Have A Phobia? - What Causes Them And How To Get Rid Of Them Using NLP
by Alan B. Densky, CH on 2007-09-23
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 frightened feelings; their breathing and heart rates increase; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; their palms may get sweaty; they may experience a 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 places that cause them.
EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:
For instance, if a person has a fear of driving, they would show evidence of these symptoms when they endeavor to drive, or probably even when they just think about driving. Or a panic attack may perhaps happen simply when driving in specific places like across railroad tracks.
Stage freight is a very common phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the individual tries to talk in front of a person that they are afraid of, or they might perhaps have phobic feelings only in front of an assembly of other people. The number of people in the group will differ. This fear can be triggered by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-assurance.
Those who suffer from social phobias can get horrifically nervous just being around other folks, even people that they know. It's a fear that they will be criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be caused by almost any variety of social relations. A person could be standing on line at a supermarket and get panicky 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 failing.
People have experienced irrational fears to every category of experience and environment under the sun. For example: Snakes; bugs; relationships; flying; small enclosed places; animals; high places; death; and even the great outdoors.
Agoraphobia is generally thought to be a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is extremely 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 home, church, or in a supermarket.
For many phobia sufferers, once their panic attacks have begun, they start to anticipate them to come about. And this expectation in reality triggers them with increasing frequency. Other folks experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall sense of discomfort, rather than panic.
FORMS OF TREATMENT OBTAINABLE
DRUGS:
Some physicians care for their patients using sedatives, which can make the condition worse over prolonged usage. Sedatives don't work on the core root of a phobia; they only disguise some of the symptoms.
TALK THERAPY:
Some counselors advocate "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is merely 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 phobic attack!
HYPNOTHERAPY CDS:
Traditional self-hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with severely limited success. Traditional hypnosis is accomplished when the therapist places the patient in a relaxed state of self hypnosis and then gives the client post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. Since most people in this 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 practice of slowly desensitizing a person to the situation or environment that causes a panic attack. For instance, 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 nothing bad happened and that she is secure.
The next thing she is asked to do is to dive from the first step of the ladder going up to the high diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that she wasn't hurt and that she is again safe.
Over a period of time the phobic 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 she did not get hurt and that she is safe and sound, she is able to move up to the next rung on the ladder. If she experiences the sensation of fear, then she's asked 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 is able to dive in from the high board.
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 visualize herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be asked to picture herself feeling confident and relaxed as she dives in. Since she is in fact disassociated while seeing herself, she is not able to cause a phobic attack.
Next she's asked to associate, or 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 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 panic she's told to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and visualize diving in from there.
The phobic might be taught to generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of safety and security. She could then trigger 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 self hypnosis can be exceedingly effective and totally 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 fundamentally 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 horror 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 society. They are fears that aren't founded in reality. There are many ways of treating phobias, but so far in my judgment, the best finest available are Systematic Desensitization while in the state of self-hypnosis, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.
A phobia can be defined as a fear not based in reality. When a person experiences a panic attack, they get frightened feelings; their breathing and heart rates increase; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; their palms may get sweaty; they may experience a 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 places that cause them.
EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:
For instance, if a person has a fear of driving, they would show evidence of these symptoms when they endeavor to drive, or probably even when they just think about driving. Or a panic attack may perhaps happen simply when driving in specific places like across railroad tracks.
Stage freight is a very common phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the individual tries to talk in front of a person that they are afraid of, or they might perhaps have phobic feelings only in front of an assembly of other people. The number of people in the group will differ. This fear can be triggered by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-assurance.
Those who suffer from social phobias can get horrifically nervous just being around other folks, even people that they know. It's a fear that they will be criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be caused by almost any variety of social relations. A person could be standing on line at a supermarket and get panicky 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 failing.
People have experienced irrational fears to every category of experience and environment under the sun. For example: Snakes; bugs; relationships; flying; small enclosed places; animals; high places; death; and even the great outdoors.
Agoraphobia is generally thought to be a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is extremely 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 home, church, or in a supermarket.
For many phobia sufferers, once their panic attacks have begun, they start to anticipate them to come about. And this expectation in reality triggers them with increasing frequency. Other folks experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall sense of discomfort, rather than panic.
FORMS OF TREATMENT OBTAINABLE
DRUGS:
Some physicians care for their patients using sedatives, which can make the condition worse over prolonged usage. Sedatives don't work on the core root of a phobia; they only disguise some of the symptoms.
TALK THERAPY:
Some counselors advocate "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is merely 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 phobic attack!
HYPNOTHERAPY CDS:
Traditional self-hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with severely limited success. Traditional hypnosis is accomplished when the therapist places the patient in a relaxed state of self hypnosis and then gives the client post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. Since most people in this 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 practice of slowly desensitizing a person to the situation or environment that causes a panic attack. For instance, 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 nothing bad happened and that she is secure.
The next thing she is asked to do is to dive from the first step of the ladder going up to the high diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that she wasn't hurt and that she is again safe.
Over a period of time the phobic 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 she did not get hurt and that she is safe and sound, she is able to move up to the next rung on the ladder. If she experiences the sensation of fear, then she's asked 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 is able to dive in from the high board.
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 visualize herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be asked to picture herself feeling confident and relaxed as she dives in. Since she is in fact disassociated while seeing herself, she is not able to cause a phobic attack.
Next she's asked to associate, or 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 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 panic she's told to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and visualize diving in from there.
The phobic might be taught to generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of safety and security. She could then trigger 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 self hypnosis can be exceedingly effective and totally 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 fundamentally 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 horror 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 society. They are fears that aren't founded in reality. There are many ways of treating phobias, but so far in my judgment, the best finest available are Systematic Desensitization while in the state of self-hypnosis, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.
About The Author: Alan B. Densky, CH is a trained hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner who has been in professional practice since 1978. He can be contacted through his Neuro-VISION Hypnosis ecommerce site which offers hypnosis CDs for phobias. Visit his hypnosis article index, or download a free MP3.