DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS: A phobia can be defined as an unfounded fear or dread. When a person experiences a phobic attack, they get anxious feelings; their respiration and heart rates increase; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; their palms may get sweaty; they may experience a sound of ringing in their ears; and they often find that they are unable to partake in an activity. These feelings cause the individual to avoid the activities and environments that trigger them.
EXAMPLES OF COMMON PHOBIAS: For example, if someone has a driving phobia, they would display these symptoms whenever they try to drive, or perhaps even when they just think about driving. Or a phobic attack could occur simply while driving in specific places like in heavy traffic.
The fear of talking in front of a group of people is a fairly common phobia. The phobic feelings appear when the sufferer begins to talk in front of a person that they are afraid of, or they may experience fearful feelings only while in front of a group of people. The size of the crowd of people will differ. This fear can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-assurance.
Those who suffer from a social phobia can get really nervous 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 caused by any kind of social dealings. A person could be standing on line at a supermarket and get stressful feelings as they imagine having to talk to the checker while they checkout.
The fear of taking tests (which is frequently known as test anxiety) is a frequent phobia. Testing phobias are rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failing.
People have developed phobias to every kind 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 thought to be a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is extremely deceptive because Agoraphobics are really afraid of having a panic attack, wherever and whenever. 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 phobia sufferers, once their panic attacks have started, they start to expect them to take place. And this expectation actually causes them to occur with increasing frequency. Other folks experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall discomfort, rather than panic.
FORMS OF TREATMENT THAT ARE AVAILABLE
DRUGS: Some doctors treat their patients by means of sedatives, which can make the phobia worse over prolonged usage. Sedatives don't treat the core origin of a phobia; they only disguise some of the symptoms.
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Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotist and NLP Practitioner who's been in professional practice since 1978. He can be reached through his Neuro-VISION Self-Hypnosis site where he offers hypnosis CDs for phobias. Visit his hypnosis article library, or download a free MP3.