DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS: A phobia is defined as an unfounded fear. When a person has a phobic attack, they get frightened feelings; their breathing 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 a sound of ringing in their ears; and they quite often find that they are unable to take part in an activity. These feelings cause the individual to avoid the activities and places that cause them.

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS: For instance, if an individual has an irrational fear of driving, they would exhibit these symptoms when they make an effort to drive their car, or possibly even when they just think about driving. Or a phobic attack may well ensue just while driving in specific places like across railroad tracks.

The irrational fear of talking in front of a group of people is a very common phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the individual begins to talk in front of a person that they are afraid of, or they might well experience phobic feelings only when in front of an assembly of people. The number of people in the assembly of people will differ. This phobia can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-esteem.

Those who suffer from social anxiety disorder can get horrifically tense just being around other people, even people they are acquainted with. It's a fear of being criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be caused by almost any type of social dealings. A person could be standing on line at a restaurant and get stressful feelings as they imagine having to talk to the cashier as they checkout.

The fear of taking tests (regularly known as test anxiety) is quite a common phobia. Test anxiety is rooted in comparing yourself to other people, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failure.

People have experienced irrational fears to every kind 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 are. Agoraphobia develops 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 people who suffer with phobias, once the panic attacks have begun to take place, they start to anticipate them to come about. And this anticipation actually causes them to occur with increasing frequency. Other people experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall discomfort, rather than panic.

OBTAINABLE FORMS OF TREATMENT

DRUGS: Some physicians care for patients by means of sedatives, which can make the condition worse over protracted treatment. Sedatives do not treat the underlying origin of a phobia; they only disguise some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY: Some schools of therapy prescribe "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is only talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, thinking about or talking about the situation or environment that sets off a panic attack can trigger one!

HYPNOSIS: Traditional self hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with very little success. Traditional hypnotherapy is accomplished when the hypnotist places the client in a relaxed state of self hypnosis and then gives the subject post-hypnotic suggestions or commands. Since most people in this generation question and resist direct post-hypnotic suggestions, they also reject the idea 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 practice of slowly desensitizing a person to the situation or environment that sets off a phobic 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 she didn't get hurt and that she is secure.

The next thing she is asked to do is to dive in from the first step of the ladder going up to the high 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 progressively higher steps on the ladder going up to the board. Each time she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened to her and that she is safe, she is able to move up to the next rung. If she experiences 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. Ultimately she makes it to the top of the ladder and dives in from the high board.

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 even better results. While in a relaxed state of hypnosis, the woman would be asked to envision herself diving in from each step on the ladder. She would be asked to see herself feeling relaxed and confident as she watches herself dive in. Since she is in fact disassociated while seeing herself, she is unable to experience a panic attack.

Next she is asked to associate, in other words to imagine 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 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 is told to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and picture diving in from there. The phobic might be trained to generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" for feelings of security and safety. She could then set off that anchor while imagining that she is 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 especially useful 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 and practice of how we create our reality. The V/K stands for visual / kinesthetic. The V/K Disassociation is a technique 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 phobia 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 techniques for treating phobias, but thus far in my view, the best finest available are Systematic Desensitization while in the hypnotic state, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.

About the Author

Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner who's been in practice since 1978. He can be reached through his Neuro-VISION Hypnosis site which offers hypnosis and NLP CDs for phobias .