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DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS: A phobia can be defined as an illogical fear or dread. When a person experiences a phobic attack, they get panicky feelings; their respiration and heart rates raise; 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 quite often find that they are unable to participate in an activity. These feelings cause the individual to avoid the situations and environments that trigger them.

EXAMPLES OF COMMON PHOBIAS: For instance, if a person has a fear of driving, they would exhibit these symptoms when they attempt to drive, or possibly even when they just think about driving. Or a freight attack might come to pass simply when driving in certain places like across railroad tracks.

Stage freight is a comparatively widespread phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the individual starts to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they may have panicky feelings only in front of an assembly of people. The size of the group will vary. This irrational fear can be triggered by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-confidence.

Those who suffer from a social phobia can get awfully worried just being around other folks, even folks that they are acquainted with. It's a fear of being criticized or evaluated by other people. This fear can be triggered in almost any variety of social relations. A person could be standing on line at a restaurant and get panicky feelings as they think about having to talk to the cashier while they checkout.

The fear of taking a test (which is commonly known as test anxiety) is quite a common phobia. Phobias to taking tests are rooted in comparing yourself to other folks, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failing.

People have experienced irrational fears to every sort of situation under the sun. For instance: Snakes; bugs; relationships; flying; small enclosed places; animals; high places; death; and even the great outdoors.

Agoraphobia is generally thought to be 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. 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 the drycleaners, at home, or at a gas station.

For many, once the panic attacks have begun to take place, they start to anticipate them to happen. And this expectation in reality triggers them 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 doctors care for their patients by means of sedatives, which can make the condition worse over extended treatment. Sedatives don't take care of the underlying root of a phobia; they only disguise some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY: Some therapists 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 triggers a phobic attach can trigger a phobic attack!

HYPNOSIS: Traditional hypnotherapy has been used to treat phobias, but with severely limited success. Traditional hypnotherapy is accomplished when the hypnotist guides the patient into a relaxed state of hypnosis and gives the subject post-hypnotic suggestions or commands. Since most people of our generation question and resist direct post-hypnotic suggestions, they also reject the concept that they will be more relaxed and at ease when they encounter the situation or environment that causes their panic attacks.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION: Systematic Desensitization is the process of gradually desensitizing a phobic person to the environment or situation that triggers a phobic attack. For instance, if a person wants to dive from a high diving board but 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 from the bottom step of the ladder going up to the high board. Again, she dives in and realizes that she wasn't hurt and that she is again safe and sound.

Over a period of time the woman is asked to dive in from progressively higher steps on the ladder. Each time she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is safe and sound, she is able to move up to the next rung of the ladder. If she experiences the sensation of 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. Ultimately she makes it to the top of the ladder and is able to dive in from the high board.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION WHILE IN THE STATE OF HYPNOSIS: Systematic Desensitization can be done literally 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 envision herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be told to see herself feeling relaxed and confident as she watches herself dive in. Since she is in fact disassociated while visualizing 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 be seeing what she would see through her eyes if she was actually diving in from each step 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 is asked to go back to the previous lower step on the ladder and picture diving in from that step. She might be taught to create a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of security and safety. She could then set off 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 awfully effective and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.

NLP V/K DISASSOCIATION: NLP 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 method 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 freight 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: Phobias are very common in our culture. They are fears that aren't based in reality. There are many treatments for phobias, but so far in my view, the best finest are Systematic Desensitization while in the state of self-hypnosis, and the NLP V/K Disassociation technique.

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