DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS: A phobia can be defined as an irrational fear or dread. 

When a person experiences a panic attack, they get frightened feelings; their breathing and heart rates increase; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; the palms of their hands may get sweaty; they may hear a ringing in their ears; and they quite often find that they are unable to take part in an activity. These feelings motivate the individual to try to avoid the situations and places that trigger them.

EXAMPLES OF COMMON PHOBIAS: For instance, if someone has an irrational fear of driving, that individual would display these symptoms whenever they attempt to drive, or maybe even when they just think about driving. Or a freight attack could take place just while driving in specific places like in heavy traffic. 

The irrational fear of talking in front of a group of people is a comparatively widespread phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the individual begins to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they might experience fearful feelings only in front of a group of people. The number of people in the group of people can vary. This fear can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-confidence.

Those who suffer from a social phobia can get horrifically worried just being around other people, even folks they recognize. It is a fear of being criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be triggered in any kind of social interaction. A person could be standing on line at a variety store and get phobic feelings as they think about having to talk to the cashier during checkout. 

The fear of taking tests (which is generally known as test anxiety) is quite a frequent phobia. Phobias to taking tests are rooted in comparing yourself to other people, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failure.

People have developed phobias to every sort of experience under the sun. For example: Snakes; bugs; relationships; flying; small enclosed places; animals; high places; death; and even the great outdoors.

Agoraphobia is generally defined as a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is very deceptive because Agoraphobics are really afraid of having a panic attack, wherever they may happen to be. 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 many phobia sufferers, once their panic attacks have begun to take place, they begin to expect them to take place. And this anticipation actually triggers them with increasing frequency. Other people experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall discomfort, rather than panic. 

FORMS OF TREATMENT THAT ARE AVAILABLE DRUGS: Some doctors care for patients using sedatives, which can make the phobia worse over protracted treatment. Sedatives don't work on the underlying root of a phobia; they only camouflage 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 a situation or environment that causes a panic attack can trigger a phobic attack!

HYPNOTHERAPY CDS & Downloads: Traditional hypnotherapy has been used to treat phobias, but with only meager success. Traditional hypnosis is accomplished when the hypnotherapist places the client in a relaxed state of self hypnosis and gives the client post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. Since most people of our generation question and resist direct 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 incrementally desensitizing a phobic person to the circumstances or environment that causes a panic attack. For instance, if a woman wanted 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 did not get hurt and that she is secure.

The next thing she is asked is to dive in from the lowest 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 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 she was not hurt and that she is safe, she is able to move up to the next rung on the ladder. If she experiences fear, then she is told to step back down one rung on the ladder and dive from there until she feels complete comfort and security. Eventually she makes it to the top of the ladder and dives 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 even better results. While in a relaxed state of self-hypnosis, the woman would be told to picture herself diving in from each step on the ladder. She would be told to picture herself feeling confident as she watches herself dive in. Since she is in a disassociated state while seeing herself, she is not able to trigger a phobic attack. 

Next she is told to associate, or put 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 told 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 asked to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and picture diving in from there. 

She might be trained to create a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" for feelings of safety and security. She could then trigger that anchor while picturing that she is diving, and the feelings of safety and security could be subjectively transferred to the act of diving.

Systematic Desensitization while in hypnosis can be exceedingly useful and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.

NLP (NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING) V/K DISASSOCIATION: NLP 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 enables a trained NLP Practitioner to guide a subject through specific imagery that quickly and in many cases instantly disconnects or disassociates the feelings of terror from the phobia that causes them. The V/K Disassociation is known as the "One session phobia cure" in NLP circles, and with good reason.

CONCLUSION: Irrational fears are common in our society. They are fears that are not founded in reality. There are many techniques for treating phobias, but so far in my judgment, the best finest available are Systematic Desensitization while a hypnotic state, and the NLP V/K Disassociation technique.

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 Self-Hypnosis e-commerce site where he offers hypnosis and NLP downloads for phobias. Visit his hypnosis article library, or download a free MP3.

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