Phobias- What They Are And How You Can Eliminate Them With Hypnosis

DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS: A phobia can be defined as an irrational fear. When a person experiences a panic attack, they get panicky feelings; their respiration and heart rates increase; they may experience feeling choked up like their heart is in their throat; their palms may get sweaty; they may hear a sound of ringing in their ears; and they quite often find that they are unable to take part in an activity. These feelings push the individual to avoid the situations and environments that trigger them.

EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:

For instance, if someone has a fear of driving, that individual would exhibit these symptoms at the time they endeavor to drive their car, or probably even when they just think about driving. Or a freight attack may possibly come to pass simply while driving in certain places like over bridges. The irrational fear of talking in front of a group of people is a comparatively widespread phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the person attempts to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they may experience fearful feelings only when in front of a group of people. The number of people in the assembly of people may differ. This fear can be triggered by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-confidence.

Those who suffer from social phobias can get dreadfully stressed just being around other folks, even folks they recognize. It is a fear that they will be criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be triggered in any kind of social dealings. A person could be waiting on line at a checkout and get phobic feelings as they imagine having to talk to the cashier while they checkout.

The fear of test taking (regularly 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 experienced irrational fears to every category of experience under the sun. For instance: 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 extremely deceptive because Agoraphobics are really afraid of having a panic attack, wherever they may happen to be. 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 home, church, or in a supermarket.

For many phobics, once the panic attacks have begun, they begin to wait for them to take place. And this anticipation actually triggers them with increasing frequency. Other folks experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall discomfort, rather than panic.

FORMS OF TREATMENT AVAILABLE DRUGS:

Some doctors treat their patients with sedatives, which can make the condition worse over prolonged usage. Sedatives do not work on the underlying cause of a phobia; they only camouflage some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY:

Some therapists prescribe "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is only talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, talking about or even thinking about a situation or environment that causes a phobic attach can trigger a panic attack!

HYPNOSIS:

raditional self hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with only meager success. Traditional hypnotic therapy is accomplished when the therapist places the subject in a relaxed state of self hypnosis and gives the patient post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. Since most people in this generation question and resist direct post-hypnotic suggestions, they also reject the idea that they will be more relaxed and at ease when they encounter the situation or environment that triggers their panic attacks.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION:

Systematic Desensitization is the practice of slowly desensitizing a phobic person to the environment or situation that causes a panic attack. For instance, if a woman wanted to dive from a high diving board but she 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 secure. The next thing she is asked to do is to dive in from the lowest step of the ladder going up to the high diving 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 phobic 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 was not hurt and that she is safe and secure, she is able to move up to the next rung. If she experiences fear, then she is 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 is able to dive 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 told to envision herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be told to see herself feeling confident and relaxed as she dives in. Since she is actually disassociated while picturing herself, she is not able to experience a panic attack. Next she is told to associate, or 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 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 panic she is asked to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and imagine diving in from that rung.

The phobic might be trained to create a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of security and safety. She could then set off that anchor while visualizing that she is diving, and the feelings of security and safety could be subjectively transferred to the act of diving. Systematic Desensitization while in hypnosis can be very useful 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 fundamentally 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 freight 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 cause.

CONCLUSION:

Phobias are common in our culture. They are fears that are not based in reality. There are many techniques for treating phobias, but so far in my opinion, the best finest available are Systematic Desensitization while hypnotized, and the NLP V/K Disassociation technique.

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