Computer Phobias

Have you experienced an intense fear of a certain object, animal, or person that you'll do anything just to avoid coming into contact with it? Does this fear overwhelm you to a point that you cannot function normally? You may be part of the 8.7 to 18.1% of the American population that's suffering from phobia.

The word phobia was derived from the Greek word Phobos which means fear. It is an intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, objects, or persons. It usually manifests as an extreme, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject. This differs from normal fear as it already interferes with a person's regular daily life. This mental condition falls under one of the anxiety disorders. And this condition is common among women in different age groups, and it is the second most common mental illness among men older than twenty-five.

Most psychologists and psychiatrist classify most phobias into three categories, these are:
l Social phobias This is a phobia involving other people or social situations wherein there is an intense fear of being scrutinized by other people. This may include activities such as performing or eating in public. This type of phobia may be further subdivided into:
� General social phobia. This is also know as social anxiety disorder.
� Specific social phobia. This type of phobia is triggered only by specific situations.
l Specific phobias. These are fears of a single specific panic trigger caused by a lot of different things such as insects, animals, places, and things.
l Agoraphobia. This is a generalized fear of leaving a person's comfort zone or a small, familiar “safe” area.

These three sub-types of phobias are sub-groups of anxiety disorders. The severity of these different phobias vary from person to person. Some sufferers simply avoid their specific subject of fear and experience only a relatively mild anxiety attack over their fears. Others suffer full-fledged panic attacks with all its associated physical symptoms. A lot of these individuals are aware that they are suffering from an irrational, unfounded fear, but feel that they have no power to overcome their initial panic reaction.

There are different treatments used to treat phobias. The most commonly used treatments are:
l Medications. Anti-anxiety drugs or anti-depression medications may help sufferers control their anxiety attacks over the subject of their fears. These medications are often prescribed for short-term use to prevent forming a dependency on the medication.
l Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). This treatment may prove beneficial as it helps patients understand the cycle of their negative thought patterns. This treatment also aims to teach patients how to get over their fears and face the objects of their fear.
l Desensitization. This treatment uses the aid of virtual reality or imagery exercises to neutralize a person's fear of a certain object. This is done in a controlled environment to ensure the safety of the patient being treated.

Phobias, if unmanaged or left untreated, may end up taking over one's life and destroying it in the long run. Ignoring it will not make it go away, it may end up worsening the condition. Step up and face your fears, seek professional help, and you will live a fear-free life.

Fear, along with death, can probably be listed as being among the chief equalizers of humanity. Everybody dies and everybody is afraid of something, after all. Fear keeps people from doing stupid things and can often be a very good way to keep someone from stepping out of line. However, letting an irrational case of fear and anxiety evolve into a full-blown phobia is far from being sound for one's mental health. While it can take more than simply giving into the fear to damage someone's psychological well-being, the fact that certain phobias are more common than others has often been seen as being highly subjective.

The trouble with these common and irrational fears comes full circle with the fact that some people might fail to even acknowledge that they have a phobia, for the simple reason that they're unaware that the phobia even exists. However, as stated, there are some common phobias out there and it would serve people well to be aware of them. While they are not truly damaging to a person's mental health, it can still have drastic effects on a person's lifestyle and interpersonal relationships.

The most common (and arguably the most most stereotyped) of phobias would be claustrophobia. This mental health condition is basically the fear of tight, enclosed spaces. This can include everything from being stuck in a tight traffic jam to elevators. In some cases, people can develop claustrophobia after serving time in prison, where the already-small cells are made smaller by the intimidating nature of the areas surrounding it. To someone with this problem, the fear and anxiety stems from the mind becoming incapable of seeing how much space is actually available and focusing on the objects that define the confining space, such as walls or bars.

Some people theorize that egrophobia is becoming increasingly common as well. Egrophobias is literally defined as the fear of work, but it comes down to more than that. Egrophobia affects the mental health such that the person develops an irrational fear of anything and everything related to the work environment. This can include not only the office structures such as desks and computers, but also more subtle reminders like being part of a team or being required to meet a specific quota. It should be noted that there is no definite proof that egrophobia is spreading, but there are probably more than a few people who would insist that they are developing it.

