Phobias Can Ruin Your Life – Here's How You Can Overcome Them With Hypnosis Article

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Phobias Can Ruin Your Life – Here's How You Can Overcome Them With Hypnosis

A phobia is defined as a fear that is not based in reality that causes uncomfortable feelings of panic. People experience phobias to normal everyday activities and locations, and these awful feelings greatly decrease their quality of existence. Phobias can be rapidly overcome!

Author: Alan B. Densky Ch

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DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS:

A phobia is defined as a fear not based in a real situation. When a person has a panic attack, they get anxious 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 a sound of 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.

EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:

For example, if an individual has an irrational fear of driving, they would display these symptoms when they make an effort to drive, or perhaps even when they think about driving. Or a panic attack may well come about just while driving in specific places like in heavy traffic.

The fear of talking in front of a group of people is a comparatively common phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the person begins to talk in front of a person that they are afraid of, or they may well have frightened feelings only while in front of a group of people. The number of people in the group of people will differ. This irrational 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 people that they are familiar with. It is a fear that they will be criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be set off by almost any variety of social interaction. A person could be standing on line at a variety store and get panicky feelings as they imagine having to talk to the cashier as they checkout.

The fear of taking a test (universally known as test anxiety) is a common phobia. Phobias to taking tests are rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failure.

People have developed phobias to every category of experience and environment under the sun. For instance: 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 ambiguous 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 gas station.

For many phobia sufferers, once the panic attacks have begun to take place, they begin to expect them to come about. And this anticipation in reality 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 THAT ARE AVAILABLE

DRUGS:

Some physicians care for their patients with sedatives, which can make the phobia worse over prolonged treatment. Sedatives do not treat the core origin of a phobia; they only mask some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY:

Some therapists advocate "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 phobia can trigger one!

HYPNOSIS CDS:

Traditional self-hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with only meager success. Traditional hypnosis is accomplished when the hypnotist places the client in a relaxed state of self hypnosis and gives the patient post-hypnotic suggestions or commands. Since most people of our 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 slowly desensitizing a person to the circumstances or environment that sets off a panic attack. For example, if a woman wanted to dive from a high 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.

Next she is asked to dive in from the first step of the ladder going up to the high diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that she was not hurt and that she is again safe and sound.

Over a period of time the woman is asked to dive in from progressively 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 sound, she is able to move up to the next rung. If she experiences the sensation of fear, then she's asked to move back down one rung on the ladder and dive from there until she feels complete comfort and security. In the end 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 a hypnotic state with as good as or better results. While in a relaxed state of hypnosis, the woman would be asked to envision herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be asked to visualize herself feeling confident and relaxed as she dives in. Since she is in a disassociated state while picturing herself, she is not able to trigger a panic attack.

Next she's asked to associate, or put the camera inside of her head so she would be seeing what she would see through her eyes if she was actually diving in from each rung of the ladder. She is asked to imagine feeling safe and relaxed as she dives in.

Just as in a live (in vivo) systematic desensitization, if she feels any anxiety she's told to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and visualize diving in from that step.

The woman might be trained to create a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of security and safety. She could then activate that anchor while imagining that she's diving, and the feelings of security and safety could be subjectively transferred to the act of diving.

Systematic Desensitization while in self hypnosis can be exceptionally useful and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.

NLP (NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING) V/K DISASSOCIATION:

Neuro-Linguistic Programming is 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 imagery that quickly and in many cases instantly disconnects or disassociates the feelings of terror 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 cause.

CONCLUSION:

Phobias are common in our culture. They are fears that aren't based in reality. There are many methods for treating phobias, but so far in my estimation, the best treatments are Systematic Desensitization while a hypnotic state, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.

About Author

Alan B. Densky, CH is a trained hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner who's been in professional practice since 1978. He can be contacted through his Neuro-VISION Self-Hypnosis website where he offers NLP CDs for phobias. Visit his hypnosis article index, subscribe to his free hypnosis & NLP newsletters, or download a free MP3.
http://www.neuro-vision.us/Products/AudioAgoraphobiaHypnosisTapes.htm

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