Vitality News Health Articles

DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS: A phobia is defined as an irrational fear. When a person has a phobic attack, they get worried feelings; their breathing and heart rates increase; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; the palms of their hands often get sweaty; they may hear a ringing in their ears; and they often find that they are unable to take part in an activity. These feelings motivate the individual to try to avoid the activities and environments that trigger them.

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS: For instance, if an individual has a fear of driving, that person would display these symptoms whenever they endeavor to drive their car, or maybe even when they just think about driving. Or a freight attack may well happen only while driving in specific places like under bridges.

Stage freight is a very widespread phobia. The phobic feelings appear when the sufferer begins to talk in front of a person that they are afraid of, or they may well experience phobic feelings only when in front of a group of people. The size of the group of people may differ. This irrational fear can be triggered by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-confidence.

Those who suffer from social anxiety disorder can get really worried just being around other people, even people they know. It’s a fear of being criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be triggered in almost any type of social dealings. A person could be waiting on line at a supermarket and get stressful feelings as they think about having to talk to the checker as they checkout.

The fear of taking a test (universally known as test anxiety) is quite a very common phobia. Phobias to taking tests are rooted in comparing yourself to other people, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failing.

People have developed phobias to every sort of experience under the sun. For example: Bugs; animals; snakes; high places; flying; small enclosed places; and even the great outdoors.

Agoraphobia is generally thought to be a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is quite ambiguous because Agoraphobics are really afraid of having a panic attack, wherever they are. 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 begun to occur, they begin to anticipate them to come about. And this expectation in reality causes them to occur with increasing frequency. Other people 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 care for their patients using sedatives, which can make the phobia worse over extended treatment. Sedatives don’t take care of the underlying cause of a phobia; they only disguise some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY: Some schools of therapy recommend “Talk Therapy.” Talk therapy is merely talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, thinking about or talking about the situation or environment that causes a phobic attach can trigger a panic attack!

HYPNOTHERAPY CDS: Traditional self-hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with only meager success. Traditional hypnosis is accomplished when the hypnotherapist guides the patient into a relaxed state of hypnosis and gives the client post-hypnotic suggestions or commands. Since most people of our generation question and resist direct suggestions, they also reject the notion that they will be more relaxed and at ease when they encounter the environment or situation that causes their panic attacks.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION: Systematic Desensitization is the practice of slowly desensitizing a phobic person to the environment or condition that causes a phobic attack. For instance, if a woman wanted to dive from a high board but she 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 safe.

The next thing she is asked is to dive in from the bottom step of the ladder going up to the diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is again safe.

Over a period of time the phobic is asked to dive in from incrementally higher steps on the ladder. 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. 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. Sooner or later she makes it to the top of the ladder and dives in from the high board itself.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION WHILE IN THE STATE OF HYPNOSIS: Systematic Desensitization can be done literally while in the state of hypnosis 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 rung of 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 unable to trigger a panic attack.

Next she’s asked to associate, or imagine the camera inside of her head so she would be seeing 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’s told to go back to the previous lower step on the ladder and imagine diving in from that step. The woman might be trained to generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) “anchor” of feelings of security and safety. She could then trigger that anchor while visualizing that she’s 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 awfully powerful and totally successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.

NLP V/K DISASSOCIATION: NLP 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 allows 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 alarm from the trigger or 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 civilization. They are fears that aren’t founded in reality. There are many treatments for phobias, but thus far in my opinion, the best treatments available are Systematic Desensitization while in the state of self hypnosis, and the NLP V/K Disassociation technique.

Alan B. Densky, CH is a trained hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner who has been in professional practice since 1978. He can be reached through his Neuro-VISION Hypnosis site where he offers hypnosis and NLP CDs for phobias. Visit his hypnosis article library, or download a free MP3.

- Alan B. Densky, CH