A Personal Story of Desensitisation: How I Got to Hold a Snake

Ever had a recurring dream? Amongst all the millions of dreams we have, we are reported to dream on average seven times a night, is there one theme that comes back time after time. I fly a lot using my arms as wings, and fall off cliffs without ever reaching the bottom. That is normal isn’t it? I mean, that is basic dreaming, doh! But there is one dream I loathe, the one that probably makes me thrash about and make funny noises in my sleep.

I am walking through a forest. It is heavy going and every now and then I stumble and have to hold onto something to prevent falling. I am making progress when I begin to fall again and I reach out to a branch which turns into a giant snake before I can pull my arm back.

Its okay, I wake up. George Orwell, in his book 1984, wrote of a room where no matter what your will, no matter what your resolve, you could be broken and tell your deepest secrets as if you had been given truth serum. Room 101. Throughout the story, the thought of Room 101 fills the reader with fear. Even Winston Smith the main character is not as fearful as the reader as Winston believes he will be too strong for them. But Winston has a weakness that even he has forgotten. He is phobic about rats.

Winston eventually makes it to Room 101, smugly, he has not been broken yet and there is nothing more they can do to break his will. They have made a cage which they fit to his head. Leading from the cage is a passage with a small door. Behind that is another chamber filled with rats, teeth gnashing vile and hideous.

“They have not been fed for a week Mr Smith. They will be pleased with a snack” Check mate. Winston is broken by his phobic fear his Achilles heel. I knew at that point in the book I too would have been broken as they would know my phobic tender point, snakes.

We lived in New Zealand where the only dangerous creature is a female spider that lives under driftwood on remote West Coast beaches and even then, it is venomous for two months of the year only. Reportedly there have been 3 deaths as a result of the bite ever. In actuality, there are only three things that can hurt you in New Zealand; your own stupidity, someone else’s stupidity or being hit by a falling meteorite, and NZ is not the only place with that worry. Snakes are just not on the agenda. What a fabulous country!