Saturday, November 5, 2011

Using NLP to Treat Phobias and Anxiety Attacks

ByBrian P. Wexel

For persons suffering from phobias, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) may be an answer. NLP is a particular type of treatment that is often used to treat a variety of phobias that people may have.

NLP is individualized to fit the particular person and the phobia he or she is dealing with. It has a good track record of helping those with anxiety and phobia issues. For this reason, it is becoming more and more popular.

NLP works with both the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. Because these two minds can have conflicting thoughts which can lead to attacks, NLP is used to teach the person to use skills to avoid those conflicting thoughts. One such method is to use positive words. The concept is that the words you use effect the way you think.

For example, when people use words as a means of describing the world they see around them, those same words become the subconscious view of the world. If negative words or word-thoughts are used, the view will be negative. On the other hand, positive words or word thoughts lead to a more positive view.

The main goal of NLP used in the treatment of phobias is to teach the person to detach their negative thoughts of the phobia from their thought process, replacing it with positive thoughts. In other words, it helps people see their phobia in a completely different light. By reframing the phobia in his way, the anxiety and fear that typically arise in association with the phobia can be reduced.

This therapy works for virtually any phobia, including social phobias where the person is afraid to speak or be present in front of groups of people. It can be used with phobias of open spaces (such as with panic disorder with agoraphobia. It can be used with more uncommon but still distressing phobias such as sickness phobia and death phobia. It is also used in other ways such as managing stress, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorders.

In order for NLP to work, the person has to accept the fact that they have a phobia and then they have to address the phobia. Once the groundwork is finished, the person learns coping skills to combat the onset of symptoms as they occur. Visualization is one such technique often used in NLP.

With visualization, the person visualizes the stressful event as if looking at it from a distance. They then visualize positive actions as they interact within the event. The outcomes can be varied to achieve the desired result. Practice is essential. At first the associations may seen forced or artificial. But as you practice, the positive associations will seem more natural and effortless.

NLP is one of those therapies that must be taught by a professional therapist. Before choosing a therapist, consider how much training and experience they have in NLP treatments.

Want to learn more about Phobia NLP and how it can be used to treat your phobia? Visit Anxiety Panic Solutions to learn about the many treatment options for anxiety, panic, OCD and phobias.

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