DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS:



A phobia can be defined as an unfounded fear. When a person experiences a phobic attack, they get anxious feelings; their respiration and heart rates raise; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; the palms of their hands may get sweaty; they may hear a sound of ringing in their ears; and they very often find that they are unable to participate in an activity. These feelings motivate the individual to avoid the situations and environments that cause them.

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF COMMON PHOBIAS:

For example, if a person has an irrational fear of driving, that individual would exhibit these symptoms when they make an effort to drive, or possibly even when they think about driving. Or a panic attack may possibly take place only while driving in certain places like in heavy traffic.

The fear of talking in front of a group of people is a very common phobia. The panicky feelings appear when the individual starts to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they may well have frightened feelings only when in front of an assembly of other people. The size of the assembly can vary. This fear can be triggered by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-confidence.

Those who suffer from social anxiety disorder can get very stressed just being around other folks, even folks that they are familiar with. It's a fear that they will be criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be triggered in any kind of social dealings. A person could be standing on line at a checkout and get stressful feelings as they think about having to talk to the checker as they checkout.

The fear of taking a test (which is regularly known as test anxiety) is quite a common phobia. Testing phobias are rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failing.

People have experienced irrational fears to every kind of situation under the sun. For example: Snakes; bugs; relationships; flying; small enclosed places; animals; high places; death; and even the great outdoors.

Agoraphobia is generally thought to be a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is quite misleading because Agoraphobics are really afraid of having a panic attack, wherever they may happen to be. Agoraphobia develops when a person begins to avoid places or situations they have associated with anxiety. For example, they could have a panic attack at home, church, or in a supermarket.

For many, once the panic attacks have begun, they start to wait for them to happen. And this anticipation in reality causes them to occur with increasing frequency. Other folks experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall sense of discomfort, rather than panic.

FORMS OF TREATMENT THAT ARE AVAILABLE

DRUGS:

Some physicians treat patients with sedatives, which can make the phobia worse over prolonged treatment. Sedatives do not take care of the core origin of a phobia; they only mask some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY:

Some therapists recommend "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is just talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, talking about or even thinking about the situation or environment that causes a panic attack can trigger a phobic attack!

HYPNOSIS CDS:

Traditional hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with very little success. Traditional hypnotic therapy is accomplished when the therapist places the client in a relaxed state of self-hypnosis and gives him post-hypnotic suggestions or commands. Since most people in this generation question and resist direct post-hypnotic suggestions, they also reject the notion that they will be more relaxed and at ease when they encounter the situation or environment that triggers their panic attacks.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION:

Systematic Desensitization is the process of gradually desensitizing a person to the circumstances or environment that causes a phobic attack. For example, if a woman wanted to dive from a high diving board but she fears it, she is asked to first dive from a height that she feels safe with. She dives in and realizes that she did not get hurt and that she is safe.

The next thing she is asked to do is to dive from the bottom step of the ladder going up to the high diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that she wasn't hurt and that she is again safe and sound.

Over a period of time the subject is asked to dive in from progressively higher steps on the ladder going up to the board. Each time she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened to her and that she is safe and secure, she is able to move up to the next rung of the ladder. If she experiences fear, then she is asked to move back down one rung on the ladder and dive from there until she feels complete comfort and security. In due course she makes it to the top of the ladder and is able to dive in from the high board.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION WHILE IN THE STATE OF HYPNOSIS:

Systematic Desensitization can be done literally while in a hypnotic state with as good as or even better results. While in a relaxed state of hypnosis, the woman would be asked to visualize herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be asked to visualize herself feeling confident and relaxed as she dives in. Since she is in a disassociated state while seeing herself, she is not able to cause a phobic attack.

Next she is asked to associate, in other words to put the camera inside of her head so she would see what she would see through her eyes if she was actually diving in from each step of the ladder. She is asked to imagine feeling safe and relaxed as she dives in.

Just as in a live (in vivo) systematic desensitization, if she feels any panic she is asked to go back to the previous lower step on the ladder and visualize diving in from that rung. The phobic might be taught to create a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of safety and security. She could then trigger that anchor while visualizing that she is diving, and the feelings of safety and security could be subjectively transferred to the act of diving.

Systematic Desensitization while in self hypnosis can be exceedingly powerful and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.

NLP V/K DISASSOCIATION:

NLP is basically the study of how we create our reality. The V/K stands for visual / kinesthetic. The V/K Disassociation is a technique that enables a trained NLP Practitioner to guide a subject through specific imagery that quickly and in many cases instantly disconnects or disassociates the feelings of panic from the phobia that causes them. The V/K Disassociation is known as the "One session phobia cure" in NLP circles, and with good cause.

CONCLUSION:

Phobias are very common in our society. They are fears that are not based in reality. There are many techniques for treating phobias, but thus far in my belief, the best finest are Systematic Desensitization while a hypnotic state, and the NLP V/K Disassociation technique.