Phobias related to sex, sexual identity, and sexual health are also starting to become more prominent. Homophobia is, in theory, fairly common, but with varying degrees of intensity. It is believed that, to some extent, everyone that isn't homosexual has some level of homophobia, though it is the behavior of the more extreme cases that is often shown. Androphobia and gynophobia, the fear of men and women, respectively, are also starting to become more noticeable in contemporary society. These two irrational fears produce similar effects on someone's mental health, such as an astute case of fear and anxiety when presented with the prospect of achieving emotional or physical intimacy with someone of the appropriate gender.

Many phobias have their roots in childhood. It could be something you were scared of as a child, both real or imagined. Fear of the dark, fear of spider, fear of the unknown - these are all common childhood fears and they all have adult phobias associated with them. These types of fears are normal for children, but they can cause problems when they remain with us into adulthood.

A phobia is defined as an irrational dread, terror or fear that occurs during a relatively benign situation. Many people realize their fears are unfounded and irrational for the situation, but they are not able to overcome them.

Some of the common symptoms of phobias include:

- Racing heartrate
- Shortness of breath
- Sweaty hands
- The urge to flee

If left unchecked, a phobia can gradually get worse, resulting in more serious problems like anxiety disorders, panic attacks and extreme stress.

Severe phobias can have a negative affect on your day-to-day life. They can develop into social disorders, where a person avoid social contact for fear of their phobia being set off. They can also cause you to miss out on many great experiences.

For example, a person who has a fear of heights may never get to see the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower or the Grand Canyon. They may never travel far from home because they are unwilling to get on an airplane.

Phobias can be overcome with methods of dealing with the underlying fears. The way you've responded to something in the past doesn't have to be the way you do so now or in the future.

If you're dealing with an irrational fear and just are not able to overcome it, it would be wise to discuss it with your doctor or another qualified medical professional. They can offer some insight into the causes and offer the most effective treatment, given your particular situation.

Here's how phobias work.

There are two parts to your mind - one that thinks, and one that feels.

The thinking part is the conscious, rational mind that you are using now as you read this.

The feeling part is the unconscious, emotional mind. It takes care of automatic tasks like regulating the heart, controlling pain and managing our instincts.

It's the unconscious mind that is programmed to act instinctively in times of danger. It reacts very fast - making you run or fight - rather than allowing your thinking mind to philosophize while you are attacked by a tiger. This has great survival value.

The unconscious mind is also a very fast learner. The same emergency route that can bypass the rational mind in times of danger can also stamp strong emotional experiences (traumatic ones) in the unconscious mind. This makes evolutionary sense - it ensures that we have vivid imprints of the things that threaten us.

And just as we have two minds, so we have two memory systems: one for the facts and one for the emotions that may or may not go with those facts.

Sometimes, when a person experiences a very traumatic event, the highly emotional memory of the event becomes trapped - locked in the emotional brain - in an area called the amygdala which is the emotional storehouse. There is no chance for the rational mind to process it and save it as an ordinary, non-threatening memory in factual storage (in the hippocampus). Like the memory of what you did last weekend.

Instead, the emotional brain holds onto this unprocessed reaction pattern because it thinks it needs it for survival. And it will trigger it whenever you encounter a situation or object that is anything like the original trauma. It doesn't have to be a precise match.

This is pure survival again. You only need to see part of a tiger through the bushes for the fear reaction to kick in again - for the "fight or flight" response to trigger - you don't have to wait until you see the whole tiger or identify it exactly as the tiger that attacked you before. In fact, it probably only has to be something orange and black moving through the bushes. This is why the pattern matching process is necessarily approximate, or sloppy. You err on the side of safety. You don't have to have all the details to know if something is dangerous.

This is the basis of a phobia: a fear response attached to something that was present in the original trauma. The response is terror, shaking, sweating, heart pounding etc. And because of the sloppy pattern-matching it can get stuck to literally anything - animal, mineral or vegetable. It may not even be glued to the thing that caused the trauma. So a child attacked in a pram by a dog may develop a phobia of prams rather than of dogs.

It is because phobias are created in this way, by our natural psycho-neurology, that they are so common. It's the way we are wired. Approximately 10% of people have a phobia. It’s a very human thing. And it's precisely because they are created by the unconscious mind that they seem so irrational. Of course they are - the rational thinking brain hasn't had a chance to go to work on them.

Many traditional phobia treatments, including drugs, attempt to deal with the phobia by calming things down after this response pattern has triggered. They treat the symptoms, not the cause.

