Phobias

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Have you ever experienced that terrible feeling when you are so afraid of something that is not dangerous enough to warrant extreme panic, that you’ll do anything to avoid it?  Afraid you would faint if someone just mentioned or showed you a picture of that feared object or event?  So scared you would grab hold of a stranger, or lose bladder control, or vomit if you encountered it, that you start staying away from any place or situation you may think of it, to your own detriment?  So embarrassed at what you knew was an irrational fear but beyond your control, that you withdraw from social situations and even from close friends?

You may be suffering from one or more PHOBIAS.  And phobias are actually quite common.  At least 8% of the population will suffer from some sort of phobia at some time in their life.

Phobias can start at any time in someone’s life, and also occur in group settings.  Sometimes the phobia is caused by a scary experience, such as being bitten by a dog, but often the phobia occurs because of indirect influences:  A child may learn phobic behaviours or beliefs from adults or older children.  Phobias may be due to associated learning, such as hearing a scary or loud noise while encountering, for instance, an insect, or being on a high place.  Sometimes it’s symbolic.  Sometimes it’s the result of unpleasant emotions aroused by a story in a book, or told by someone else, or a movie, or actual historical events.

Unlike fears of actual danger, phobias are irrational and result in panic symptoms and extreme avoidance.  If you live in a rural area and are scared of snakes and very vigilant when you walk in scrub areas, this would be a rational fear.  If you live in a city and are so afraid of snakes that you can’t look at a toy snake in a shop window without feeling faint, you probably have a phobia.

Some people have a specific phobia, such as a fear of feathers, whereas other have combinations of many phobias, such as fear of confined spaces, and thus also of lifts and of flying.  Sometimes people also have more than one mental disorder in addition to phobias, such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and some form of Personality Disorder, as is seen in the movie As good as it gets.

The most common phobias are the fear of having to speak in public, which is often related to performance anxiety, and social phobia [or social anxiety].

The good news is that phobias are relatively easy to cure, and usually do not need many sessions, if the most effective combination treatments are used, for instance, EMDR [Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing] with relaxation/hypnosis, CBT [Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy] and Systematic plus in vivo desensitization.

You can be helped!  For more information on Phobias and healing techniques, please see the relevant articles at www.selfgrow.co.za.

Please also note, for South African viewers, that I will be appearing as a consultant on Phobias on the television show Keeping it Real on SABC2 on Tuesday 4 Jan 2011 at 16:30-17:00.

Workshops:

The next workshop will be on brain structures that cause thinking and emotional differences between genders, and implications for harmonious living and leadership.  The workshop/talk will be held in Milnerton in February 2011.  Please check web site at the end of January for further details.