A phobia can be defined as a fear not based in reality. When a person has a phobic attack, they get frightened feelings; their breathing and heart rates increase; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; their palms very often get sweaty; they may hear the sound of ringing in their ears; and they may find that they are unable to participate in an activity. These feelings motivate the individual to try to avoid the situations and environments that cause them.
SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF COMMON PHOBIAS:
For example, if someone has a fear of driving, they would display these symptoms whenever they try to drive their car, or possibly even when they just think about driving. Or a phobic attack could come to pass only when driving in certain places like over bridges.
The irrational fear of talking in front of a group of people is a fairly common phobia. The frightened feelings appear when the sufferer attempts to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they might perhaps have panicky feelings only while in front of an assembly of people. The number of people in the crowd will differ. This fear can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-esteem.
Those who suffer from social anxiety disorder can get very nervous just being around other folks, even people that they know. It's a fear of being criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be set off by almost any variety of social interaction. A person could be standing on line at a checkout and get stressful feelings as they imagine having to talk to the checker during checkout.
The fear of test taking (commonly known as test anxiety) is a very common phobia. Test anxiety is rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failure.
People have developed phobias to every type 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 very misleading 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 many, once their panic attacks have started to occur, they begin to expect them to come about. And this anticipation 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 patients using sedatives, which can make the condition worse over extended usage. Sedatives don't work on the core root of a phobia; they only camouflage some of the symptoms.
TALK THERAPY:
Some counselors recommend "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is just talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, thinking about or talking about the situation or environment that sets off a phobia can trigger a panic attack!
HYPNOTHERAPY CDS:
Traditional hypnotherapy has been used to treat phobias, but with very little success. Traditional hypnotherapy is accomplished when the hypnotherapist places the client in a relaxed state of hypnosis and gives the client post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. Since most people in this generation question and resist direct suggestions, they also reject the belief 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 process of incrementally desensitizing a phobic person to the environment or circumstances that sets off a phobic attack. For example, if a person wants 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 first step of the ladder going up to the high board. Again, she dives in and realizes that she did not get hurt and that she is again safe and sound.
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 she did not get hurt and that she is safe and sound, she is able to move up to the next rung of the ladder. If she experiences fear, then she's told 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 virtually while in the state of hypnosis with as good as or better results. While in a relaxed hypnotized state, the woman would be told to envision herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be told to visualize herself feeling confident and relaxed as she dives in. Since she is in fact disassociated while visualizing herself, she is unable to experience a panic attack.
Next she's told to associate, in other words to put 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 rung of the ladder. She is told to imagine feeling safe and relaxed as she dives in.
Just as in a live (in vivo) systematic desensitization, if she feels any terror she's told to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and imagine diving in from that rung. She might be trained to generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" for feelings of security and safety. She could then set off that anchor while imagining 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 very powerful and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.
NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING 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 method 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 Neuro-Linguistic Programming circles, and with good cause.
CONCLUSION:
Irrational fears are very common in our society. They are fears that are not founded in reality. There are many techniques for treating phobias, but thus far in my view, the best finest available are Systematic Desensitization while a hypnotic state, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.
Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner who's been in practice since 1978. He can be contacted through his Neuro-VISION Self-Hypnosis site which offers hypnosis and NLP CDs for phobias. Visit his hypnosis article library, or download a free MP3.