Have A Phobia? - What They Are And How To Eliminate Them With NLP
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DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS: A phobia is defined as an illogical fear. When a person has a panic attack, they get frightened feelings; their breathing and heart rates increase; they may experience feeling choked up like their heart is in their throat; their palms often get sweaty; they may experience a ringing in their ears; and they may find that they are unable to take part in an activity. These feelings motivate the individual to avoid the situations and environments that cause them. SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS: For instance, if someone has a fear of driving, they would show evidence of these symptoms whenever they endeavor to drive, or possibly even when they think about driving. Or a panic attack may occur simply while driving in certain places like in heavy traffic. The fear of talking in front of a group of people is a comparatively common phobia. The frightened feelings appear when the sufferer starts to talk in front of a person that they are afraid of, or they might perhaps have frightened feelings only when in front of a group of other people. The size of the group of people will vary. This irrational fear can be triggered by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-confidence. Those who suffer from a social phobia can get horrifically nervous just being around other folks, even folks that they know. It's a fear of being criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be triggered in any kind of social relations. A person could be waiting on line at a supermarket and get panicky feelings as they imagine having to talk to the cashier during checkout. The fear of taking a test (frequently known as test anxiety) is quite a common 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 developed phobias to every kind of experience under the sun. For instance: 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 extremely misleading 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 phobics, once their panic attacks have begun, they start to expect them to come about. And this anticipation actually 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 THAT ARE AVAILABLE DRUGS: Some physicians treat their patients with sedatives, which can make the phobia worse over prolonged treatment. Sedatives don't treat the underlying root of a phobia; they only disguise some of the symptoms. TALK THERAPY: Some schools of therapy prescribe "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 phobia can trigger one! HYPNOTHERAPY: Traditional hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with very little success. Traditional hypnotic therapy is accomplished when the therapist guides the subject into a relaxed state of self hypnosis and gives the patient post-hypnotic suggestions or commands. Since most people in this generation question and resist direct post-hypnotic 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 progressively desensitizing a phobic person to the environment or circumstances that causes a panic attack. For instance, if a woman wants to dive from a high board but fears it, she is asked to first dive from a height that she feels confident about. She dives in and realizes that she didn't get hurt and that she is safe. Next she is asked to dive in from the bottom step of the ladder going up to the high board. Again, she dives in and realizes that she wasn't hurt and that she is again safe and secure. Over a period of time the woman is asked to dive in from progressively higher steps on the ladder going up to the diving board. Each time she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened to her and that she is safe and secure, 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 move 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. 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 state of self-hypnosis, the woman would be asked to envision herself diving in from each step on the ladder. She would be asked to visualize herself feeling confident and relaxed as she dives in. Since she is actually disassociated while picturing herself, she is not able to trigger a phobic attack. Next she's asked to associate, or imagine 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 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 anxiety she's told to go back to the previous lower step on the ladder and picture diving in from that step. She might be taught to generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of safety and security. She could then trigger that anchor while visualizing 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 exceptionally 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 method that enables 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 Neuro-Linguistic Programming circles, and with good cause. CONCLUSION: Phobias are common in our civilization. They are fears that aren't based in reality. There are many methods for treating phobias, but so far in my estimation, the best finest available are Systematic Desensitization while hypnotized, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.
Alan B. Densky, CH is a trained hypnotist and NLP Practitioner who's been in professional practice since 1978. He can be contacted through his <a href="http://www.neuro-vision.us/">Neuro-VISION Self-Hypnosis website</a> where he offers <a href="http://www.neuro-vision.us/Products/AudioAgoraphobiaHypnosisTapes.htm">hypnosis and NLP CDs for phobias</a>. Visit his <a href="http://www.neuro-vision.us/Hypnosis-Article-Index.html">hypnosis article index</a>, or download a free MP3.
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