide range of contexts. Extreme fears and phobias are present at the other end of the scale. The question which is then asked is how can you get that thermostat turned back to normal? How can you cure a phobia?

Our physical health is of course indelibly connected to our expectations of survival and therefore our perceptions of threat. Most people are a little anxious about a hospital stay and experience some level of fear of medical procedures; this is completely natural. But if that minor anxiety escalates to a greater fear or hospitals or fear of doctors in general this indicates that the fear thermostat has somehow been interfered with and is set at an inappropriate level.

Logic tells us that when you visit a doctor you do so because they are in a position to offer the best advice and the most appropriate help. The same applies to surgical procedures and hospital stays. In reality the fear experienced is probably not of the doctor or the hospital. You may think that's what you are afraid of because this is what you are focusing upon. The fear is more likely to be of pain, or most likely, of a perceived threat to your survival.

To overcome fear of hospitals or doctors, surgical procedures or of pain, you need to find a way in which to change your perceptions. You need to be able to focus instead on the fact that you are in the best hands, given the best advice and trust in the fact that your body is a self healing organism; your body is designed to heal, and with the best help it will do exactly that.

Hypnotherapy provides a fear therapy which makes it easy to make different perceptions and to think in a different way about doctors and hospitals and allows you to easily overcome your fears.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis mp3 downloads to help you overcome fear of hospitals.