Phobias Are Irrational Fears - Learn How To Eliminate Them Using Hypnotherapy

A phobia is defined as an illogical fear. When a person has a phobic attack, they get terrified feelings; their respiration and heart rates increase; they may experience feeling choked up like their heart is in their throat; the palms of their hands may get sweaty; they may experience the 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 cause them.

Some Examples of Common Phobias:
For instance, if a person has a driving phobia, that person would show evidence of these symptoms whenever they make an effort to drive their car, or maybe even when they think about driving. Or a panic attack may come about just when driving in certain places like under bridges.

Stage freight is a fairly widespread phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the person starts to talk in front of a person that they are intimidated by, or they may well have phobic feelings only while in front of an assembly of people. The number of people in the assembly can differ. This phobia can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-assurance.

Those who suffer from a social phobia can get horrifically nervous just being around other people, even folks they know. It's a fear of being criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be triggered in almost any type of social relations. A person could be waiting on line at a supermarket and get stressful feelings as they imagine having to talk to the cashier as they checkout.

The fear of test taking (which is generally known as test anxiety) is quite a frequent phobia. Phobias to taking tests are rooted in comparing yourself to other people, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failing.

People have experienced irrational fears to every type 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 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 they are. 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 grocery store.

For many phobia sufferers, once their panic attacks have begun, they begin to expect them to happen. And this anticipation in reality 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.

OBTAINABLE FORMS OF TREATMENT

DRUGS:
Some physicians care for patients using sedatives, which can make the phobia worse over extended treatment. Sedatives do not take care of the underlying cause of a phobia; they only disguise some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY:
Some counselors advocate "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is only talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, talking about or even thinking about the situation or environment that triggers a phobia can trigger a phobic attack!

HYPNOSIS:
Traditional hypnotherapy has been used to treat phobias, but with very little success. Traditional hypnotherapy is accomplished when the hypnotherapist guides the patient into a relaxed state of self-hypnosis and gives him post-hypnotic suggestions or commands. Since most people of our 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 triggers their panic attacks.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION:
Systematic Desensitization is the process of slowly desensitizing a phobic person to the environment or situation that triggers a phobic attack. For instance, if a person 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 she did not get hurt and that she is safe.

Next she is asked to dive from the first 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 safe.

Over a period of time the woman is asked to dive in from progressively higher and higher steps on the ladder going up to the diving board. Each time she dives in and realizes that she did not get 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 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 virtually 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 envision herself diving in from each step on the ladder. She would be told to visualize herself feeling confident as she watches herself dive in. Since she is in fact disassociated while picturing herself, she is not able to trigger a panic attack.

Next she is told to associate, or 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 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 told to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and imagine 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 activate that anchor while picturing that she is 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 incredibly powerful 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:
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 dread 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 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 opinion, the best finest available are Systematic Desensitization while hypnotized, and the NLP V/K Disassociation technique.

Article Source: http://www.fitnesshealtharticles.com.

About the Author:
Alan B. Densky, CH is an NLP Practitioner. He began his practice of NLP & hypnosis in 1978. He offers an interactive NLP Six-Step Reframing CD on his Neuro-VISION Hypnosis website. Also available are his Free NLP article library, NLP & hypnosis newsletters and MP3 downloads.