Clearing a Moth Phobia

We met “Mona” and her partner “Ramon" at a friend’s housewarming party a couple of months ago. We hit it off really well, and jumped at the opportunity to visit them at their homestead. Mona has travelled the world and taught English as a second language in Japan. She loves nature, botany and native plants. She makes her own medicines from the plants that she grows. Mona loves the earth and isn’t afraid to get dirty when she works outdoors.

Mona and Ramon invited us over to dinner. They walked us around their land showing us some of the amazing beauty of their property. Then they invited us into their charming travel trailer. After eating dinner, we shared stories from our pasts. We were feeling the comfort of a gentle fire in their woodstove. Then, I noticed that Mona looked a little anxious.

I asked her if anything was the matter, and she said there was a moth in the room. Mona no longer had her attention on us, but rather on the moth. She kept looking around the room to see if the moth was getting any closer. I found out that while Mona was terrified of moths, she had no fear of snakes, scorpions, lizards, ants, rats or mice—just moths! I must admit I was … surprised. Here was an educated, outdoors woman who had (to say the least) an irrational terror of moths.

When I asked how she was feeling, she said that her mouth felt parched at the same time that her hands were starting to sweat. With her raised eyebrows and wide open eyes, Mona looked extremely alert. I noticed her breath seemed shallow and fast.

I asked, “Would you like to feel better about moths?”

She responded with a big, “Yes!”

Then I moved over next to her. “Remember when I told you that I’m into a process related to acupressure?” I asked with a smile. She nodded. “Would you like to give it a try and see if we can at least reduce your anxiety around moths?” Mona gave me a tentative smile and nodded. “OK then,” I continued. “You can just copy what I do, and change any of the words if I don’t get it quite right.”

Mona told me that while her mother had always been afraid of all kinds of critters, freaking out whenever she came across any of the many insects she feared, Mona herself had been fearless around insects … except for moths. There was a part of Mona, her scientific part, which felt she should not be afraid of moths. However, whenever she spotted one, she felt extreme uneasiness. Though she couldn’t remember a particular traumatic incident with a moth, she had been terrified of moths even as a little girl.

Her intensity level around moths in that moment was a 9.

I had her start with set-up phrases and tapping on her Karate Chop point on the side of her hand, saying “Even though I’m really afraid of moths and I’m not sure that this or anything can help, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”

“Even though this is pretty weird looking and I doubt that it can help me with my fear of moths….”

“Even though there’s a part of me that identifies with Mama, maybe my inner little girl, that wants to show that I am like my mom and that I love her….”

Besides tapping on “seeing the moth,” we tapped on “seeing it flutter its wings,” “seeing it fly towards me,” and “fear that it would touch me.”

We did several rounds of tapping which gradually brought her intensity level around moths from a 9 to a 5. While feeling some relief, she still felt anxious. Conveniently, a moth had fluttered into the trailer and was resting not 10 feet from her. Clearly, she was still afraid of it.

The set-up phrase we used for the next couple of rounds of tapping was, “I love my Mom, even though I don’t have to be afraid of moths to show Mama how much I love her. I deeply and completely love and accept myself.” We were able to bring her intensity down to a 3.

We did one last round of tapping. As she tapped on her body meridians, she repeated after me: “if I see a moth; I inhale and go to the safe, calm place within; I exhale and know I am safe; little Mona is safe; it is just a moth; I am OK; I am safe; little Mona is safe; it is just a moth; I am safe.”

After that last round of tapping she looked calm and relaxed. Her intensity level had dropped to a 1. She said she felt relaxed, and no longer felt bothered by the moth a few feet away.

Two weeks later, I was talking with a friend who knows Mona. She reported that Mona had told her that she was no longer afraid of moths.