A Primitive Fear

Photo Courtesy of Microsoft

 

                I was born and spent the first few years of my life in the Midwest. I can still remember the way the clouds turned pea-green, almost the color of bile, in a summer sky just before they erupted into a big thunderstorm. There is nothing like the booming and cracking sounds of thunder during one of those Super-Cell thunder storms, and I was terrified of that thunder. My mother would comfort me when I got scared; when I got a little older she taught me how to count the seconds between flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder so I could determine how far away the storm was getting. At the time, this technique gave me an illusion of having control over the weather, I guess. It was certainly distracting—at least until a burst of thunder crackled at the same time a bright fork of lightning lit the sky brighter than the sunniest day. That combination was too much for me and would send me diving under my covers or under a bed for protection.

                Just when I was finally almost over my fear, I happened to watch two television shows that featured a thunderstorm in the storyline. The first was a movie about Frankenstein’s monster, or it had something to do with Frankenstein, but not the original story. I stopped watching the show right after the scene in which a prisoner was hoisted to the top of a mast on a ship during a thunderstorm: lightning flashed, thunder boomed and then only a skeleton remained where the prisoner’s body had been. Equally traumatic for me was an episode of the 1960s’ television series, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies. In it, the main characters sit out a tremendous storm called “The Big Train.” During this storm, which occurs every 10 years according to the legend, someone “disappears” and is never heard from or seen again. The family survived the event unscathed, but not my nerves. These shows almost permanently derailed my progress to overcome this fear.

                John Kappas, Ph.D., the founder of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, postulated that people learn every one of their beliefs and behaviors except for two: a fear of loud noises and a fear of falling. This leaves us plenty of opportunity to learn how to manage these reactions—or not. Maybe. Sort of? Since I completed my hypnotherapy training at HMI, I realize that my original fear of storms was originally a phobia since, at the time, I had never personally experienced lethal danger from a big storm. First, I watched those programs on television when I was probably less than eight years old. I would have been very suggestible at that age since the capacity for logic, powers of reasoning, decision-making and will-power had still not fully developed in my conscious mind. Combine that factor with the natural fear of loud noises with which everyone is born, I was understandably terrified by what I saw happen/heard about happening during big storms. It would be a natural next step to develop a phobia about them. Like kids tend to do, I would try to distract myself from my distress during severe weather with cookies and milk or by eating a bowl of ice cream during a storm. Ironically—and unbeknownst to me at that time—I was more likely exacerbating my symptoms of anxiety when I turned to these sugary snacks for comfort. (For more information about the relationship between nutrition and development of a phobia, check out my January 14, 2014 blog titled “Nutrition and Hypnotherapy.”)

                Another thing that really helped to ameliorate my anxiety during and about storms—which I actually started to do back then—was to learn about how, when and why they formed. When I found out that the sound of thunder is a by-product of lightning and not the other way around, the loud noise stopped scaring me so much. I pored over information about them in Encyclopedia Britannica; I watched documentaries about extreme weather on Leonard Nimoy’s In Search of series. Eventually, after repeated virtual exposure (systematic desensitization) to big storms via television documentaries about them, my fear turned to fascination and even exhilaration when I heard thunder. I learned which precautions I should take during a storm—stay indoors and away from windows, avoid using electric appliances, don’t swim or take a bath or shower, etc., so I could stay safe during them. (I still haven’t worked up the nerve to find out if that legend about The Big Train is more than an urban myth, though.)

                During the summer, even Southern California gets its share of extreme weather. Electric storms typically pop up in the local mountains and deserts, triggering flash floods and warnings about severe weather that could affect nearby regions. Occasionally, these storms also hit valley and beach communities; and on July 27, 2014, lighting killed one person and injured twelve others at Venice Beach when a freak storm blew in from the ocean. That news chilled me to the bone and instantly revived my old anxiety about being caught in thunderstorms. I have even had a few close calls myself. The first time, I was riding in a car when forked lightning almost hit the hood (bonnet) of the vehicle, thus transforming my phobia into a legitimate fear of thunder storms. The second time, a bolt struck a commuter jet I was flying in to Chicago. Obviously, I survived both events and was apparently never in any real danger either time. But the people who were affected by the storm that hit that Southern California beach community a few days ago were not so lucky, and I am truly sorry for their pain and unspeakable loss.

               

 Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/