Balloon Phobia (Globophobia) - Cure your Fear of Balloons

Phobias are usually generated by a sudden shock.

The easiest way to induce a phobia is to put the stimulus in front of someone's face and then make either a loud noise or - in the case of phobias such as spider and bird phobias - make a sudden movement.

Balloons, by their tendancy to burst both unexpectedly and nosily, are perfect for generating phobias. In fact a balloon phobia is probably the simplest phobia to create either accidentally, or on purpose!

Another problem with balloons is that they are often associated with situations that contain a high likelihood of surprise.

Children, especially children, are often at a heightened mental state at events where balloons are particularly common.

Birthday Parties, Circuses, Fairgrounds - all events that excite children. In fact there is a good chance that a balloon could generate a non-balloon phobia at such events.

In this case the balloon being the catalyst for the phobia (a loud noise causing a quick shock) which the child associates with something other than the balloon - a clown for instance.

Many clown phobias may have been caused by balloons exploding while someone was paying attention to the clown.

Another aspect that many people find uncomfortable is the noises that balloons make (aside from when bursting).

The squeaking sound a balloon makes while being twisted into a dog or a swan seems like a prelude to a loud burst, while the scratchy noise of fingers being dragged across a balloons surface just makes peoples skin crawl.

When identifying a balloon phobia, as with all phobias, there will be an internal representation that actually heightens your fear making it a fully phobic response.

This will usually be an internal movie, and could be something such as seeing the balloon explode in your face or something similar.

How do you cure a Balloon Phobia?

Balloon phobias can be cured as easily as any other phobia as all true phobias have the exact same cure.

The easiest and quickest way to cure a balloon phobia is to use the NLP Fast Phobia Cure (read NLP for Phobias - Can you cure a phobia with NLP? to check that you have a phobia and not a fear - this is important!).

Once you have identified that you have an actual phobia, then you can either work through the process yourself or ask a friend to talk you through it.

If you don't have a phobia, but still feel apprehensive around balloons then you may want to try another NLP technique such as Mommy, make it go away!.