Identifying and understanding the mechanisms of neurotic behavior is a necessary step in the treatment of constant fear and panic attacks. Such mechanisms support your not entirely adequate reactions and drive you into the trap of neurotic experiences.
Among the standard mechanisms, the most common is avoidance behavior. Experiencing anxiety with numerous uncomfortable experiences is not pleasant, and people begin to avoid situations that are associated with unpleasant experiences.
Let me give you a few typical examples. For example, a person has social fears (social phobia or fear of contact with people): he does not like to be in the center of attention, participate in public speaking, conflicts, avoids people and situations where he may not be on his best, informal contacts, and so on. That is, he avoids any contact where he is not guaranteed a good attitude. Another example: a person, in order to feel calm/avoid problems, wants to be able to “leave”/stop the situation. These people may begin to avoid traveling in the subway, in the elevator, flying on an airplane, large crowds of people, meetings, visits to dentists, and hairdressers.
As you noticed, the situations/“scenery” for panic attacks are different. Despite this, an anxious arousal unfolds in the human body and his psyche, always the same , which can differ in intensity, and the consciousness is simply filled with different “horror stories” (I will die/faint/go crazy/lose control/disgrace myself). That is, the “scenery” is not important, the central figure of this drama is unnecessary anxiety. And avoidant behavior does not allow the psyche to reboot and stop activating the alarm program (fight or flight reaction). Avoiding is bad, everyone knows this, but it’s easy to say “what’s there to be afraid of, pull yourself together, how can you be afraid of fear, let’s fight with each other...”, this is what those who have never experienced a panic attack say. But notice, it’s not so cheerfully that we run to report to our bosses or approach the person of the opposite sex we like. And these experiences are essentially the same as a panic attack, but incomparable in strength.
Treatment of phobias and fears: which methods are useful and which are harmful
So, avoidant behavior is harmful, neurosis will only grow. But if you simply expose your psyche to the “scenery” where you are anxious, and wait until everything passes, then, firstly, this is not pleasant, and secondly, you will probably not be able to meet the necessary conditions for the psyche to be overloaded. The anxiety state should go away (or greatly decrease) in the situation in which it began. This is one of the necessary conditions.
Without this, at best, there will be less fear, but you will still be tense and anxious. Therefore, it is important that you calm yourself down correctly, for example, with relaxation techniques, correct explanations to yourself of the nature of the attack and its consequences...
Incorrect/harmful ways to stop anxiety include :
- trying to avoid the situation
- turning to medication or seeking help from loved ones and doctors (trying to make sure everything is okay, for example, in case of panic, measuring blood pressure),
- for social fears - attempts to make sure (by assessing the reaction to your behavior) that the attitude towards you has not changed.
The tactic of “being in an alarming situation” can be implemented in two ways. Gradually immersing yourself in more and more alarming circumstances (if you are afraid of being far from home, you need to gradually, from day to day, increase the distance; if you are afraid of flying, first learn to calmly watch videos of airplane flights, then go to the airport, and then already flying).
From our point of view, such a tactic of gradually immersing oneself (desensitization) loses the second, when a person goes straight into an alarming situation. This way you can retrain your psyche much faster, because the main thing is to be able to cope with fear, stop being afraid of it and avoid it. If you do not face these experiences during therapy, then important experiences will not appear. But remember, you have to have the tools/techniques to help yourself through the situation and not just try to calm yourself down by willpower. Techniques and methods can be combined, the main thing is that it is comfortable and effective.
So, let's say you've worked through your fears and the mechanisms that support them (avoidance is just one of them). If you have what are called simple phobias (when there is only one situation or object that causes fear, for example, fear of riding in an elevator, in a car, flying on an airplane), then it is quite possible that the techniques described above will be enough to make more of these Don't be afraid of situations.
Treatment methods for phobias
Treatment of phobias can be combined with professional hypnosis, which is effective in some cases in combination with active neurometabolic therapy.
A specialist penetrates a person’s subconscious, finds out the causes of fear and helps to get rid of them until complete recovery. The patient undergoes several hypnosis sessions, however, some complex and confusing treatment cases may consist of many stages where hypnosis is only one of them.
Treatment methods for phobias in the clinic
The clinic uses the most effective methods for treating phobias, which combine both proprietary psychotherapeutic techniques and special rehabilitation medicine therapy.
For the most part, all phobias are not justified and cannot cause physical harm to a person. But under a certain set of circumstances or conditions, they can create conditions under which a person can independently harm his health.
The primary goal in treating a phobia is to relieve the severity of the manifestations as quickly as possible. At the same time, using modern methods of treating phobias, we restore the biological processes of the brain and change the person’s perception of fear itself. Through complex therapy for phobias, a person realizes that he has absolutely nothing to fear and the disease begins to go away.
We achieve the most effective results in treatment by combining the cognitive method of psychotherapy, thanatotherapy and biotherapy, which are used in the clinic.
Self-medication of a phobia is unacceptable!
Naturally, when treating phobias, it is best to turn to specialists, but you can also get rid of your obsessive fears yourself. There are several methods for this. This article will discuss two of them.