To treat the cause, this trapped traumatic memory has to be turned into, and saved as, an ordinary unemotional memory of a past event. The emotional tag, the terror response, needs to be unstuck from that object or situation.

This is exactly what a remarkable therapy called the Fast Phobia Cure does. It allows the phobia sufferer to review the traumatic event or memory from a calm and dissociated, or disconnected, state. The rational mind can then do its work in turning the memory into an ordinary, neutral, non-threatening one. And store it in factual memory where it should have been to start with. This happens very quickly because the mind learns fast. It learns the fear response quickly and it learns (or relearns) the neutral response just as quickly. And when that happens the phobia is gone.

Many phobias have their roots in childhood. It could be something you were scared of as a child, both real or imagined. Fear of the dark, fear of spider, fear of the unknown - these are all common childhood fears and they all have adult phobias associated with them. These types of fears are normal for children, but they can cause problems when they remain with us into adulthood.

A phobia is defined as an irrational dread, terror or fear that occurs during a relatively benign situation. Many people realize their fears are unfounded and irrational for the situation, but they are not able to overcome them.

Some of the common symptoms of phobias include:

- Racing heartrate
- Shortness of breath
- Sweaty hands
- The urge to flee

If left unchecked, a phobia can gradually get worse, resulting in more serious problems like anxiety disorders, panic attacks and extreme stress.

Severe phobias can have a negative affect on your day-to-day life. They can develop into social disorders, where a person avoid social contact for fear of their phobia being set off. They can also cause you to miss out on many great experiences.

For example, a person who has a fear of heights may never get to see the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower or the Grand Canyon. They may never travel far from home because they are unwilling to get on an airplane.

Phobias can be overcome with methods of dealing with the underlying fears. The way you've responded to something in the past doesn't have to be the way you do so now or in the future.

If you're dealing with an irrational fear and just are not able to overcome it, it would be wise to discuss it with your doctor or another qualified medical professional. They can offer some insight into the causes and offer the most effective treatment, given your particular situation.

Fears and phobias can stifle a person’s enjoyment of their life. These fears and phobias make people miss out on the highlights of life such as job opportunities, social events, and vacations. Amy Hale, Certified Hypnotherapist and owner of Changing Lanes in Plymouth, Michigan, has helped scores of people get through their fears and phobias and start enjoying their life to the fullest. One recent client, Staci Dobson conquered her fear of flying in just one session and is now traveling for business and pleasure without the paralyzing anxiety that used to accompany her during airplane travel.

The fear of flying had not always engulfed Staci Dobson, it came upon her gradually. Ms. Dobson enjoyed many trips by airplane earlier in her life, but anxiety slowly started to grip her as she thought about upcoming trips; it became unbearable for her to board a plane. When an important business trip was scheduled for July, Ms. Dobson sought out the services of Amy Hale. Hearing success stories about the power of hypnotherapy and Ms. Hale in particular, Ms. Dobson was confident she had found a solution to her fears.

“After our first and only session, I was immediately more confident and more at peace within regarding thoughts of flying,” exclaims Ms. Dodson. She continues, “On my trip in July, I started feeling a bit anxious approaching the airport, then I started employing the techniques Amy taught me and immediately felt more relaxed. Going through the doors of the airport, walking up toward the gate, and boarding the airplane, I just kept feeling a calmness overcome me. This was the most enjoyable flight I’ve ever taken. Now I can travel with my husband to new and exciting destinations and enjoy my life without being paralyzed by fear.”

“Like many people, Staci lived with a fear that held her back,” Ms. Hale comments. “More and more people are finding that hypnotherapy is a powerful and transformative tool, helping them make the changes that they want in their lives. People can often get their life back in as little as one or two sessions.”

The big question is "Can hypnosis cure phobias?".

When the hypnotist you are asking answers with a resounding "yes", the next thought is usually along the lines of "yeah, right".

But you'd be amazed at the high success rate that hypnosis has with phobias.

Top athletes regularly use hypnosis in all areas of their career. One of these areas that they may not be quite as public about is a fear of flying. After all, how can something as common place as flying be something to be afraid of? Surely almost every plane that takes off lands again safely?

Yet fear of flying is a biggie.

Hypnosis to the rescue!

By getting to the core of the fear, hypnosis can turn round the fear of flying and let you face an airport without turning into a quivering wreck.

