Have A Phobia? What They Are And How You Can Get Rid Of Them With NLP

By Alan B. Dinsky


DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS: A phobia can be defined as an irrational fear or dread. When a person has a panic attack, they get panicky 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 often get sweaty; they may hear the sound of ringing in their ears; and they very often find that they are unable to participate in an activity. These feelings push the individual to avoid the activities and places that cause them.

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS: For example, i f a person has an irrational fear of driving, they would exhibit these symptoms whenever they attempt to drive a car, or possibly even when they just think about driving. Or a phobic attack may come about just when driving in certain places like in heavy traffic.

Stage freight is a comparatively common phobia. The phobic feelings appear when the individual tries to talk in front of a person that they are intimidated by, or they may perhaps have fearful feelings only in front of an assembly of other people. The number of people in the group of people can differ. This phobia can be triggered by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-esteem.

Those who suffer from a social phobia can get horrifically worried just being around other folks, even people that they are familiar with. It's a fear that they will be criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be set off by almost any kind of social interaction. A person could be waiting on line at a variety store and get panicky feelings as they imagine having to talk to the cashier during checkout.

The fear of taking a test (which is frequently known as test anxiety) is a frequent phobia. A phobia to taking tests is rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failing.

People have developed phobias to every type of situation under the sun. For example: 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 confusing because Agoraphobics are really afraid of having a panic attack, wherever and whenever. 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 gas station.

For many phobia sufferers, once the panic attacks have begun, they start to expect them to happen. And this expectation in reality 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 OBTAINABLE

DRUGS: Some physicians treat their patients with sedatives, which can make the phobia worse over extended usage. Sedatives do not take care of the core cause of a phobia; they only mask some of the symptoms.

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

HYPNOTHERAPY: Traditional self hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with severely limited success. Traditional hypnosis is accomplished when the hypnotherapist places the subject in a relaxed state of hypnosis and then gives the client post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. 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 sets off their panic attacks.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION: Systematic Desensitization is the process of gradually desensitizing a phobic person to the environment or condition that triggers a panic attack. For example, if a woman wants to dive from a high diving 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.

Next she is asked to dive 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 safe.

Over a period of time the phobic is asked to dive in from progressively higher and higher steps on the ladder. 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 of the ladder. If she experiences the sensation of fear, then she's told to step back down one rung on the ladder and dive from there until she feels complete comfort and security. In due course 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 a hypnotic state with as good as or better results. While in a relaxed state of self-hypnosis, the woman would be told to visualize herself diving in from each step on the ladder. She would be told to see herself feeling confident as she watches herself dive in. Since she is actually disassociated while picturing herself, she is not able to experience a phobic attack.

Next she's told to associate, in other words to put 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 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 anxiety she's told to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and imagine diving in from that rung.

She might be trained to generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" for feelings of safety and security. She could then activate that anchor while imagining that she's 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 exceedingly powerful 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 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 imagery that quickly and in many cases instantly disconnects or disassociates the feelings of panic 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 common in our society. They are fears that are not founded in reality. There are many techniques for treating phobias, but thus far in my judgment, the best finest available are Systematic Desensitization while a hypnotic state, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.

Alan B. Densky, CH is a trained hypnotist and NLP Practitioner who has been in professional practice since 1978. He can be contacted through his Neuro-VISION Self Hypnosis site which offers NLP CDs for phobias. Visit his hypnosis article library, or download a free MP3.