To understand this in more detail, let’s use as an example nyctophobia or fear of the dark.
Let's go to the darkest place where we are now. To begin with, leave the door open so that bright light penetrates into the dark place. Obviously, in this situation we do not experience a feeling of fear. Now we gradually close the door, leaving the gap in the doorway smaller and smaller, having determined for ourselves the limit where obsessive fear appears. How many centimeters is this limit?
Let's say we determine that this is a gap of about 20 centimeters. Now you need to dwell on your feelings in detail. What's terrible about this situation? Why are we so scared? Pay attention to the body's reactions in response to this fear - rapid heartbeat, freezing of breath, sweat, general body jitters.
Treatment of fears: when to contact a specialist
If you have a full-fledged neurosis, in order to stop anxiety states, you will also need to work with the background.
That is, it is important to optimize your relationships with yourself, with people, and your lifestyle, in order to eliminate the mechanisms that generate your body and psyche being in a state of chronic stress. Otherwise, fears will continue to catch up with you. Imagine a pot of water on a burner that is turned on. To stop the water from boiling, you need to turn off the gas. Otherwise, you will have to endlessly add cold water (do relaxation exercises, meditate, convince yourself that everything is fine and nothing bad will happen, take sedatives...) and open the lid slightly (do physical exercise) to let off the steam.
From the point of view of psychotherapy, this is the most intellectually interesting part of the work for a psychotherapist, because people are all different, their situations are different, and there is a huge field for creativity. It would probably be better for people if everything was standard. Then, with the help of algorithms from specialists, they would be able to independently cope with their fears and anxious experiences.
Drug treatment for neuroses is justified if anxiety states significantly interfere with normal (as before neurosis) functioning.
Mostly drugs are used that remove fear/anxiety at the moment of their appearance, that is, to relieve them. These are tranquilizers (Relanium, phenazepam, Xanax, Atarax) or much weaker drugs (Corvalol, Novopassit, Afobazole, Persen). We rarely prescribe the latter due to their low effectiveness in cases of panic. But for mild anxiety states they may be quite appropriate.
The second group, which is used in the treatment of fears, is antidepressants. They reduce anxiety, stabilize the autonomic nervous system and thereby reduce the likelihood of severe attacks. Unfortunately, medications can only reduce symptoms, nothing more. But, sometimes, this is also very necessary in order to quickly bring a person “into service.”
Anxiety and fear among people? Treatment can be supplemented with the following recommendations:
- Exercise at least 3 times a week for 45 minutes. Physical activity helps relieve background stress.
- Optimize your work and rest schedule.
- Don't drink alcohol or at least reduce the amount. Everyone knows how, after alcoholism, a state of panic can set in in the morning.
- Try to reduce the amount of stress in your life.
You can get rid of neurosis and start living as before. One patient once said: she used to think that she wouldn’t wish an enemy to go through what she went through. But now I’m even glad that I was able to cope with neurosis, since her life has become much better and more fulfilling. I don’t think that neurosis is given to a person for something or for something, but it can definitely be used to optimize your life. Although, of course, it would be better not to exist.
Fears (phobias, simple phobias) are, as it were, an integral part of the personality’s anxious-suspicious structure and represent a fear of any objects, animals, insects:
- Aichmophobia - fear of sharp objects,
- arachnophobia - fear of spiders,
- herpetophobia - fear of snakes,
- Glenophobia - fear of a doll's gaze,
or special situations:
- agoraphobia - fear of open spaces,
- anthropophobia – fear of people, crowds, incl. syphilophobia,
- stroke phobia,
- heart attack phobia,
- cancerophobia,
- cardiophobia,
as well as pantophobia - an all-encompassing obsessive fear.
Some of them, such as agoraphobia, are separated into separate diagnostic categories, while others are combined into a group of simple phobias.
The diagnosis of simple phobia is usually made after excluding agoraphobia and social phobia. A simple phobia, as a rule, is not accompanied by a vegetative complex, although suddenly finding yourself in a phobic situation can provoke a panic attack.
Course and prognosis.
Phobias can be observed in a wide variety of nosological units - from neurotic reactions to schizophrenia. The prognosis in each case is determined individually and directly depends on the nosological form - phobias can either disappear, or gradually be compensated, or, on the contrary, progress (mainly within various forms of schizophrenia).
Treatment.
Of the pharmacological drugs for phobias, benzodiazepine (especially triazole) tranquilizers and beta-adrenergic receptor blockers are most often used, less often serotonergic and tricyclic antidepressants, reversible MAO inhibitors.
Among the psychotherapeutic techniques, behavioral and rational psychotherapy, as well as neurolinguistic programming, are mainly used.
Why treat phobias, fear and anxiety
Phobias, attacks of causeless paralyzing fear indicate the presence of an anxiety-phobic disorder. It occurs against a background of constant stress, which leads to disruption of the functioning of organs and systems of the body. First of all, the cardiovascular system suffers: problems with heart rate, blood pressure, etc. may occur. In other words, if an anxiety-phobic disorder is not treated, it can lead to the development of depression and various psychosomatic diseases.
