Information on Phobias or Fears

What are you afraid of today? No matter what your fear, there are probably other people who are afraid of the same thing. In the West, phobias are the one of the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders.The phobic person is not alone. As much as thirteen percent of the population may currently have phobias, and as many as sixty percent of people have been affected by a phobia at some point in their life.

When the fears of the phobic person get to the point of causing great anxiety, and start to disrupt normal life, it is time to get some help. If these fears cause misery, or a desire to flee from the fear, (the Greek word phobos means extreme fear and flight), the phobic person may need some help to get over these fears.

The Greeks, Phobos was a god who could help them win in battle. Phobos could so confuse the enemy, and strike in them a feeling of abject terror. The enemy would be stunned into inaction, so that the victory of the Greeks would be assured.

For some people, even just the thought of their phobia is enough to provoke the fear response of the actual feared situation. Sometimes the fear is so strong they can feel physical symptoms such as dizziness or nausea, many of the same feelings that come with panic. Often they try to hide their phobias, and often this disorder can go unnoticed by others. By the phobic person usually knows that their fears are beyond what is reasonable.

How Phobias Work
Maybe you know about Pavlov's dogs. Ivan Pavlov fed his dogs and rang a bell whenever dinner was served. After a while, just ringing the bell would get the dogs to salivate - their bodies would act as if they were about to get fed. A bell (stimulus) actually caused automatic biological and emotional responses! Let that sink in for a moment... Even though it isn't logical to salivate at the sound of a bell the dogs would do it.

Phobias work the same way for us. Some biological response (fear for instance) has been tied to some "trigger" or stimulus (usually as a result of some emotionally charged incident.) This stimulus can be just thinking about the situation. In other words, the way a person thinks about getting on an airplane can have profound affects on his biology. These thoughts can cause the triggering of a variety of feelings - including fear and panic.

Although it's often not this simple, here's one way it can happen. Let's say somebody snuck up behind you and said "boo" and you just happened to be looking at the letter "L". Even though you're not consciously aware of what's going on, whenever you see this letter your unconscious mind could refer back to that earlier situation and get that scared feeling back. It has made the association between "L" and that feeling.

Now, this is just an example. You should know that phobias do not necessarily have to come from an outside source, they can be created solely within our own minds. They don't have to make sense (as you can see by the example above) nor do they have to be the result of a traumatic event. But when you think of your phobic situation, you are literally thinking thoughts that scare you. Usually you're not consciously aware of the scary thoughts. You're just aware of the feelings they produce.

Because phobias happen automatically and below the level of conscious awareness, conscious insight and talk therapy are often ineffective in eliminating this response. In fact many people know the cause or "trigger" of their phobias but still experience them.

Drugs can be introduced into your system to dampen emotional responses or chemically interfere with the anxiety producing substances your body makes. This treats the symptom but does not remove the cause.

Breaking the association between the stimulus and the response is the most complete and effective way to eliminate or dramatically decrease a phobia. There are a variety of techniques available to do this. We can teach you to use these techniques to use on yourself. It is a comfortable, safe experience and it works. To tell you the truth, most people find it entertaining.

Add it up in your own mind and make your own decision. Would you like to go to lengthy, expensive, uncomfortable classes? Do you want to put unnecessary chemicals into your system and deal with possible side-effects? Do you wish to spend countless hours in therapy?

...The simplest way to cure your phobias is through right treatment!!

The three main, conventional treatment modalities for anxiety disorders are behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and drugs. These modalities are often used in combination. To avoid the shortcomings of these treatments, try an easier, less risky method first. While some cases take more, many cases only take a few hours.

There are many dedicated professionals treating phobias with the following methods. Many of them produce fine results. For instance, in one study cognitive-behavioral therapy was proven as effective for many phobic responses as the techniques you'll learn from Phobias Cured (though CBT takes a lot longer).


Behavioral Therapies
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is a proven effective approach to treating phobias.

According to the American Psychiatric Association it may take a year to notice what they call "A tremendous improvement." Behavioral therapies do work. Cognitive-Behavioral therapy in particular has been shown to be as effective as the methods I use. But they are out of the realm of what most people can afford to spend - in time and in money.

According to a pamphlet from the American Psychiatric Association here's what you can expect from a qualified therapist - if you "carefully follow the outlined treatment plan".

A year? Let's take a look at what that costs. Let's say 50 weeks of therapy at $95/session.... $27.7750.00! Plus fifty hours of your valuable time sitting in an office and likely another fifty hours of driving to and fro.


Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy calls for repeated exposure to your phobia. Let's see... If I don't like liver, is the best way to get over it to eat liver over and over again? This, in my opinion is not the best way to separate your phobic response from what scares you. Learn more here.

Exposure therapy often calls for repeated, painful exposure to the fear. When this process is carried out over a period of months, it is known as "progressive desensitization". When the exposure to the fear is continued and intensified over a single protracted length of time, often a period of several hours or more, it is called "flooding". I call these two methods "punishment" and find them appropriate for those who have been very, very mean to me.

Many are now coming to the conclusion that painful "exposure" therapy is an outdated and unnecessary practice. Exposure therapy de-links your fear from it stimulus by exposing you to your fear for so long that your body and mind grow tired of reproducing the fear. Believe me, there are faster, easier ways of separating stimulus from response - it's easy in fact.


Drugs
Drugs have been extremely helpful to many and may be necessary for some. It would make sense however, to try non-drug, non-addictive, non-chemical therapies first. Drugs dampen the phobic response so in essence, your mind isn't as effective at producing your phobia. Learn more about drug therapy here.

We believe that a year is too long to spend to get "tremendous improvement". Many are now coming to the conclusion that painful "exposure" therapy is an outdated and unnecessary practice. And in my opinion drug therapies introduce needless risk - and they only suppress the symptom!