Panic Attacks - What Causes Them And How You Can Eliminate Them Using Hypnosis

DEFINITION AND SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIAS:
A phobia is defined as a fear not based in a real situation. When a person experiences 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 often find that they are unable to partake in an activity. These feelings push the individual to avoid the activities and environments that cause them.

EXAMPLES OF PHOBIAS:
For instance, if a person has a fear of driving, they would exhibit these symptoms whenever they try to drive their car, or probably even when they think about driving. Or a phobic attack may well occur just while driving in certain places like under bridges.

Stage freight is a comparatively common phobia. The panicky feelings appear when the individual begins to talk in front of a person that they are frightened by, or they might perhaps experience fearful feelings only in front of a group of other people. The number of people in the group of people will differ. 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 tremendously tense just being around other people, even folks they are acquainted with. It's a fear that they will be criticized or evaluated by others. This fear can be caused by almost any variety of social relations. A person could be waiting on line at a restaurant and get stressful feelings as they imagine having to talk to the cashier while they checkout.

The fear of test taking (regularly known as test anxiety) is quite a frequent phobia. Testing phobias are rooted in comparing yourself to other people, and is deeply rooted in a fear of failing.

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

Agoraphobia is generally thought to be a fear of open spaces. However, this definition is extremely confusing because Agoraphobics are really afraid of having a panic attack, wherever they are. This phobia is developed 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 supermarket.

For many phobia sufferers, once the panic attacks have started to occur, they begin to expect them to come about. And this expectation actually triggers them with increasing frequency. Other people experience fearful feelings on a continuous basis. These feelings cause an overall sense of discomfort, rather than panic.

FORMS OF TREATMENT OBTAINABLE

DRUGS:
Some doctors care for patients by means of sedatives, which can make the condition worse over protracted treatment. Sedatives do not treat the underlying origin of a phobia; they only camouflage some of the symptoms.

TALK THERAPY:
Some schools of therapy recommend "Talk Therapy." Talk therapy is only 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 panic attack!

HYPNOSIS:
Traditional self hypnosis has been used to treat phobias, but with very little success. Traditional hypnotic therapy is accomplished when the hypnotherapist guides the patient into a relaxed state of self-hypnosis and then gives her post-hypnotic commands or suggestions. Since most people of our 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 triggers their panic attacks.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION:
Systematic Desensitization is the practice of slowly desensitizing a person to the situation or environment that triggers a panic attack. For instance, if a woman wants to dive from a high board but fears it, she is asked to first dive from a height that she feels safe with. She dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is secure.

The next thing she is asked to do is to dive from the first step of the ladder going up to the high board. Again, she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is again safe and secure.

Over a period of time the phobic is asked to dive in from progressively higher steps on the ladder going up to the diving board. Each time she dives in and realizes that nothing bad happened and that she is safe and secure, she is able to move up to the next rung. If she experiences the sensation of fear, then she is asked to move back down one rung on the ladder and dive from there until she feels complete comfort and security. Sooner or later she makes it to the top of the ladder and dives 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 better results. While in a relaxed hypnotized state, the woman would be asked to envision 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 a disassociated state while visualizing herself, she is not able to cause a panic attack.

Next she is asked to associate, in other words to put the camera inside of her head so she would be seeing what she would see through her own eyes if she was actually diving in from each rung 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 is told to go back to the previous lower rung on the ladder and imagine diving in from that step.

She might be trained to create a kinesthetic (feeling or touch) "anchor" for feelings of security and safety. She could then trigger that anchor while picturing that she is diving, and the feelings of security and safety could be subjectively transferred to the act of diving.

Systematic Desensitization while in self hypnosis can be extremely useful and successful, but is can also be slow and take several hypnotic sessions to bring about a cure.

NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING V/K DISASSOCIATION:
Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the study of how we create our reality. The V/K stands for visual / kinesthetic. The V/K Disassociation is a technique that allows a trained NLP Practitioner to guide a subject through specific visual imagery that quickly and in many cases instantly disconnects or disassociates the feelings of terror from the irrational fear that causes them. The V/K Disassociation is known as the "One session phobia cure" in Neuro-Linguistic Programming circles, and with good cause.

CONCLUSION:
Irrational fears are common in our society. They are fears that are not founded in reality. There are many treatments for phobias, but thus far in my opinion, the best treatments are Systematic Desensitization while a hypnotic state, and the Neuro-Linguistic Programming V/K Disassociation technique.

A phobia is defined as an irrational fear that causes uncomfortable feelings of panic. People experience phobias to normal everyday activities and locations, and these panicky feelings greatly reduce their quality of living. Hear how you can go about getting rid of the frightened feelings that are the result of these unfounded fears so it becomes possible to lead a more fulfilling existence.

Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotist and NLP Practitioner who has been in practice since 1978. He can be contacted through his Neuro-VISION Self-Hypnosis site where he offers hypnosis CDs for phobias. Visit his hypnosis article index, or download a free MP3.

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