Phobias

A phobia is a persistent irrational fear of an object, situation, place or thing that a person feels compelled to avoid. which

• Is out of proportion to any actual danger
• Cannot be reasoned or explained away
• Appears silly to the sufferer, but
• Cannot be voluntarily controlled, and
• Leads to avoidance of what is feared

And that is only the start of the problem, phobias can begin to interfere with your ability to work, socialize and go about your daily life. People who suffer from phobias are often so frightened that they avoid the objects or situations they fear. Very often an unchecked phobia spreads to more and more situations, thus the life of a phobic person becomes ever more constricted.

The basic feature of any phobia is a conflict between the conscious and the unconscious mind. Hypnotherapy is an efficient process in alleviating phobias because it can get in touch with these unconscious parts.
Hypnotherapy is exceptionally good at eliminating phobias, Hypnosis will help you identify the cause for this displaced fear. and get rid of the anxiety from the past, whether it was learned or taught, so that your phobia doesn’t bother you any more. Phobias are not rational, and can be dealt with effectively by Hypnotherapy and NLP techniques. Hypnotherapy has proved to be successful with phobias because of one similarity between the two: they are both related to the unconscious. Just think how wonderful you will feel when you can live life again to the full.
When avoidance causes distress or interferes with the ability to work, socialize, or care for day-to-day needs, an evaluation should be sought, because very often unchecked phobia spreads to more and more situations, thus the life of a phobic person becomes even more constricted.

Phobias generally fall into five main categories:

• Agoraphobia - which is fear of being away from your own safe place, or town or country, fear of entering shops, crowds, public places, or travelling in trains, buses or planes, or of being in a situation from which escape is not possible, or in which help would not be available if the person is overwhelmed by anxiety or experiencing a panic attack.
• Social phobia - fear of any social activity where people might look at you. Fear of social or performance situations. Giving presentations, eating in public, walking down the road, standing in a queue. Those with social phobia have a fear of embarrassing themselves or of being humiliated in public.
• Claustrophobia - fear of small enclosed places, such as lifts or buses,
• Blood and Injury phobia - fear of injections, fear of the sight of blood, going into hospital, visiting the doctor or dentist.
• Simple phobia - people with a simple or specific phobia generally have an irrational fear of specific objects or situations. The disability caused by this phobia can be severe if the feared object or situation is a common one. One of the more common phobias is fear of animals, dogs, snakes, bees, rats. Fear of thunder or lightening, fear of the feel of a skin on a peach. Fear of driving across a bridge. These fears are learned, they often start with trauma or teaching.

Phobias are emotional and physical reactions to feared objects or situations. Symptoms of a phobia include the following:

• Feelings of panic, dread, horror, or terror
• Recognition that the fear goes beyond normal boundaries and the actual threat of danger
• Reactions that are automatic and uncontrollable, practically taking over the person’s thoughts
• Rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, and an overwhelming desire to flee the situation—all the physical reactions associated with extreme fear
• Extreme measures taken to avoid the feared object or situation

Another common symptom experienced by people with phobias is anticipatory anxiety. Anticipatory anxiety can cause people to avoid situations in which they might have a panic attack or to avoid the objects that trigger a response of intense fear and anxiety.

Control is the key to the cause, and the conquering of phobias. Phobic people usually display fear of loss of control, control of other people through helplessness, control of over fear through avoidance, and control of deeper fear or inner conflict.

If you think you may have severe symptoms of a specific or social phobia, go to your doctor and talk to him about it, he may give you medication Medications are used to control the panic experienced during a phobic situation as well as the anxiety aroused by anticipation of that situation, and are the treatment of first choice for social phobia and agoraphobia. It usually helps a great deal to start your recovery. Keep in mind that if you do take medication it may not start working for three to four weeks.

The next step is to find a professional who has special training in panic attacks, and phobias. It is important that you feel comfortable with your treatment. If this is not the case seek help elsewhere. If you have been taking medication don’t stop all of a sudden. These drugs need to be tapered off slowly under the care of your doctor.

Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder. Many people misunderstand them and think people should be able to overcome their symptoms by willpower - they cannot. There are treatments developed through research that work well for these disorders.

Anxiety disorders are treated in two ways - medication, psychotherapy, CBT, behavioural therapy, or hypnotherapy. Sometimes only one treatment is used, and sometimes two are combined.

Treatment with psychotherapy includes cognitive-behaviour-therapy (CBT) and behavioural therapy. It is a talking therapy. The goal is to change how a person thinks about, and then reacts to, a situation that makes them anxious and frightened.

In behaviour therapy, you meet with a trained therapist and confront the feared object or situation in a carefully planned, gradual way and learn how to control the physical reaction of fear. The person first imagines the feared object or situation, and finally actually experiences the situation or comes into contact with the feared object. By confronting, rather than fleeing the object of fear, the person becomes accustomed to it and can lose the terror and dread he or she once felt.

Hypnotherapy can help with phobias quickly and efficiently. Simple phobias can be treated in just a few sessions, others take longer.
Hypnosis helps by;

• Desensitising the client to the stimulus i.e. spiders, the flying experience, in a relaxed and comfortable way.
• Teaching the client new techniques to be more relaxed in those feared situations, and helping then to become calm and totally empowered in situations where they are likely to encounter the stimulus.
• Uncovering the source of the phobia although this is not generally necessary.
• Teaching the phobic person how to feel more in control so they can be free of their fears and start to go where they want and do what they want, and really enjoy life again.
• Teaching them special breathing techniques, relaxation, and other specialised techniques.
  NLP techniques are also particularly useful with phobias and fears.

There are numerous approaches, methods and techniques in the application of hypnotherapy on phobias. Phobias can limit your life greatly and provide a constant source of shame, fear and distress. Suffering from a phobia is not, however a natural and necessary life long fact, it can be changed, and hypnotherapy is very efficient of doing that.

Any phobia that interferes with daily living and creates extreme disability should be treated. With proper treatment, the vast majority of phobia people can completely overcome their fears and be symptom free for years, if not for life.

For more information and help on phobias and related issues:

Call Lyta Humphris on Plymouth 01752 788321 or e-mail lhumphris@aol.com for an appointment now.

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