Phobia And Anxiety
Most people if they were honest, would admit to experiencing some sort of irrational fear or worry at some point in their life. However, many of these fears are transient, but there are some that are so deep rooted in the conditioning of the person, that they often become so intense as to ruin the quality of life. This is when the condition is generally referred to as a phobia. A phobia could be said to be manifest when the sufferer starts avoiding necessary tasks like going to work or going shopping because of the fear that the phobia might arise. When it gets to this point, the sufferer will usually need professional help.
What is a Phobia?
A phobia is a situation that the subconscious mind perceives as a threat to the well-being and safety of the person, whether or not, the person rationally considers it to be a threat. For instance, with arachnophobia (fear of spiders/arachnids), the sufferer can rationally be saying to him/herself that spiders are harmless in the conscious mind, yet when confronted with the creatures, the fear experienced may be so intense as to feel life-threatening.
With all types of phobias, family and friends, with all good intentions, may tell the sufferer, "pull yourself together" but this will do nothing but worsen the condition. A phobia is very much like a nightmare where the sufferer is scared witless by normal things, but somehow in the dream, these everyday situations can summon terror. So a phobia is a nightmare, but it is occurring in full day-time waking consciousness.
Anxiety or Phobia?
Anxiety could be said to be "feeling worried a lot of the time", but when there's a phobia, the symptoms start to manifest in the body as well. For instance... Irregular/racing heart beats accompanied by palpitations, which cause an increase in respiration (usually manifesting as rapid, shallow breathing). This can then develop into a sense of light-headedness, faintness or dizziness and heavy perspiration. Then, when the sufferer has removed him/herself from the environment that is generating the phobia, the phobia will probably decrease in intensity but he/she may be left with severe muscle tension, aches and pains and/or upset digestive system.
What needs to happen in therapy is that the victim faces his/her phobias and fears, at his/her own speed. I emphasise "own speed" because if a victim is pushed prematurely to confront his/her phobia, it will do nothing to alleviate the problem and could probably even make the phobia worse. With a hypnotherapist, hypnosis would probably be used to help motivate the sufferer to do what ever it takes to reduce the intensity of the phobia at his/her own rate. This is achieved by creating in the subconscious mind, an improved self-image of how he/she wants to be in day-to-day life. Sometimes, but not always, it is necessary to assist the victim recognise the root-cause of the phobia, and then he/she is empowered to analyse it and let it go.
Gradually, the sufferer feels that he/she wants to make improvements (no matter how small) each and every day. As the subject makes these improvements, his/her confidence grows and it is quite common that he/she may even begin to experience a sense of euphoria at his/her progress.
If you have any more questions about phobias or fears, please visit my website, where you can email me or read more about self-improvement.
Derek Ayre is a registered hypnotherapist established in the UK in 1976. After becoming a Zen practitioner in 1980, he uses its powerful influence to help his clients both on and off-line. http://ayrehypnotherapy.com
posted by SUNNYuisiudj @ 4:43 AM
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