How to get rid of fear of sex
- Discuss fears openly with your partner.
- If you're hesitant to discuss it with your partner, talk to a close friend or counselor first.
- Love and accept your body. Masturbation is normal!
- Study your body. How can my partner guess what I like in sex if I don’t know it myself?
- Find out the other person's feelings about sex and share yours. Your partner won’t be able to get into your head, and you won’t be able to get into his.
- Share your sexual fantasies with each other.
- Adjust your beliefs, be flexible. Sex is normal, necessary, beautiful and healthy.
- Accept your aggression, the desire to possess others.
- Be yourself. Explore yourself, trust yourself. Respect the rules and norms of society and choose what makes you happy.
Treatment of fear
Classical psychology offers a comprehensive approach to treatment. Antidepressants, beta blockers, tranquilizers are prescribed in difficult cases, panic attacks, hysterics.
Psychotherapy can take quite a long time, especially if we are dealing with an anxiety disorder. To treat fear, a psychologist needs to understand the causes of fear and analyze the patient’s behavioral reactions. Only treatment of anxiety, mastering the relaxation system, helps patients avoid acute attacks of fear. Doctors use the principles of NLP (neurolinguistic programming) and hypnosis. It is important to learn self-help techniques.
Technology of transformation of perception filters (TPT) allows you to get rid of anxiety and phobias in a shorter time. The patient does not need to analyze the past for a long time, talk about past experiences, or look for reasons in childhood. Our task is to teach the brain to respond adequately to a stressful situation.
First you need to understand the logic of experiences and the nature of fears.
Correctly formulated questions will help you come to an awareness of the problem that triggers the mechanism of phobias. True filters of perception must be separated from false attitudes that confuse consciousness. Along with discovering the right filter, a feeling of relief will come, and fear will recede.
The TPW (Transformation of Perception Filters) technique allows you to get rid of all types of fear. Few people know that fear, excitement, anxiety, anxiety are defensive reactions that our limbic system turns on if, in its opinion, we are in danger in a particular situation. For some it may be fear of air travel, for others it may be fear of relationships, for others it may be poverty. For TFV, this is just a starting point, from which we will move on to find out why exactly does fear want to protect you, from what negative forecasts and conclusions?
So, if a person is afraid to fly, then behind his fear lies, most likely, the fear of death and some kind of suffering emotion from which his fear is trying to protect him. Very often, a person is afraid that if the plane crashes, then he will have regret that he did not have time to live, did not have time to achieve something, did not have time to go where he dreamed, and perhaps after death, the person will experience despair because that nothing can be fixed or changed.
And here’s an interesting moment: as soon as a person clarifies what lies behind his fear, he turns off! The fear goes away as if it never existed! And this is not a trick, this is a wonderful discovery of the author of the technique, Ivan Pirog, who found out that if you want to get rid of fear, realize what exactly he is afraid of!
Let me give you a more detailed example:
If a person is afraid of relationships, and he is thrown into sweat and heat from meeting the opposite sex, then very often shame is hidden behind such fear! Shame about your behavior, manner of speaking, thoughts. Fear is turned on so that a person does not even think about approaching anyone, so that God forbid, he does not feel shame for himself.
It’s a paradox, but from the point of view of the unconscious, it’s better for you to never have a family than to feel shame. Why is this happening? The fact is that the limbic system, including defensive reactions, proceeds from its logic and beliefs. It is far from our life realities and our own desires.
And there is no better tool than TFV . In order to turn off fear, you and I must clarify what exactly you will be ashamed of when communicating? You may feel ashamed of your “unscrupulousness” or “intemperance” or “vulgarity.” By clarifying negative conclusions and judgments about yourself, we will turn off your fear forever!
Imagine how dramatically your life will change if from a timid person who does not dare to go on a date, you become confident in yourself and your actions. You can easily and freely communicate with anyone you want.
Treatment of phobias can be carried out with a psychologist online , which eliminates the provocation of many types of fears and creates a comfortable environment. No need to go out, meet a lot of people, etc.
You can also contact me for help in solving the following psychological problems:
- Treatment of psychosomatic diseases
- Solving Relationship Problems
- Getting rid of self-doubt
- Treatment of depression
- Treatment of panic attacks
See you at the session! Your TFV processor is Alena Yurkevich.
Fear of sex - fear of not conforming to social stereotypes
The Internet and popular culture offer countless stereotypes that have nothing to do with reality:
- “sex should last thirty minutes - no more and no less”
- “my body should be 90-60-90 to be attractive”
- “many sexual partners are the key to one’s own attractiveness”
In the recent film “I'm Losing Weight,” a young man breaks off a relationship because of a girl's appearance, finds the “ideal of sexuality,” but ultimately loses love. And the heroine, through working on her body, comes to her real self, to the feelings that were hidden in the depths. She meets her fears and ultimately becomes herself, free from the opinions of others.
How to increase self-esteem
