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A
phobia is a persistant irrational fear such as a fear
of spiders, enclosed spaces or public speaking. Someone
with a phobia will do almost anything to avoid an object,
activity or situation that provokes the fear.
Phobias
are not genetic though some people may be more temparementally
prone to develop them. But they are always learned through
experience, either through a specific frightening experience
or developing more gradually, perhaps through the example
of a parent or someone other influential person, perhaps
purely through heightened imagination.
Traumatic
learning
Phobias draw on the same kind of
natural traumatic learning mechanisms as are involved
in generally more extreme symptoms such as PTSD (post
traumatic stress disorder). A pattern of the memory of
a stressful event gets stored in a part of the brain called
the amygdala (ensures our survival by triggering the ‘fight/flight’
response when something dangerous happens). When something
in the environment or a person's thinking matches the
memory in the amygdala, it triggers the fight/flight mechanism
as if a real threat were present.
Therapy
Human
Givens therapists frequently work with phobias and traumatic
learning, either as a specific focus or in relation
to other concerns. Treatment for phobias has an extremely
high success rate providing the client wants change. Methods
are adapted to suit individuals and may include:
•
relaxation
techniques
•
giving information
•
the 'rewind technique'(deconditions the memory)
•
visualisation and guided imagery
Therapy
for phobias generally involves 2 to 3 sessions only, providing
there are not multiple linked concerns. |
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