Post your articles online and promote your website for free! Boost your sites ranking by linking it from the ArticleZap database! Free Article directory and instant translation publishing!
DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS:
A phobia is defined as an irrational fear or dread. When a person experiences a phobic attack, they get worried feelings; their breathing and heart rates raise; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; their palms may get sweaty; they may hear a ringing in their ears; and they often find that they are unable to participate in an activity. These feelings cause the individual to avoid the situations and environments that cause them.
SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:
For example, if an individual has an irrational fear of driving, they would exhibit these symptoms when they attempt to drive, or possibly even when they think about driving. Or a terror attack may perhaps happen just when driving in specific places like under bridges.
The irrational fear of talking in front of a group of people is a very widespread phobia. The phobic feelings appear when the person tries to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they might experience panicky feelings only in front of an assembly of other people. The size of the group can vary. This irrational fear can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-esteem.
Those who suffer from social phobias can get extremely nervous just being around other people, even people that they are familiar with. It's a fear of being criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be set off by any kind of social relations. A person could be standing on line at a restaurant and get panicky feelings as they think about having to talk to the checker during checkout.
The fear of taking tests (which is universally known as test anxiety) is quite a frequent phobia. Testing phobias are rooted in comparing yourself to other people, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failing.
People have experienced irrational fears to every category of experience and environment under the sun. For example: High places; animals; small enclosed places; relationships; flying; bugs; snakes; and even the great outdoors.
Agoraphobia is generally thought to be a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is very 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 church, at home, or at a grocery store.
For many phobia sufferers, once the panic attacks have started to take place, they begin to wait for them to take place. And this expectation actually triggers them with increasing frequency. Other people experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall sense of discomfort, rather than panic.
FORMS OF TREATMENT THAT ARE AVAILABLE
DRUGS:
Some physicians treat their patients by means of sedatives, which can make the condition worse over prolonged usage. Sedatives do not take care of the core origin of a phobia; they only mask some of the symptoms.
TALK THERAPY:
Some counselors prescribe "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is just talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, talking about or even thinking about the situation or environment that causes a panic attack can trigger a panic attack!
HYPNOSIS CDS:
Traditional self hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with only meager success. Traditional hypnotherapy is accomplished when the hypnotherapist guides the subject into a relaxed state of self hypnosis and then gives the subject post-hypnotic commands or suggestions.
Since most people in this generation question and resist direct suggestions, they also reject the idea that they will be more relaxed and at ease when they encounter the situation or environment that sets off their panic attacks.
SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION:
Systematic Desensitization is the process of incrementally desensitizing a person to the situation or environment that causes a phobic attack. For example, if a woman wants to dive from a high 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 she did not get hurt and that she is secure.
Next she is asked to dive in from the lowest step of the ladder going up to the high diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is again safe and secure.
Over a period of time the phobic is asked to dive in from gradually higher steps on the ladder. 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 the sensation of fear, then she is asked to step 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 virtually while in a hypnotic state with as good as or even better results. While in a relaxed hypnotized state, the woman would be asked to picture herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be asked to picture herself feeling confident and relaxed as she watches herself dive in. Since she is in fact disassociated while picturing herself, she is not able to experience a phobic attack.
Next she is asked to associate, or 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 step 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 terror she is asked 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" of feelings of safety and security. She could then trigger that anchor while picturing that she is diving, and the feelings of safety and security could be subjectively transferred to the act of diving.
Systematic Desensitization while in hypnosis can be exceedingly useful and totally successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.
NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING V/K DISASSOCIATION:
NLP is fundamentally 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 allows 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 alarm from the trigger or phobia 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 culture. They are fears that aren't based in reality. There are many ways of treating phobias, but so far in my judgment, the best treatments are Systematic Desensitization while a hypnotic state, and the NLP V/K Disassociation technique.
