It was reported in the press recently that scientists in Japan have developed an injection that will cure people of their phobias. They had trained some goldfish to connect a strong flashing light with receiving a mild electric shock. They were given a dose of a local anaesthetic called lidocaine and after this the fish no longer feared the flashing light. Apparently, the injection switches off the part of the brain that "learns" how to fear. The scientist in charge of the experiments, Dr Masayuki Yoshida of the University of Hiroshima, reportedly said that the fish had stable heart rates and were unable to learn to become afraid.
On the one hand it seems to me that if you just switch off the brain's ability to learn what to be afraid of then people will keep putting themselves into potentially deadly situations, like walking in front of cars. On the other hand what about if you have a phobia of needles? You will still need a therapist or other treatments to cure that first so what's the point?
Showing posts with label phobias. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phobias. Show all posts
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Friday, 18 September 2009
Rare Phobia
I read an item in the newspaper the other day about a young lady who was suffering from a rare phobia - a phobia of knees. This goes to show how you can be phobic of just about anything, even something such as knees which most people would feel are totally harmless. It seems this young lady's phobia started when she was a child of 11 and saw her Father fall and dislocate his knee.
The phobia is spoiling her quality of life. She said that it was worse in summer and that she didn't feel she could go to the beach or the pub. She thought she would freak out if she saw someone in a bathing costume or a short skirt and quivers in fear if someone tries to touch her knees or accidently bumps them. She is fine with her family and friends but strangers knees still hold a lot of fear for her. She is getting married next May and hopes to be free of the phobia by then.
She has tried several therapies including Hypnotherapy but nothing has worked for her. She should try my book "Stress Free Dentistry. The easy way to overcome your fear of going to the dentist". It is available at www.lulu.com and the techniques can easily be adapted to overcome any phobia. The phobia of knees is called Genuphobia. I put this into Google and came up with a site that talked about a therapist who was having an 85% success rate in treating this and other phobias. He says it is caused by an energy imbalance and recommends Energy Psychotherapy. It doesn't explain but he may be using something like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) of Thought Field Therapy (TFT). The site is www.phobia-fear-release.com/genuphobia.html. It clicks through to a site from where you can buy DVD's, audio CD's and books to help yourself.
The phobia is spoiling her quality of life. She said that it was worse in summer and that she didn't feel she could go to the beach or the pub. She thought she would freak out if she saw someone in a bathing costume or a short skirt and quivers in fear if someone tries to touch her knees or accidently bumps them. She is fine with her family and friends but strangers knees still hold a lot of fear for her. She is getting married next May and hopes to be free of the phobia by then.
She has tried several therapies including Hypnotherapy but nothing has worked for her. She should try my book "Stress Free Dentistry. The easy way to overcome your fear of going to the dentist". It is available at www.lulu.com and the techniques can easily be adapted to overcome any phobia. The phobia of knees is called Genuphobia. I put this into Google and came up with a site that talked about a therapist who was having an 85% success rate in treating this and other phobias. He says it is caused by an energy imbalance and recommends Energy Psychotherapy. It doesn't explain but he may be using something like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) of Thought Field Therapy (TFT). The site is www.phobia-fear-release.com/genuphobia.html. It clicks through to a site from where you can buy DVD's, audio CD's and books to help yourself.
Friday, 4 September 2009
Treatments for Phobias
For someone with a phobia life can be very difficult, depending on the phobia they have and its severity. They may spend hours of their day anxiously worrying about being in a situation that causes them so much fear. Someone with a phobia of birds may fear leaving their house and when they are outside they may have to plan their route to avoid places where birds, such as pigeons, congregate. If they do come close to birds the encounter may trigger a full blown panic attack. So people with phobias are genuinely suffering and about 10% of the population has one.
Their are many treatments available and some are more effective than others. If you go to your doctor you may be given drugs which just mask the symptoms but don't cure the problem. You may also be offered some form of counselling or talking therapy. This can can be helpful to a degree as can Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). I have, in a previous post, discussed how really effective Hypnotherapy can be. I cured myself of my own phobia of going to the dentist by using self-hypnosis suggestion therapy.
Eye Movement De-sensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is another effective therapy. It works by scrambling the programme that runs the phobia and replacing it with another, more positive one. The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is another very effective therapy and one of my favourites.
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is perhaps the most effective therapy and has a specific technique, the Fast Phobia Cure, for treating phobias. Other NLP techniques can be effective
too.
In my book "Stress Free Dentistry. The easy way to overcome your fear of going to the dentist" I explain the NLP Fast Phobia Cure as well as hypnosis suggestion therapy, the technique I used to treat myself. For a copy go to www.lulu.com and put "Stress Free Dentistry" into search. the techniques can easily be adapted to treat any phobia.
Their are many treatments available and some are more effective than others. If you go to your doctor you may be given drugs which just mask the symptoms but don't cure the problem. You may also be offered some form of counselling or talking therapy. This can can be helpful to a degree as can Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). I have, in a previous post, discussed how really effective Hypnotherapy can be. I cured myself of my own phobia of going to the dentist by using self-hypnosis suggestion therapy.
Eye Movement De-sensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is another effective therapy. It works by scrambling the programme that runs the phobia and replacing it with another, more positive one. The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is another very effective therapy and one of my favourites.
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is perhaps the most effective therapy and has a specific technique, the Fast Phobia Cure, for treating phobias. Other NLP techniques can be effective
too.
In my book "Stress Free Dentistry. The easy way to overcome your fear of going to the dentist" I explain the NLP Fast Phobia Cure as well as hypnosis suggestion therapy, the technique I used to treat myself. For a copy go to www.lulu.com and put "Stress Free Dentistry" into search. the techniques can easily be adapted to treat any phobia.
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