Have A Phobia? - What Causes Them And How To Overcome Them Using Hypnotherapy

DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS:A phobia can be defined as an unfounded fear. When a person has a panic attack, they get frightened feelings; their respiration and heart rates raise; they may experience feeling choked up like their heart is in their throat; their palms may get sweaty; they may hear a ringing in their ears; and they may find that they are unable to participate in an activity. These feelings push the individual to avoid the activities and places that cause them.

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:For example, if someone has a driving phobia, that individual would show evidence of these symptoms at the time they attempt to drive, or maybe even when they just think about driving. Or a freight attack may perhaps come about only when driving in certain places like over bridges.

The irrational fear of talking in front of a group of people is a fairly widespread phobia. The phobic feelings appear when the sufferer attempts to talk in front of a person that they are intimidated by, or they might experience alarmed feelings only in front of a group of other people. The size of the group will vary. This irrational fear can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-assurance.

Those who suffer from social phobias can get really panicky just being around other folks, even people that they are acquainted with. It's a fear of being criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be set off by almost any kind of social relations. A person could be standing on line at a supermarket and get stressful feelings as they think about having to talk to the cashier while they checkout.

The fear of taking a test (frequently known as test anxiety ) is a very common 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 under the sun. For instance: High places; animals; small enclosed places; relationships; flying; bugs; snakes; and even the great outdoors.

Agoraphobia is generally defined as a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is quite misleading because Agoraphobics are really afraid of having a panic attack, wherever and whenever. This phobia is developed when a person begins to avoid places or situations they have associated with anxiety . For example, they could have a panic attack at the drycleaners, at home, or at a supermarket.

For many phobics, once their panic attacks have started, they start to expect them to take place. And this anticipation in reality 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 physicians care for patients using sedatives, which can make the condition worse over prolonged treatment. Sedatives don't work on the underlying cause of a phobia; they only camouflage some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY:Some counselors advocate "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is simply 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:
Traditional self hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with very little success. Traditional hypnotherapy is accomplished when the hypnotist places the subject in a relaxed state of self hypnosis and then gives her post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. Since most people of our generation question and resist direct suggestions, they also reject the idea 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 slowly desensitizing a phobic person to the environment or situation that causes a panic attack. For example, 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 safe with. She dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is safe.

The next thing she is asked to do is to dive from the first step of the ladder going up to the high board. Again, she dives in and realizes that she was not hurt and that she is safe.

Over a period of time the subject is asked to dive in from incrementally 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, she is able to move up to the next rung. If she experiences fear, then she's told to step back down one rung on the ladder and dive from there until she feels complete comfort and security. Ultimately she makes it to the top of the ladder and dives in from the high board.

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 state of self-hypnosis, the woman would be told to visualize herself diving in from each step on the ladder. She would be told to picture herself feeling confident and relaxed as she watches herself dive in. Since she is in fact disassociated while picturing herself, she is unable to cause a panic attack.

Next she's told to associate, in other words to imagine the camera inside of her head so she would see what she would see through her eyes if she was actually diving in from each step 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 asked to go back to the previous lower step on the ladder and imagine diving in from that rung.

The woman might be trained to generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of safety and security. She could then activate 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 a hypnotic state can be quite useful and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.

NLP V/K DISASSOCIATION:NLP is basically the study 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 visual imagery that quickly and in many cases instantly disconnects or disassociates the feelings of fear from the irrational fear that causes them. The V/K Disassociation is known as the "One session phobia cure" in NLP circles, and with good reason.

CONCLUSION:Phobias are very common in our civilization. They are fears that are not based in reality. There are many ways of treating phobias, but thus far in my judgment, the best treatments are Systematic Desensitization while in the state of hypnosis, and the NLP V/K Disassociation technique.