While hypnosis was once considered a "new-age" treatment, today, it is gaining in popularity to help overcome many things such as smoking, weight gain, and stress. In mild cases, where a person recognizes the triggers but would like help controlling their reaction, posthypnotic suggestions can help them control their breathing, slow their heart rate, and achieve a relaxed state of mind. This permits them to deal with the problem in a calm and rational manner.



More severe cases are often the result of a traumatic childhood event. Most of the time, the event can no longer be recalled by the conscious mind, but is still retained in the subconscious. In these cases, the hypnotherapist will often apply age regression.

Age regression is one of the most powerful tool available to the hypnotherapist. With it s/he can guide the person back in time, and help them reexamine the event that initially triggered the fear from an objective point of view. Once the cause is revealed, the fear of losing control is eliminated.

You usually do need a hypnotherapist to partake of this type of therapy, but there are websites on the Internet that offer downloads of hypnosis sessions for a fee - of course.

Medications

Using pharmacology to treat phobias isn't generally a widespread phenomenon. Most therapists prefer to explore some type of cognitive behavior therapy in order to combat the stressors that preclude an anxiety producing situation.

There are times when medications can be beneficial, but this is usually in situations that produce extreme anxiety all the time and can be treated effectively with anti-depressants - such as agoraphobia or generalized anxiety disorder.

Another situation where a medication might be appropriate is with a nerve-reducing drug such as Valium or Ativan. This type of medicating would be used, for example, with people who are afraid of social situations or fear flying.

With arachnophobia, the most effective fear reduction tool is with therapy. Very, very rarely will an arachnophobe be given medication to treat their phobia. As we've said before, phobias are very real to those who suffer from them and many times can induce panic attacks.