The same goes for any other fear or phobia you've got.

For instance, if you've been afraid of heights since childhood, you can listen to a hypnosis MP3 and watch the fear melt away. This won't mean that you will lose the natural fear that kicks in when you are about to do something stupid from a height. But it will mean that you can climb a tower or tall building and admire the view, without your knuckles turning white while they are gripping the nearest safe object.

Public speaking is another very common fear. Truth be known, most of the audience probably don't care what you are saying in your presentation. They're just glad that it's you who drew the short straw rather than them. You can use hypnosis to boost your confidence in public speaking so that you don't break out into a cold sweat the next time you are asked to speak in public.

Many phobias have their roots in childhood. It could be something you were scared of as a child, both real or imagined. Fear of the dark, fear of spider, fear of the unknown - these are all common childhood fears and they all have adult phobias associated with them. These types of fears are normal for children, but they can cause problems when they remain with us into adulthood.

A phobia is defined as an irrational dread, terror or fear that occurs during a relatively benign situation. Many people realize their fears are unfounded and irrational for the situation, but they are not able to overcome them.

Some of the common symptoms of phobias include:

- Racing heartrate
- Shortness of breath
- Sweaty hands
- The urge to flee

If left unchecked, a phobia can gradually get worse, resulting in more serious problems like anxiety disorders, panic attacks and extreme stress.

Severe phobias can have a negative affect on your day-to-day life. They can develop into social disorders, where a person avoid social contact for fear of their phobia being set off. They can also cause you to miss out on many great experiences.

For example, a person who has a fear of heights may never get to see the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower or the Grand Canyon. They may never travel far from home because they are unwilling to get on an airplane.

Phobias can be overcome with methods of dealing with the underlying fears. The way you've responded to something in the past doesn't have to be the way you do so now or in the future.

If you're dealing with an irrational fear and just are not able to overcome it, it would be wise to discuss it with your doctor or another qualified medical professional. They can offer some insight into the causes and offer the most effective treatment, given your particular situation.

Never give up in managing your fears and phobias. No matter how difficult things may become, there are ways to overcome your phobias. Here are some techniques that you can use to manage your fears.

In every anxiety-related situation you experience, begin to learn what works, what does not work, and what you need to improve on in managing your fears and anxieties. For instance, you have a lot of anxiety and you decide to take a walk to help you feel better. The next time you feel anxious you can remind yourself that you got through it the last time by taking a walk. This will give you the confidence to manage your anxiety the next time around.

Sometimes, we may be nervous doing a certain task that may be scary. When this happens, visualize yourself doing the task in your mind. For instance, you and your team have to play in the championship hockey game in front of a large group of people in the next few days. Before the big day comes, imagine yourself playing the game in your mind. Imagine that your playing in front of a large audience. By playing the game in your mind, you will be better prepared to perform for real when the time comes. Self-Visualization is a great way to reduce the fear and stress of a coming situation.

Challenge your negative thinking with positive statements and realistic thinking. When encountering thoughts that make your fearful or anxious, challenge those thoughts by asking yourself questions that will maintain objectivity and common sense. For example, you are afraid that if you do not get that job promotion then you will be stuck at your job forever. This depresses you, however your thinking in this situation is unrealistic. The fact of the matter is that there all are kinds of jobs available and just because you do not get this job promotion does not mean that you will never get one. In addition, people change jobs all the time, and you always have that option of going elsewhere if you are unhappy at your present location. Changing your thinking can help you manage your fears.

Take advantage of the help that is available around you. If possible, talk to a professional who can help you manage your fears and anxieties. They will be able to provide you with additional advice and insights on how to deal with your current problem. By talking to a professional, a person will be helping themselves in the long run because they will become better able to deal with their problems in the future. Managing your fears and anxieties takes practice. The more you practice, the better you will become.

When facing a current or upcoming task that overwhelms you with a lot of anxiety, divide the task into a series of smaller steps and then complete each of the smaller tasks one at a time. Completing these smaller tasks will make the stress more manageable and increases your chances of success.

Remember that sometimes our worrying and fears can make the problem even worse. Take things in stride and try not focus too much on the problem. Patience, persistence, education, and being committed in trying to solve your problem will go along way in fixing your problems. In time, you will find the ways to overcome your phobias.