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Irrational Fears - What They Are And How You Can Eliminate Them Using NLP
DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS:
A phobia is defined as an illogical fear. When a person experiences a phobic attack, they get worried 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 hear a sound of ringing in their ears; and they often find that they are unable to participate in an activity. These feelings motivate the individual to try to avoid the activities and places that cause them.
SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:
For example, if a person has a fear of driving, they would display these symptoms at the time they make an effort to drive, or maybe even when they just think about driving. Or a freight attack may perhaps occur simply when driving in certain places like in heavy traffic.
The fear of talking in front of a group of people is a fairly widespread phobia. The panicky feelings appear when the person tries to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they may well experience panicky feelings only while in front of a group of people. The size of the assembly may vary. This fear can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-confidence.
Those who suffer from social phobias can get tremendously nervous just being around other folks, even folks that they are acquainted with. It is a fear of being criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be caused by any variety of social interaction. A person could be waiting on line at a restaurant and get phobic feelings as they imagine having to talk to the cashier during checkout.
The fear of taking a test (commonly known as test anxiety) is quite a frequent phobia. Phobias to taking tests are rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failure.
People have developed phobias to every sort of situation under the sun. For instance: High places; animals; small enclosed places; relationships; flying; bugs; snakes; and even the great outdoors.
Agoraphobia is generally defined as a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is very confusing 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 the drycleaners, at home, or at a gas station.
For many phobia sufferers, once their panic attacks have begun, they begin to anticipate them to take place. And this anticipation actually causes them to occur 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 condition worse over protracted usage. Sedatives don't take care of the core origin of a phobia; they only camouflage some of the symptoms.
TALK THERAPY:
Some counselors prescribe "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is just talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, thinking about or talking about a situation or environment that causes a panic attack can trigger one!
HYPNOTHERAPY CDS:
Traditional self hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with only meager success. Traditional hypnotherapy is accomplished when the hypnotist places the patient in a relaxed state of self hypnosis and gives the subject post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. Since most people in this generation question and resist direct suggestions, they also reject the belief that they will be more relaxed and at ease when they encounter the environment or situation that triggers their panic attacks.
SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION:
Systematic Desensitization is the practice of incrementally desensitizing a person to the situation or environment that causes a phobic attack. For example, if a woman wanted to dive from a high diving board but she fears it, she is asked to first dive from a height that she feels confident about. She dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is safe.
The next thing she is asked is to dive in from the first step of the ladder going up to the diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is again safe.
Over a period of time the person is asked to dive in from gradually 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 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 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 the state of hypnosis with as good as or even better results. While in a relaxed hypnotized state, the woman would be asked to envision herself diving in from each rung of 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 visualizing herself, she is unable to trigger a phobic 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 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 imagine diving in from there. 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 imagining 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 very effective and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.
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 allows a trained NLP Practitioner to guide a subject through specific imagery that quickly and in many cases instantly disconnects or disassociates the feelings of freight 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:
Phobias are very common in our culture. They are fears that aren't founded in reality. There are many ways of treating phobias, but thus far in my judgment, the best treatments are Systematic Desensitization while in the hypnotic state, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.
A phobia is defined as an illogical fear. When a person experiences a phobic attack, they get worried 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 hear a sound of ringing in their ears; and they often find that they are unable to participate in an activity. These feelings motivate the individual to try to avoid the activities and places that cause them.
SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:
For example, if a person has a fear of driving, they would display these symptoms at the time they make an effort to drive, or maybe even when they just think about driving. Or a freight attack may perhaps occur simply when driving in certain places like in heavy traffic.
The fear of talking in front of a group of people is a fairly widespread phobia. The panicky feelings appear when the person tries to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they may well experience panicky feelings only while in front of a group of people. The size of the assembly may vary. This fear can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-confidence.
Those who suffer from social phobias can get tremendously nervous just being around other folks, even folks that they are acquainted with. It is a fear of being criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be caused by any variety of social interaction. A person could be waiting on line at a restaurant and get phobic feelings as they imagine having to talk to the cashier during checkout.
The fear of taking a test (commonly known as test anxiety) is quite a frequent phobia. Phobias to taking tests are rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failure.
People have developed phobias to every sort of situation under the sun. For instance: High places; animals; small enclosed places; relationships; flying; bugs; snakes; and even the great outdoors.
Agoraphobia is generally defined as a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is very confusing 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 the drycleaners, at home, or at a gas station.
For many phobia sufferers, once their panic attacks have begun, they begin to anticipate them to take place. And this anticipation actually causes them to occur 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 condition worse over protracted usage. Sedatives don't take care of the core origin of a phobia; they only camouflage some of the symptoms.
TALK THERAPY:
Some counselors prescribe "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is just talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, thinking about or talking about a situation or environment that causes a panic attack can trigger one!
HYPNOTHERAPY CDS:
Traditional self hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with only meager success. Traditional hypnotherapy is accomplished when the hypnotist places the patient in a relaxed state of self hypnosis and gives the subject post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. Since most people in this generation question and resist direct suggestions, they also reject the belief that they will be more relaxed and at ease when they encounter the environment or situation that triggers their panic attacks.
SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION:
Systematic Desensitization is the practice of incrementally desensitizing a person to the situation or environment that causes a phobic attack. For example, if a woman wanted to dive from a high diving board but she fears it, she is asked to first dive from a height that she feels confident about. She dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is safe.
The next thing she is asked is to dive in from the first step of the ladder going up to the diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is again safe.
Over a period of time the person is asked to dive in from gradually 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 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 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 the state of hypnosis with as good as or even better results. While in a relaxed hypnotized state, the woman would be asked to envision herself diving in from each rung of 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 visualizing herself, she is unable to trigger a phobic 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 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 imagine diving in from there. 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 imagining 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 very effective and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.
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 allows a trained NLP Practitioner to guide a subject through specific imagery that quickly and in many cases instantly disconnects or disassociates the feelings of freight 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:
Phobias are very common in our culture. They are fears that aren't founded in reality. There are many ways of treating phobias, but thus far in my judgment, the best treatments are Systematic Desensitization while in the hypnotic state, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.
Article Source: www.Content-Syndication.org
Article Tags
phobia, phobias, phobic, panic attack, panicky, agoraphobia, claustrophobia, hypnosis, hypnotherapy, systematic desensitization, v/k disassociation, NLP
About the Author
Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotist and NLP Practitioner who's been in professional practice since 1978. He can be contacted through his Neuro-VISION Hypnosis site which offers hypnosis and NLP CDs for phobias. Visit his hypnosis research library, or download a free MP3.
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