DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS: A phobia is defined as a fear not based in a real situation. When a person has a panic attack, they get frightened feelings; their respiration and heart rates raise; they may feel choked up like their heart is in their throat; the palms of their hands often get sweaty; they may experience the sound of ringing in their ears; and they very often find that they are unable to take part in an activity. These feelings cause the individual to avoid the activities and places that cause them.

SOME EXAMPLES OF COMMON PHOBIAS: For instance, if someone has a driving phobia, they would show evidence of these symptoms whenever they make an effort to drive, or perhaps even when they think about driving. Or a terror attack might happen only when driving in certain places like across railroad tracks.

The fear of talking in front of a group of people is a very common phobia. The anxious feelings appear when the sufferer begins to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they may perhaps experience fearful feelings only while in front of an assembly of people. The size of the crowd of people will vary. This irrational fear can be set off by fears of inadequacy, or a lack of self-assurance.

Those who suffer from social anxiety disorder can get really stressed just being around other people, even people that they know. It is a fear that they will be criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be triggered in any variety of social dealings. A person could be waiting on line at a checkout and get panicky feelings as they imagine having to talk to the checker during checkout.

The fear of test taking (universally known as test anxiety) is a very common phobia. A phobia to taking tests is rooted in comparing yourself to other people, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failing.

People have experienced irrational fears to every category of experience and environment under the sun. For example: Bugs; animals; snakes; high places; flying; small enclosed places; and even the great outdoors.

Agoraphobia is generally defined as a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is quite 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 church, at home, or at a grocery store.

For people who suffer with phobias, once the panic attacks have started to occur, they begin to expect them to occur. And this expectation actually triggers them with increasing frequency. Other people experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall discomfort, rather than panic.

AVAILABLE FORMS OF TREATMENT

DRUGS: Some doctors treat their patients with sedatives, which can make the condition worse over extended usage. Sedatives do not take care of the underlying origin of a phobia; they only disguise some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY: Some therapists advocate "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is simply talking about what is bothering you. Unfortunately, talking about or even thinking about a situation or environment that sets off a phobic attach can trigger a panic attack!

HYPNOSIS: Traditional self hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with severely limited success. Traditional hypnosis is accomplished when the hypnotherapist guides the subject into a relaxed state of self-hypnosis and gives him 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 causes their panic attacks.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION: Systematic Desensitization is the process of gradually desensitizing a person to the situation or environment that sets off a panic 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 confident about. She dives in and realizes that she did not get hurt and that she is safe.

Next she is asked to dive from the lowest step of the ladder going up to the high diving board. Again, she dives in and realizes that she was not hurt and that she is again safe and secure.

Over a period of time the subject is asked to dive in from increasingly higher and higher steps on the ladder. Each time she dives in and realizes that she was not hurt 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's asked 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 the state of hypnosis with as good as or better results. While in a relaxed hypnotized state, the woman would be asked to visualize herself diving in from each rung of the ladder. She would be asked to visualize herself feeling confident as she dives in. Since she is in fact disassociated while seeing herself, she is not able to cause a phobic attack.

Next she's asked to associate, or put 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 anxiety she's told to go back to the previous lower step on the ladder and visualize diving in from that step. The woman might be taught to generate a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" of feelings of safety and security. She could then activate that anchor while imagining that she's diving, and the feelings of safety and security could be subjectively transferred to the act of diving.

Systematic Desensitization while in a hypnotic state can be incredibly powerful and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.

NLP V/K DISASSOCIATION: Neuro-Linguistic Programming is basically 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 dread from the phobia 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: Irrational fears are common in our society. They are fears that aren't based in reality. There are many methods for treating phobias, but thus far in my judgment, the best treatments available are Systematic Desensitization while in the hypnotic state, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.