Phobias & Irrational Fears - What They Are And How You Can Overcome Them With Hypnosis

DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS:
A phobia can be defined as a fear not based in reality. When a person experiences a panic attack, they get panicky feelings; their breathing and heart rates raise; 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 quite often find that they are unable to partake in an activity. These feelings cause the individual to avoid the activities and environments that cause them.

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:
For instance, if an individual has a driving phobia, that person would display these symptoms when they try to drive their car, or maybe even when they just think about driving. Or a terror attack may possibly occur just while driving in certain places like in heavy traffic.

The irrational fear of talking in front of a group of people is a very widespread phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the person attempts to talk in front of a person that they are afraid of, or they may well experience alarmed feelings only in front of an assembly of other people. The number of people in the crowd can 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 dreadfully panicky just being around other folks, even folks they are acquainted with. It is a fear of being criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be caused by almost any kind of social interaction. A person could be waiting on line at a restaurant and get stressful feelings as they think about having to talk to the checker while they checkout.

The fear of test taking (generally known as test anxiety) is a frequent phobia. A phobia to taking tests is rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failure.

People have experienced irrational fears 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 defined as a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is quite 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 phobia sufferers, once their panic attacks have begun to occur, they begin to expect them to occur. 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 sense of discomfort, rather than panic.

OBTAINABLE FORMS OF TREATMENT

DRUGS:
Some physicians care for their patients by means of sedatives, which can make the condition worse over extended treatment. Sedatives don't work on the core origin of a phobia; they only mask some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY:
Some schools of therapy prescribe "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is simply talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, thinking about or talking about the situation or environment that sets off a panic attack can trigger a phobic attack!

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

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION:
Systematic Desensitization is the process of gradually desensitizing a phobic person to the condition or environment that sets off a panic attack. For instance, if a woman wants to dive from a high diving 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 she did not get hurt and that she is safe.

Next she is asked to dive from the lowest step of the ladder going up to the high 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 and 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 and secure, she is able to move up to the next rung. If she experiences the sensation of fear, then she is told to step back down one rung on the ladder and dive from there until she feels complete comfort and security. Eventually 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 state of hypnosis, the woman would be told to visualize herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be told to visualize herself feeling confident and relaxed as she watches herself dive in. Since she is actually disassociated while visualizing herself, she is not able to cause a phobic attack.

Next she is told to associate, in other words to imagine the camera inside of her head so she would be seeing what she would see through her own 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 is told to go back to the previous lower step on the ladder and picture diving in from that rung.

She might be trained to create a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" for feelings of security and safety. She could then activate that anchor while visualizing that she is 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 extremely useful and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.

NLP V/K DISASSOCIATION:
Neuro-Linguistic Programming is basically the study of how we create our reality. The V/K stands for visual / kinesthetic. The V/K Disassociation is a technique 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 alarm from the irrational fear that causes them. The V/K Disassociation is known as the "One session phobia cure" in Neuro-Linguistic Programming circles, and with good reason.

CONCLUSION:
Irrational fears are very common in our civilization. They are fears that are not based in reality. There are many methods for treating phobias, but so far in my view, the best treatments available are Systematic Desensitization while in the state of self-hypnosis, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.

Author's Bio

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