DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS:

A phobia can be defined as an illogical fear or dread. When a person experiences a phobic attack, they get terrified feelings; their breathing and heart rates increase; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; their palms often get sweaty; they may experience a ringing in their ears; and they quite often find that they are unable to participate in an activity. These feelings motivate the individual to try to avoid the activities and places that cause them.

SOME EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:

For instance, if an individual has an irrational fear of driving, they would display these symptoms at the time they try to drive their car, or probably even when they just think about driving. Or a freight attack may well occur simply while driving in certain places like under bridges.

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

Those who suffer from social anxiety disorder can get horrifically tense just being around other folks, even folks that they are familiar with. It is a fear of being criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be caused by any variety of social dealings. A person could be standing on line at a checkout and get phobic feelings as they think about having to talk to the checker while they checkout.

The fear of test taking (which is frequently known as test anxiety) is quite a common phobia. Test anxiety is rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failure.

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

Agoraphobia is generally considered to be a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is very 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 gas station.

For people who suffer with phobias, once their panic attacks have started to occur, they start to wait for them to occur. And this expectation actually triggers them with increasing frequency. Other folks experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall sense of discomfort, rather than panic.

OBTAINABLE FORMS OF TREATMENT

DRUGS:

Some doctors care for patients by means of sedatives, which can make the phobia worse over extended treatment. Sedatives don't take care of the underlying cause of a phobia; they only mask some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY:

Some schools of therapy prescribe "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is just talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, thinking about or talking about the situation or environment that triggers a phobic attach can trigger a phobic attack!

HYPNOSIS:

Traditional hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with only meager success. Traditional hypnotic therapy is accomplished when the hypnotist guides the patient into a relaxed state of self-hypnosis and gives her post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. 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 sets off their panic attacks.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION:

Systematic Desensitization is the process of incrementally desensitizing a phobic person to the circumstances or environment that triggers a phobic attack. For instance, if a person wanted to dive from a high diving board but fears it, she is asked to first dive from a height that she feels confident about. She dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is secure.

Next she is asked to dive in from the first step of the ladder going up to the high diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is again safe and secure.

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

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION WHILE IN THE STATE OF HYPNOSIS:

Systematic Desensitization can be done virtually while in a hypnotic state with as good as or better results. While in a relaxed hypnotized state, the woman would be asked to envision herself diving in from each step on the ladder. She would be asked to picture herself feeling relaxed and confident as she dives in. Since she is in a disassociated state while seeing herself, she is not able to experience a panic attack.

Next she's asked to associate, in other words to imagine the camera inside of her head so she would see what she would see through her own 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's 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 generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of safety and security. She could then activate that anchor while visualizing that she's diving, and the feelings of security and safety could be subjectively transferred to the act of diving.

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

NLP V/K DISASSOCIATION:

Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the study and practice 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 visual imagery that quickly and in many cases instantly disconnects or disassociates the feelings of freight from the irrational fear that causes them. The V/K Disassociation is known as the "One session phobia cure" in Neuro-Linguistic Programming circles, and with good cause.

CONCLUSION:

Phobias are common in our civilization. They are fears that aren't founded in reality. There are many methods for treating phobias, but so far in my estimation, the best treatments available are Systematic Desensitization while hypnotized, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.