THE FEAR OF PHOBIAS

Phobias are usually considered to be triggered by irrational or unknown factors, and when they are experienced by that person, disturb that person's everyday life. People who have a phobia usually react uncontrollably and intensely to the situation because they do not know what the cause is,which maybe either from a previous conditioned stimuli or repressed action or conflict in them which causes this feeling or reaction to take place . The fear of the unknown causes them to have a phobic reaction.Neurotic individuals have a wide variety of phobias, to name a few: Acrophobia(fear of heights), Agoraphobia(fear of open places) Claustrophobia(fear of closed places),Mysophobia(fear of dirt),etc..., sometimes the phobia has such a grip on the persons thinking that they become a social recluse or socially phobic to their surroundings and create severe anxiety in the person afflicted with this condition. Hypnotherapy is one of the better therapeutic modalities which can help a person get over their phobias or fears, the process used could be circle therapy where the client is made to repeatedly face or confront his phobia in a state of hypnosis until the anxiety or perceived danger of the situation is gradually desensitized, and positive suggestions given to the client to strengthen their self image and get rid of this fear.
Regression Hypnotherapy could also be used as a tool to bring the client to the original point or cause of the fear or phobia and remove this feeling thus negating this negative feeling and the anxiety associated with the phobia. Another form of therapy which could also be very beneficial to eliminate phobias is behavioral or motivational coaching, where the behavioral coach gradually introduces the client to his phobia one step at a time till the client is desensitized to this feeling, for example if a person has a fear or phobia of dogs the behavioral coach first introduces a photo of dogs for the client to see, after a while a stuffed toy dog and as the phobia lessens a live canine is brought some distance from the client , then a bit closer and so on and so forth till the client is totally confident that he or she can touch the animal without evoking the original fear or phobia, and thus the phobia is eliminated. It is important for the hypnotherapist or coach to remember during the intake interview to listen very carefully to what the client is expressing about his symptoms and that no other hidden, secondary or important psychological symptoms such as paranoia, delusional thinking, psychosis that are masked by what the client states as a phobia. In these cases the client is better of refereed to a psychiatrist for further treatment.If the client has a personal physican the therapist could also request the physican to send the therapist a bill of good health before any sort of hypnosis or behavioral coaching is started .

Hypnotherapy for Asperger,s Disorder

Scientific studies show that most outbreaks of anger or temper tantrums for Asperger's Disorder have an anxiety based content to it(1). In other words anxiousness builds up due to external or internal sensory stimuli in the brain of the person who is diagnosed with this Disorder , and this creates tremendous stress in the mind/brain of that person which leads to a chain reaction of outbursts of anger ,tantrums, fear,irritability this then lead into another domain of this person's life ie: social alienation from peers by what is seen as maladaptive behavior or no social skills , when in actuality this person is reacting to a bout of anxiety or even complex inferior which drives them further into social alienation and they could well end up with a phobia for society at large ,instead opting for solitary preoccupation with self.

This chain reaction is like an unbroken circle going round and round without any solution in sight . Hypnotherapy could help such persons to alleviate their stress or anxiety by relaxing the brain/mind and nervous system, as during hypnosis the parasympathetic nervous system is kicked into action and this allows the mind to relax deeply, which in turn relaxes the whole nervous, muscular and circulatory systems of the body. Hypnosis also has many other positive effects with in the person such as raising of self esteem, effective thinking and behavior modification. Hypnosis can also help in insomnia and a myriad of other issues to numerous to mention over here. Having worked with a quite a few adolescents who suffered from anxiety , which was an offset of Aspergers Disorder, the method of hypnosis was employed and in most cases gave the client a lot of relief from anxiety or tension of the mind , eventually the client was taught auto hypnosis to use for themselves when needed. The therapeutic method of hypnosis is not very much studied in connection with asperger's syndrome, as hypnosis is as always mired by metaphysical connotations and until recently not taken seriously as a mode of therapy, but this is fast changing as hypnosis is being proven time and again that it can stand its ground with any therapeutic modality of the day and in some instance surpass the rest.Hypnotherapy as a therapeutic modality has its own distinct forms, methods and patterns which are employed during the session with the client. During a session the hypnotherapist gives the client suggestions for relaxation and calming of the conscious cognitive process, and by passing the critical faculty of critical thinking the suggestions of calmness ,anxiety free are registered in the subconscious or unconscious processes of the client which in turn lead to modification of maladaptive behaviors such as (tantrums, anger, low self worth etc). As the hypnotherapist and client gain rapport after a few sessions, other issues which might be also causing discomfort to the client could be also addressed. Hypnosis is also a great tool to be used by the family members of the person diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders as they are also in a state of great stress and anxiety, even angry at what happened to their family member and their whole world turned upside down. Group hypnosis sessions could help family member's to cope with feelings of inadequacy or guilt together, and express their feelings in a joint effort, this also allows the feelings of guilt or anger to be evened out and the family feels as a whole unit.

Anxiety, anger, phobias, fears or what ever your situation might be hypnosis can be a powerful adjunct to help you feel better. Please always consult a medical doctor/psychiatrist in case of doubt of any treatment. (For "Asperger's Disorder" diagnosis please consult DSM- IV-TR).

(1) www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/detail_asperger.htm