Fear & Worry: Overcome Irrational Apprehensions
You Can Set Yourself Free!
Free Yourself of Fears with Hypnosis
COMMON CAUSE OF FEARS
Among the primary reasons why people seek therapy is the need to deal with fear reactions. The range of such problems is extensive?from simple, annoying ?hang-ups,? to specific (or nonspecific) fears which affect the activities or enjoyment of life, to full-blown fears which may be a part of serious mental conditions.
Under certain circumstances or in specific situations virtually all people are subject to a variety of rational or irrational apprehensions. Many of these originate in childhood when undeveloped reasoning ability creates in a young person a natural climate for developing fears of the unknown. Fears can, of course, develop in adulthood through traumatic experience, but most prove to have originated in those early, impressionable years.
It is interesting to note that fears seldom travel alone. While one may be dominant and apparent, investigation will usually reveal others which are associated and inter-connected.
ANNOYING ?HANG-UP? OR MORE SERIOUS IMPACT?
There is a whole host of apprehensions that can exist in relative degrees of severity. Some of the common ones include fears of animals (dogs, spiders, snakes, mice, and others), clowns, darkness, heights, water, open spaces, closed spaces, bridges, flying, driving, illness, blood, pain, and death. There are also social fears of rejection, exposure, failure (or success), poor performance (public speaking, sports, scholastic, job, theatrical, sexual).
What we experience as fear is a result of triggering our brain?s sense of impending danger or loss of control. Fears are not necessarily bad. They can be highly valuable when they serve useful purposes, such as creating caution in driving a vehicle, safe implementation of tools and machinery, use of standard precautions for personal safety (locking doors, secure internet passwords, avoiding dark alleys), maintaining respectful distances from wild animals, and being prepared for common emergencies.
An apprehension or ?hang-up? becomes a fear when it becomes noticeably disturbing and begins to affect behavior, reaching the point of being triggered by factors which are irrational and illogical, maybe even unknown. Lack of understanding of the repressed conflict which causes the reaction may result in uncontrollable or unreasonable behavior.
A fear merits addressing when it occurs frequently enough to cause significant stress and is interfering with, and even limiting or altering, normal activities and routines that constitute a healthy satisfying lifestyle ? perhaps even to a degree that the illogical reaction threatens one?s safety and well-being.
HOW THE FEAR RESPONSE EMERGES
The progressive development of apprehensions, fears and phobic reactions often precedes through four phases: 1) unrealistic self-statements create a state of alarm; 2) fear of the fear itself develops; 3) personal feelings, logic and reason are rejected as the fear escalates; 4) avoidance begins of any person, place, thing or situation which generates feelings of arousal or anxiety.
Specific fears often emanate from apprehension of imagined impending danger. Feelings of anxiety and panic tend to evolve into forebodings of approaching disaster, the source of which is not understood.
Medical fears originating in adulthood can sometimes be precipitated by bio-chemical problems (hypoglycemia or allergic reaction) or by physiological experiences (indigestion assumed to be a heart attack). They can also be caused by life-threatening incidents (car accident, battlefield trauma). The duration of the reaction under the triggering circumstances may indicate whether the cause is physiological or psychological. A psychological reaction, since it anticipates the triggering episode, tends to start before and then diminish once the situation is actually encountered. Physiological reactions, caused by the event or activity itself, tend to initiate and increase once the triggering situation begins.
A key point is that a phobic person is threatened by something that does not, in reality, present a life threat. Yet the reaction is the same as if it would be a situation of real danger. The experience of fear generates even more fear, and the situation cannot be confronted in a calm state, so the victim makes every effort to avoid it. The fear of loss of control is very primitive and is likely to be a common key element in all fear cases. This is not uncommon especially when it affects personal relationship issues.
THE ADVANTAGE OF HYPNOTISM
Hypnotists specializing in such problems have claimed that what seems to trigger the fear reaction may not be what creates the specific response. It may well be caused by what the fear represents subconsciously as an unknown danger to that individual.
In mild cases, reprogramming through hypnosis can prove effective. Hypnotic suggestion can replace catastrophic thoughts with truthful statements explaining the nature of the symptoms and the realization that the physical sensations can cause no harm. Hypnosis can slow the heartbeat, achieve a sense of balance, generate relaxation through deep breathing, free the throat to swallow, overcome sensations of temperature change, and promote clear-headedness.
In more severe cases, symptoms are usually apparent, but the true root cause is likely unknown. The condition which created the fear is a threat to the victim because it is unresolved. Exposing the cause can diminish the anxiety associated with the fear by taking it out of the unknown so that rational suggestion can be used to alleviate symptoms. Some causes apparently producing present symptoms, however, may prove to be themselves symptoms of yet another deeper cause.
Age regression can be a highly effective technique for uncovering root causes, and is one of the most beneficial procedures available in the therapeutic arsenals of professional hypnotism. The fears are met and faced through the subconscious mind while in the relaxed state of hypnosis. It is important to note that hypnosis significantly increases the client?s ability to discover, confront and deal with their past experiences and perceptions in an empowering way ? without retraumatizing them (which commonly occurs whenever someone is rehashing past memories in a conscious non-hypnotic state).
DOWNLOAD PDF COPY:
Article-06_OvercomeFearWorry.pdf [PDF]